RC107 JulyAugust2023 - Magazine - Page 42
CLOSING SHOT
A CRISIS OF
CONFIDENCE
By Nick Krukowski
NE OF THE GREATEST THINGS about travelling is the perspective it can offer on… home. I recently had the opportunity of a lifetime to join some South African friends
on a tour through southern Africa—Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. There is a lot one can say
about the continent—it’s a truly amazing part of the
world. And yet, it’s full of striking contrasts.
The land itself is beautiful and rich, full of mineral
wealth. Yet you don’t have to look far to see people living in
abject poverty. It’s home to an impressively diverse range of
animal species, yet many of these species are endangered.
Viewing the statue of Doctor Livingstone presiding over
Victoria Falls, one is reminded of the difficult history of colonialism from which the continent is struggling to emerge.
Yet at the same moment, it can be argued, the continent is
entering into a new colonialism as massive investments
from China offer the people much-needed capital for development. The African people are among the friendliest, most
positive people I’ve encountered. And yet, they struggle
with governance.
These issues of governance have led to systemic corruption that is not just anecdotal. Indeed, one is reminded of
the problem immediately upon landing at the airport, with a
multitude of signs reminding travellers that corruption will
not be tolerated. Locals speak of driving with a set amount
of ‘get out of jail’ money, in case they should be pulled over
in a routine traffic stop. Perhaps the problems of governance manifest themselves most visibly in the region’s
infrastructure, with the rolling power outages known locally
as ‘load shedding’, as the grid struggles to keep up with
demand.
I found myself wondering how we might react to similar
power outages back in Canada, having to adjust to several hours each day, every day, without electricity. I doubt
we would tolerate the situation for long and would quite
rightly expect our government to address the issues. And I
found myself wondering why Africans do not demand the
same from their governments. I concluded that the problem
is one of confidence, and expectation—the two being closely
related. In Africa, the people have seemingly lost confidence
in their institutions, with the result that they simply do not
expect any better from their government.
But surely this could not happen here in Canada. Or
could it?
Over the past number of elections, we’ve seen declining
voter turnout as people lose faith in the democratic process.
Social media platforms first normalize and then amplify
previously-fringe conspiracy theories about election fraud.
An increasingly polarized electorate is making it ever more
difficult to find common ground, with the result that what
once would have been considered moderate policies based
on consensus are now often ridiculed and dismissed as
illegitimate, or worse, capitulation. Demagogic, populist
O
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RENEW CANADA – JULY/AUGUST 2023
The Victoria Falls Bridge linking
Zimbabwe and Zambia.
As more and more people lose confidence
in the institutions of our democracy, we are
fostering an expectation that the government
will not, or cannot, offer solutions.
NICK KRUKOWSKI
politicians offer unrealistically simple solutions to problems
that are in reality complex and nuanced. We seem to be
losing our ability to work together. And as more and more
people lose confidence in the institutions of our democracy,
we are fostering an expectation that the government will
not, or cannot, offer solutions.
Right now, in Canada, we are grappling with the possibility that our own elections have been the target of foreign
interference. I would suggest the specifics of what happened
are, in fact, less important than our response to the possibility itself. Our first goal should be to ensure that Canadians
remain confident in the process—in the institution of electoral democracy. If we fail in this first, fundamental task, we
may someday find ourselves sitting in the dark, wondering
where it all went wrong.
Nick Krukowski
is vice president and
publisher with
Actual Media Inc
RENEWCANADA.NET
