Dear Editor,

I have experienced life in the U.S. and in Canada. Having been born and raised in a politically-aware family, I’m often amused by the subtle and not-so-subtle differences in the two political systems. 

Last week in the U.S., there was an event called the No Kings Rally, which drew record-setting crowds in many locations all over the nation. I’m very sympathetic to that notion, as the United States was formed out of a rebellion against remote rule without representation by the King of England. The Constitution was crafted with checks and balances, to avoid the president from becoming a reigning despot. The current president is hellbent upon becoming just the sort of despot we hoped to avoid. 

So here I was, feeling safe and smug in Canada, where we DO have a king. He was born and raised for that position, from a long line of royals, and he seems to be a genial bloke, not wishing to extend his power beyond its well-established boundaries. But, in a nation committed to fairness toward races and genders, we have a royal family, which represents the distilled essence of racism. The King maintains his symbolic reign from across the sea, while his theoretical governance is handled by a governor-general, appointed by the elected government. Ironic, eh? 

In Canada, we vote for a local member of Parliament, and the leader of that person’s party becomes the Prime Minister, if the party wins enough seats. We don’t get to vote for or against the PM, unless he happens to be our representative. This is why I favour a minority government; being in minority means the governing party has to compromise with another party in order to enact legislation. It’s a check and balance. Having several parties means that Canada is less likely to slip into the deeply divided viciousness of the two-party system in the U.S.. 

In one election, the winning party had promised to review proportional representation as a voting system that would better represent the wishes of the people. The winning party decided to keep winning, and quashed the plan. I don’t know where that notion disappeared to, but I’d like to have another look in that direction. It would make a good system better, with less of a feeling of having “wasted your vote” by voting for someone who didn’t win it all. Ironic, eh? 

So, if we ever have referendums on proportional voting or of decommissioning the monarchy, I’ll vote for those changes. But overall, I feel more comfortable here, with our imperfect system in place, than I would south of the border. We don’t need to storm the Bastille, nor the House of Congress. Ironic, eh?