Any Canadian who’s ever lived south of the border (or any American who’s come north) can tell you pretty quickly that there’s a pretty huge difference between Canada and the US when it comes to politics. For example, here’s a conversation I had with a friend prior to yesterday’s election:
Friend: Who you gonna vote for?
Me: Well I guess my values lean conservative, so I’ll probably vote for the Conservative party even though I don’t really like their leader.
Friend: Ya, that’s cool. I usually vote Liberal so the Conservatives don’t have too big a majority.
Me: Cool. Harper should stop running those dumb attack ads.
Friend: No kidding. Want to play some Call of Duty?
Me: OK.
See how civil that is? We didn’t even agree with each other, yet there was no name calling, no foaming-at-the-mouth. No one got even a little bit angry, or questioned the morality of the other person! In contrast, here’s how political discussions in the U.S. often go…
Here’s hoping we Canadians can continue to keep things civil.