A Look in the Mirror

So I'm coming out as a Big "L" Liberal. It's not a partisan thing because I'll probably (continue to) vote ONDP as it's now a stronger party than the OLP, and since there's no difference between the two that I care about, here's hoping Ontario elects Premier Horvath next go 'round.

Horwath?

I am NOT googling that spelling again. I've googled it a bazillion times already and I still can't remember the correct spelling of Andrea's last name. Clearly, the problem is hers.

It was so maddening, the last Ontario election, trying to figure out which candidate was the better bet to win in my riding - which is why Ontario is stuck with Premier Doug Ford - of all unimaginable fuckups.

Almost as bad as Alberta going from Premier Notley to Premier Kenney.

Worse?

Same as?

The only variance in political parties that matters to me is that which separates Conservative parties and the BC Liberals from better parties to occupy public office. That's because, essentially, Conservative politicians want to further privatize public space, dilute our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and Republicanize our justice system, and I want more public space, reinforcement of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and an Indigenous model justice system.

They're old testament. I'm new testament.

But that's not really what this entry is about because this entry is about the Liberal government of Canada declaring a climate emergency AND approving a pipeline for construction.

For my more partisan NDP and Green and even some anti-Trudeau Liberal friends the pipeline approval cancels out the declaration of a climate emergency. But for me it accurately reflects Canada and Canadians and how we actually live our lives.

You know, as opposed to how we think everybody else should be living theirs, er, NDP and Green friends. (And none of this is to imply that I don't think you should be NDP or Green, that you, too, should be Big "L" Liberals. No, this is just about me and who I am - at this time, anyway.)

I don't really have Conservative friends but I think it's fair to say from the reaction of the politicians Conservatives vote for that Conservatives think declaring a climate emergency is... pandering to... the climate?

So to my point. A while ago I realized that I haven't made any personal sacrifices at all with regard to reducing my carbon footprint. I don't own a car, but I don't need to own a car and in fact don't want to own a car. Our little row house takes up less space than a single detached home in the country, but we're still taking up more room than we need. Or even want, to be honest. BUT, we don't want to rent out a room - or, more nobly, give someone a room for free - either. We love living together - alone. Not even one of my three adult children, who exist because I wanted them, do we want living with us. And by the way, the sacrifice for me would have been to NOT have any children at all. Or even just two. In fact, I wanted four but my co-creator of children, who was overwhelmed with three - didn't. And we have a dog, a hound/lab/beagle/? who eats and therefore poops. I don't travel much, as such, but travel is stressful for me anyway and I'd really like to give myself a year to not do anything much or go anywhere far following the recent physician assisted dying of my mother.

Speaking of which, I don't produce any medical waste but only because I've been fortunate enough so far to not encounter any health issues. (And this is why I don't often engage in discussions around privilege, who has it and who doesn't, because I know that if I had any medical issues of note I'd resent anybody who didn't telling me that I'm privileged - and on behalf of other people not even in on the discussion, ffs.) I rarely eat out but it's because I'm naturally frugal and know how to cook. Also, going out is increasingly falling into the travel category, in that it feels like something I should do more than it's something I want or need to do.

I don't shop retail for clothes but I can even buy swimsuits from the thrift shop now and they're the only items that seem to wear out. Even when I have a job I mostly wear my own version of a uniform, interchanging a couple of pairs of pants with a few shirts and a pair of dress shoes that look so classy I can run out the clock in any assignment just by staring at them for hours.

And so on and so forth and more of the same etc etc.

The thing is, though, that unlike an overwhelming majority of Canadians recently polled who claim to be on board with their government doing something about climate change because it's a real and increasingly (and exponentially so!) urgent problem, I would absolutely pay $100 (extra) per year to help out with mitigation efforts. And so would you because, like me, you wouldn't even consider that a sacrifice, you'd consider it an opportunity to do a bit of your bit. But we're apparently just 1 out of 4 Canadians - who otherwise share our view of climate change - who would.

And that's why I'm a Big "L" Liberal now.