So we are sitting in a brew pub in Squamish, BC, and I look around at the crowd. I see polite young people speaking quietly, even as music in background is very loud. All are trim and fit. There are five TV sets, and at the head of the room is a huge one showing a hockey game. But of the hundred or so people there, not one is watching hockey!
I ask the waitress her opinion. I said that my stereotype of Canadians was that hockey was very, very big. She said that these were not Canadians, but rather Americans, up for the weekend from Washington. Over at the bar, she said pointing, are the few Canadians in the place, and they were intently absorbed in the game.
So many preconceptions messed up and affirmed at once!
But this one is affirmed: There is hardly any police presence up here, and people are left alone to mind their affairs. Clerks are friendly and chatty, probably the result of security. They have access to education and health care, and a high minimum wage protects them, as do unemployment benefits. Ordinary people have good lives!
The result: A relaxed country with a healthy distribution of income. The average Canadian household is wealthier than its southern counterpart. Worries are few.
British Columbia had a strong presence by the Conservative Party, but it’s agenda of intolerance of dissent and arrogant know-what’s-best-so-shut-up attitude rankled people. The recent election results: Zero seats for Conservatives. Zero! The party doesn’t exist in this province.
That, folks, is a responsive political system! Voting matters here! In the States people get frustrated with one party, turn to the other and get the same soup with a different label.
Piece of Mindful 