Liberals, s’il vous plaît, take a page.

Canada, we’ve fallen behind the political curve. We had a chance to lead it just four weeks ago, to elect a government that truly cared about real people, the environment and art.  We could have been a real contender on the global stage, bringing new ideas and approaches on how to unite the world around a common agenda.  We could have decided on change. We could have got a new puppy.

Instead, we are stuck with the old thinking of the old global regime- a regime which will disappear on 20 January in the United States;  one which disappeared last year in Australia, and one which disappeared in the United Kingdom more than a decade ago.

But we didn’t really have a choice for change, did we?

By choosing Stéphane Dion as leader of the Liberal Party, and Paul Martin before him, the Liberal Party has done a disservice to Canadians, giving them  little to get excited about.  Don’t get me wrong – Dion and Martin are both good guys. They have a moral vision and the intelligence to make some things happen. Dion’s environmental policies are exciting and are what the world needs. Paul Martin was one of the creators and defenders of the “G20″ – an enlarged G8 which reflects the imperative for fundamental changes to international relations in the 21st century.

But neither are transformational leaders. And that’s what Canada needs right now.

As Canadians we have had trouble defining ourselves as a nation. We believe that even though we watch or copy all of their television, lead our newscasts and front pages with their news, dress a lot like them and want to have the same stuff as they have, we are not like them.

We have aspired to,  and in many ways,  we have achieved greater things than them in our own quiet way. We have universal health care (and please let’s keep it). We have welcomed more immigration and more refugees, per capita, than any other country. As a nation, we support gay marriage. For these reasons and many more, we are a rich, diverse and exciting nation. We just don’t know how to articulate it anymore.

And as of this week, we are behind the curve.

Globally, people are noticing.  With our government’s sole foreign policy focus being Afghanistan, we are losing the humanitarian and peacebuilding moralsuasion we once had.  For example,  Canada currently contributes a total of 160 police and military officers to Peacekeeping operations. We rank 54th in the world. (Pakistan ranks number 1, with more than 10,500).  Lester B. Pearson’s stamp on the world stage is becoming a 20th century historical footnote.

On 4 November, we saw, no,  we felt, the way a transformational leader like Barack Obama can change the world. When he won, there was a global collective sigh, followed by a deafening woop. It was like each of us had suddenly been set free. And while the same difficult problems remained, people felt they were waking up to a better world on Wednesday morning.

How did Canadians feel on 15 October?

In fact, who was the last Canadian leader who made us feel truly uplifted? Who has made us want to roll up our sleeves, with the overwhelming desire to get out and DO something. Who has brought tears to our eyes?  ( Watch any Tommy Douglas speech to see what I mean.)

Liberals, Canadians, please take a page from the US on this one. Find a leader who will get us excited. Find a leader who makes us feel that the power to change our country is truly in our hands. Find someone who will pack a gym, or a convention centre, or a stadium, with people pressing forward to catch every single word, no matter their traditional political affiliation. Find someone who can can define our great country in a way that resonates with Canadians and in a way that makes other countries look to ours with admiration and respect.

Please, find someone new.

Wooo hoooo!!!

I usually hate the sound “woo hoo.” It’s often so lame.

As in “Hey everybody, it’s Britney Spears!”  “Woooo hooooo!”; “It’s XXXXX sports team” “Wooo hoooo!” ; “Beeeeeerrrr!!!!” “Wooooo hooooo”.

But tonight, that sound lifted my soul. As in “CNN is making a prediction… Barack Obama is going to be the next President of the United States.”

A collective “Woooo hoooo” rang across New York City. People shouted it from their apartment windows. The black transexual sex workers on our street shouted it. People driving by in cabs shouted it. And about 1,000,000 people gathered on an unusually warm autumn night in Chicago shouted it. “Woooooo hooooooo!!!” It sounded across America and resonated around the globe.

That sound has rung in a new chapter in the history of the world, and nothing less. The first African American President of the United States of America, Barack Obama. These pictures, even these pictures taken from television, to me, speak woooo hooooo words.

And after looking at those, let’s go back to New Hampshire all of those months ago.

“It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation: Yes, we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail towards freedom through the darkest of nights: Yes, we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness: Yes, we can.

It was the call of workers who organized, women who reached for the ballot, a president who chose the moon as our new frontier, and a king who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the promised land: Yes, we can, to justice and equality.

Yes, we can, to opportunity and prosperity. Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can repair this world. Yes, we can.”

United States of America President-elect Barack Obama.

CNN Projects…

Well CNN so far has used its weird hologram only once. And it had a little trouble hearing their reporter in Chicago, surrounded by 1000s of cheering Obama fans. Obama is looking extemely strong- even amongst voters who have very small dogs, and very large hairdos.

With about 0.001% of votes in, CNN is projecting Obama in many many places. Enough places, so far, to make me think “yes america did.”

Here are some photos from  New York election action today. 

Tomorrow, I predict the world will be a much more optimistic place.

Election morning

I love the city we’re living in. I loved it last night, when I went for a run on the Hudson river and had the  Empire State Building, bejeweled in lights of red, white and blue, in my sights. This beautiful 102-story tower, built in just 410 days in 1930,  is a true symbol of what made this the original great country. And when I turned to run the other way there was Lady Liberty – an overused icon to be sure, but when you see her for real, arm outstretched and alone in the harbour beside Ellis Island, she delivers.  She makes me teary.

But today, I’d rather be in Cleveland, Ohio. I want to feel the electric tug of this historic election. I want to visit polling stations and see people who know they are casting a ballot that could change the direction of our world.

Today, New Yorkers are too liberal and too cool to make this day feel as important as it is. This clear autumn morning they are ambling with their dogs like they do every day. They are buying coffees and catching the bus.  They will definitely go to the polling stations and they will vote the right way.

Here there are no campaign posters. There are none of those awful attack ads. Everyone is talking and writing about the liberal pundits – Rachel Maddow, Keith Olberman, Campbell Brown – I don’t even know who the Fox news guys are.

So as this day goes on, I’ll watch the polls everywhere else, on tv and on the internet.

But because this is New York where people know how to celebrate, tonight is going to be just great.