I am probably not the best person to comment on politics in Canada. I pay far more attention to American politics. However, this articles main points do ring true. And I have a few politically engaged friends who have echoed some of this main points.
I've been paying more attention to American politics as well, because at least in the States there seems to be some sort of hope and conversation going on. Canadian politics has been depressing for a few years now. The Conservatives don't like to answer a lot of questions. A lot of big decisions are being made behind closed doors. They have the power right now, and it doesn't seem like there is much we (the public) can do about.
At the moment I feel the biggest problem in Canadian politics - and perhaps the reason why Conservatives won't listen to the public - is that the left is divided into too many parties. Canada is an extremely left-leaning country, but we divide our votes between the Liberals, NDP, and Green Party. Whereas there is only one right-leaning party that conservatives can vote for. Not sure if you think that is a valid criticism, but to me that needs to change.
This is a huge issue. Especially coupled with the rise of the NDP, and the collapse of the Liberal party. I don't think it will get any better either, as it seems like the NDP are going to be popular from now on, and the Liberals just elected Canadian royalty to be there leader. I think it's time to seriously consider a coalition government, especially if the Cons are able to get a minority gov't again. Coalition governments are a staple in many European countries. Neither of the two parties ( libs and NDP) have really been open to the idea yet, but I think they need to just try harder. As you said, they both lean left, no reason why they can't lead this country together. Just so I'm clear, I'm talking post election, and only if it looks like the Cons are going to retain power. I don't think the NDP and Liberals should merge right now. Other than that, I got to meet Justin Trudeau on PEI and have great hopes for a resurgence of the Liberal party in the next election.
My canadian brothers/sister theadvancedapes, lil and sounds_sound, is this an accurate depiction of the state of freedom in Canada from what you gather?
Part of the issue is how the system is set up here. We are following the US trend of having a leader as the main draw to the party. The problem is that Harper has made it clear that its his way or the highway, and Conservatives are being made to tow the line. Imagine if the POTUS was the leader of the party in power, by number of seats. Imagine that the president can then tell his majority to do whatever it is he wants it to do. Now picture him being hard on people who don't fall in line. This is what's going on in Canada. No one is sticking up to Harper except the Opposition parties, who can do a lot of huffing and puffing, but can't blow anybody's house down. The message to people who disagree with the government is to wait it out. So people are paying less and less attention to politics, which seems to be what they want. It's a downward spiral right now.
State of Freedom in Canada: I agree with Adam somewhat. Freedom is always threatened and our current prime minister StepHen Harper continues to encroach. In terms of access to information, the current government has severely limited information gathering. There has been talk for some time about our current government muzzling scientists. Today, as it turns out, the information commissioner has launched an investigation into this exact thing. We still have an information commissioner who is supposed to independently investigate complaints against the government. As freedoms are potentially eroded to supposedly ensure other freedoms (that is, peek into private email to root out potential terrorists), there is a pushback by others who are still awake to potential injustice. Running a government, a company, or a school is a difficult messy business. We make decisions based on incomplete information always.