Dear President Obama,
According to the buzz up here you're planning a trip to Canada soon after your inauguration. I'm sure by now you know that we have a prime minister not a president. You may or may not know, however, that he's kind of a jerk. But I'm sure you'll be able to figure that out on your own.
I just thought I'd run a couple people by you who I think you should also meet. First, I do hope you'll make some time for the Governor-General, the lovely woman pictured here. As you've probably been briefed by now, constitutionally, she is the Queen's representative in Canada. Essentially this means that she has the job of travelling around the country and the world listening to children's choirs, and taking flak for spending a lot of money on foreign relations parties. Though the Governor General does do her bit to support high culture with an important award for literature (referred to in Canada as the "GGs".)
Technically, however, she has the power to resolve a constitutional crisis, and appoint a new Prime Minister if the current one has lost all credibility. (This is why we have a formal ritual where the PM always asks for her "permission" to dissolve parliament and hold an election.)
In the history of Canada no GG has ever had to appoint a new PM. Last December, however, we came as close as we ever have to this happening. Our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper (the aforementioned "kind of a jerk"), decided that two weeks after an election would be a great time to pass a law withdrawing all public funding from political parties.Though he is currently the leader of a minority government (which means that the other parties can band together and force an election with what we call a "non-confidence" vote), he gambled that the three other parties would not be able to get their act together to boot him out.
He had good reason to think this (I said he was an a-hole, I mean kind of a jerk, but he's not stupid). One of the main opposition parties, The Bloc Quebecois, is dedicated to Quebec's separation from Canada, which makes it difficult for the other parties to manouver, since every time they form an alliance Harper can accuse them of "banding with the separatists."
Miraculously, however, they did get their act together, at least enough to draft a serious plan asking, in the event of a non-confidence vote, that the GG allow them to govern for a year. Constitutionally she can do this, though it's never been done. Jean had to cut her trip to Paris short so as to come back and give Harper a two hour lecture, and do something else that had never been done before in Canada. She gave him permission to cancel the vote which would have brought down his government two weeks after an expensive election in the middle of global economic crisis. She gave him another chance to get his shit together. But who knows how well he'll use this opportunity.
I think you should meet with her, because right now we have no idea who's going to be in power one, three, six months from now. It is a true political mess up here and I think she would be a good person for you to get to know. Also, she's a fox (think Princess Di crossed with Eartha Kitt). And she has an inspirational story just like yours.
She moved here as a girl, a refugee from Haiti. In Quebec she built a career as a television journalist, and look at her today, technically Canada's head of state. Now I'm not expecting you to issue a correction of that favorite part of your stump speech. I know "my story could only happen in America, and arguably Canada" sounds a tad awkward. But I still think it would be great for your daughters, and other people's daughters to know about her.
__________________________________________________
Now for the second person I think you should meet: me. I won't take up much of your time, really. Just an hour. I figure that's how much time it would take me to convince you that the single best financial stimulus package you could possibly consider would be high quality, affordable, publicly funded daycare available to all children, regardless of parents income, from 3 month old and up.
It might not even take me an hour because it's such a no-brainer. We've had that in Quebec since 1998, and look at the statistics. (I'm sure you can find someone to translate this article for you if you want to check my facts.) In the eleven years since Quebec has had universal daycare, the number of single mothers living below the poverty rate has been reduced by half. There has been a 30% increase in the number of women entering the work force. And Quebec's middle class is now one of the wealthiest in Canada. 40% of this program is now paid for by the taxes on the increase in women's salaries, and the numbers show all the signs of getting better.
Affordable, high quality day care has enabled women to enter the work force and has created jobs for women and men. Once the government commits to this , and once it becomes a career choice with benefits, job security and pay equity, men sign up. Does this influence gender modelling? You betcha. My son had two male day care providers and a male kindergarten teacher. He has Playstation2 with all the latest sports league games. He plays them all. And from time to time he also plays an online game he discovered, in which the challenge is to successfully manage your own daycare.
But more than that. From my personal experience, my son, now 8, is still in regular contact with four friends he made when he was a toddler at our neighborhood daycare. All these kids have moved on to different schools, but I'm still friends with their parents, and we still plan weekend activities together for our kids. Those who see daycare as a symptom of social breakdown are just wrong. High quality government managed and subsidized daycare is a community builder.
I have much more to say on the subject, but I'm hoping we can talk about that in our hour together. Maybe Michaelle Jean can sit in. She has a lovely young daughter, who may very well have attended one of these daycares, as they are available to all Quebecers, regardless of income.
I very much look forward to your visit. And hope you have an awesome inauguration. You can have a very memorable visit to Canada too. It's just a matter of hanging out with the right people.
cheers,
Juliet Waters
**update: On Sunday, while visting slums in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, Michaelle Jean was asked by French journalists her thoughts on Obama's inauguration. She said:
"You can't help but recall that this country that will see an African-American enter the White House, whose citizens decided to send an African-American to the White House, was a country built from segregation....We realize the degree to which this is a major step - not just for the United States, not just for blacks throughout the world, but for all of humanity....We will all remember forever, I believe, where we were and what we were doing on that (election night of) Nov. 4, 2008."
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Comments
I thought this post was an interesting look into Canada's political landscape...most of which I didn't know (sorry!).
That said, I think the idea of universal daycare merits consideration -- and not just in the US: The ROC (Rest of Canada) should be looking at the Quebec model as well.
i espouse democracy, despise monarchy, but when people are too ignorant to manage their own affairs, they should be ruled by a fox from haiti. so much better than a nazi from texas.
Re marriage legislation: it's my understanding that Quebec, like Louisiana, retains remnants of Napoleonic law. Not sure how that affects marriage tho.
