Well here we are, already more than a week into 2021…and I am realizing once again that I may not be thirty-five anymore. Let me explain: I’ve been skiing four times this ski season (first time was actually Christmas Day, but I digress) — I have now logged 13,967 Vertical metres on thirty-five runs. I’ve managed to hit a maxim speed of 62.7 km/hr and the actual length of my skiing is about 76.4 kms. But each time I come down the hill, I head immediately for my soaker tub and this week has reminded me why. Firstly my daughter turned forty-nine earlier this week and then my youngest sister turns seventy today. Obviously I must be older that either of them. Not surprising that my body tries to avoid moguls, heavy snows and really long runs without a pause or three; moreover it likes long rides in a chair and a few beers afterwards!! However, in spite of it all, this is better than the alternative and it does allow me to reflect on how lucky I am to be in a place where I can search and find a middle course — a time for fun, relaxation, invigoration and reflection all within the same time-frame. So I am starting the year with the recognition of my gratitude for life…

Now in this moment of writing to you, I really should comment more on my last Chapter as a couple of smarter people than I have pointed out some potential glitches in my case re costs of electric cars. BC’s electric costs are much lower than those stated in the commentary; however, PEI’s would probably be higher… Nevertheless, I am going to leave this theme for another day. At the moment I need to make two confessions or perhaps the niggly word resolutions would be more appropriate:

The first is that I am going to attempt to reduce the amount of ranting this year.
The second is that I am endeavouring to be more balanced than you have occasionally suggested I have failed to be.

As a way to try to combine both in my first Epistle of 2021 I thought I would offer a few comments on what happened last Wednesday in Washington D.C. I am going to avoid making any assessment as to the actions and attitudes of the president of the USA. Rather I want to ponder for a moment the behaviour of the mob (for that is what it very quickly became). There has been a great deal of chatter about the terrible nature of the right, the alt-right and the extreme right. It has even been suggested that events by such folk led to the rather amazing results in the Georgia run-offs for the U.S.A. Senate. There has been even some pompous attitudes or perhaps smugness is a better term that the right got what it deserved. And I dare say there is some truth in all of this.

But (and I know you knew there had to be a but in here somewhere), I would like to take you back in time to when I was in Grad School at the University of Minnesota in the late 60’s, early 70’s. I was there when the ROTC building on campus was blown up (or at least there was the attempt to blow it up). Furthermore I had been down to check out the U of Minn the year before enrolling just after the Chicago riots against the Democratic Party’s convention by avowed leftists. It was in no small measure those riots combined with Hubert Humphrey’s decision not to select Sargent Shriver as his running mate but instead choose a platform against the students and in favour of more effort supporting the Vietnam War that led to a narrow defeat to Richard Nixon. And by the time I left Minnesota in 1971 the left had been so destructive in its protesting against the war that Nixon claimed a second victory by considerably wider margins.

I mention this only to say that this right vs left is not new and it’s ironic impact on elections is somewhat amazing. And we have it as much in Canada as they have it in the States. We simply have not been able to be nice to each other. We have steadily diminished our respect for opposing viewpoints, for differing cultures, for alternate political perspectives. Our police forces aren’t the problem anywhere nearly as much as we ourselves are. Yes the scenes we saw on Capitol Hill were disgusting and terrifying. But just before Covid-19 swept us up in our own cocoons, we had similar unlawful disruptions of our democracy and economy and the police abetted those mobs as much as it was claimed the police abetted the rioters in Washington.

We need to really step back and ask ourselves what is it that we truly want for the future of our grandkids. And then seriously discuss how we might achieve that. Neither the right nor the left can claim higher moral ground. Jason Kenney’s attitudes are no less vibrant worthy of considering than Justin Trudeau’s; the premier of B.C. is no more democratic than his counterpart in la belle province. They all are playing to their bases – and those bases are us. It was interesting to read Preston Manning last Wednesday in the Globe & Mail asking why we have lost our desire for the middle ground — for balance. I know some will immediately pooh-pooh his comments because he is right-of-centre (and that in itself validates my point), but it is a question we should be asking. Where or when did we as Canadians decide that trying to find balance in the way our society functions was too hard? Being a society takes a great deal of work and it requires that work non-stop.

Quickly let me give you some examples:
The Boeing Max jet – no one was allowed to discuss the fact that both planes that crashed were operated by companies that chose NOT to order the full option package that all credible airlines had, options that would have prevented those nosedives. No one was able to get on any stage to point out that of all the major airlines flying that plane, absolutely none had a crash. Yet we allowed a bully-pulpit to form that grounded a really good plane and helped drive a successful company almost into oblivion; no middle ground was allowed to be sought.
The current Covid crisis – little is being said or debated yet in the legislatures across the land about why we are only looking at lockdowns and not spending serious energy on cures and other ways to alleviate the problems experienced by those that get the virus. Anyone that suggests current practices (that haven’t really differed or improved from the Spanish Flu’ a hundred years ago) are inadequate or even wrong-headed, are quickly labelled as extremists or deniers. Again no middle ground is being sought.
Elections – already several provinces have had provincial elections simply because the ruling party had strong support in the opinion polls and wanted to go to the vote before things got bad. It didn’t matter that there was full cooperation in those legislatures. We are hearing now of the same thing federally. Where is the ethical middle ground in these moments?

Why am I even bringing all this up? Not because I condone the riots in D.C. Not for a minute do I think that such behaviour is anything less than criminal and a serious threat to democracy. But I am equally concerned that public attitudes that think that the way we are handling the pandemic is quite fine are as dangerous to the long-term longevity of our democratic systems. If we don’t start demanding more serious efforts to find that middle course, it won’t be long before either the left or the right will decide they have the moral standing to become violent. And as I heard a young black commentator this morning assert on (I think) MSNBC, we can’t lay this on Trump and sit back smugly, we have to lay this on ourselves. It is each of us who needs to demand better from our leadership, better from each other, better from ourself.

May 2021 be the year you and I help get us back into balance… Happy New Year (and Happy Birthday Daughter, Happy Birthday Sister)

As always,
g.w.