Great info on daycare in Quebec! I wish that information would be made widespread throughout Canada. To have he number of single mothers living below the poverty rate has been reduced by half -- that's huge!!!
The other parties are more strongly behind the idea of improved daycare, NDP (New Democratic Party) and Green Party (maybe the BQ too, just not sure of their platform) are behind Universal Daycare. But Harper has tried to dismantle the infrastructure of national daycare programs, I think by cutting the funding of the national daycare advocacy group. Instead, he was giving some funding directly to families to spend as they wished. But once you dismantle the infrastructure, it is gone and much harder to revive.
Also like to say, during the debates, I thought the head of the Green Party, Elizabeth May, rocked!!! Not only is their party very pro-women and a lot of their party platform is very progressive on all sorts of women's issues, but I was very impressed to find out that she is a single mother who has successfully juggled a career and done lots of advocacy work. Gilles Duceppe, head of the BQ, also impressed me during the debates with his intelligence and understanding of the issues.
hey, I've written a post about Canadian winter in my fair city, you may want to check out! I'd love to find out who the other Canuck bloggers are.
Much appreciated your post on super cold (I'm guessing) Winnipeg. Some very cute dogs in there.
And you're right, lots of people felt the NDP calling an election then was just to bring down the government and get a few extra seats, at the expense of daycare and some other good legislation.
What do you think of Elizabeth May, btw?
And what I wouldn't do for a little of your healthcare. I can't even tell you the evil I've encountered - and I do mean evil - dealing with my greedy insurance company this year, leaving me responsible for thousands of dollars.
Yes, Jean's a babe. And actually a lot less monarch-y than I painted her. Today, as matter of fact, she's visiting slums in Haiti. If I could send you some health care I would. I cannot imagine living without it. Not that I use for myself that often, but I'm sure just knowing its there makes me healthier than I'd be otherwise.
1) We in Canada are very blessed with our comprehensive health care.
2) Michaelle Jean, Canada's Governor-General, is indeed lovely, very good-looking woman and not stuffy. She was actually born In Haiti and spent her early years there. Came from poverty, so more empathy of what is like.
Juliet, I loved your post. Agree 100%.
I missed this the first go round. Did you post this is Obama's Briefing Book? Closed now, but may reopen so you can still get your idea on his desk!
Not having had you experience with Quebec day care (Ontario's is a mess), I'd think 'universal health care' like another commenter. Obama would have the unique opportunity to adopt and adapt the best from Canada and the various European models, thus re inventing the state of the art, and really balancing the health care playing field. Rumour is GM would be profitable if it didn't have those health benefit costs.
As concerns marriage vs. common-law, I would like to tweak your comment just a little. You indicate in one of your comments that "it is my understanding ...that women here are still better protected legally in a marriage". The assumption here is that the woman is the lesser breadwinner, owner of property, and the such. In fact, the advantages/protections accorded through marriage benefit the party in the weaker financial position, and although that may often be women, it is not always so.
We need to stop framing this as a gender issue and consider it more of an economic and social issue. It does some of us a great disservice when women's rights advocates go around trying to impose the "benefits" of marriage on those of us who deliberately chose a common-law relationship in part to protect the assets we brought into the relationship in the first place.
Sorry, that was a little off-topic rant, but it sure did feel good.
I now return you to your regularly scheduled on-topic comments.
I'm not alone in arguing that this is a somewhat different situation than one we recently had, where the GG was being asked to appoint the opposition leader P.M over the objections of the sitting Prime Minister, which amounts to kicking the current prime minister out.
Anyways, I totally agree that daycare and healthcare are and should be part of the same package. So much is accomplished by catching things early in kids, and when you have an experienced day care educator who you're consulting with regularly, problems just get caught that much earlier.
merci et bon nuit
I audibly snickered, pretty loudly, at this line of yours, about Steven Harper - "You may or may not know, however, that he's kind of a jerk. But I'm sure you'll be able to figure that out on your own." You couldn't be more right.
I think the thing that tells me what I want to know about how Obama is going to take Canada seriously is that he is actually making his first official state visit to Canada. That's the tradition for all US presidents, one that outgoing Bush chose to ignore. It was something that always kind of stuck in my head as ignorant, but whatever. Only a few hours left....
I love Michaelle. She's got all the class that Harper doesn't.
I do have high hopes for Obama and relations between Canada and the US. It's always seemed to me that Canada just hasn't been taken seriously the past eight years.
Rated.
And Wskrz. I love your name, and thank you for reminding me about the Bush snub. What a dick that guy was. Isn't it nice to say was.
I can't believe that Quebecers would grumble about Canadians not wanting them when they are the ones who've been trying to leave us for 40 or so years. Your comment just makes me shake my head and chuckle. I guess there is still more work to do.
As to wskrz' and your discussion re snubs, I think the greatest snub we got from GWB, and the one that still really irks me, came immediately after 9/11. GWB thanked almost every country on earth (he listed them one by one for God's sake) except Canada, and all the while, Canadians from coast to coast were welcoming Americans into their homes while they waited for the airspace to be reopened and standing with the American's in unity and sorrow. That one still stings.
Re: Can/U.S. relations: My favourite snub came from Condi Rice, when in one of her first official speeches she referred to"our biggest trading partner," Mexico. Uh...Mexico...I'm afraid not. Yeah. That's the kind of knowledge you want to have in a Secretary of State.
I guess after today, we'll have to look to our own band of idiots for political humour, but Harper and his Stepford family are just too scary to be funny.
dysfunctional family - oh yeah - see you in therapy. :)
Good riddance on the bush era. Hopefully this is the end of the Bush dynasty.