Thou Shalt Not Gloat

I didn't expect a majority.

Nor did I particularly want one.

Canadian prime ministers with majority mandates have much more power, domestically, than U.S. presidents. We've seen that over the past electoral term: the only thing keeping Stephen Harper from near-dictator status was our Supreme Court.

He's gone now, and I am very happy for that. He is a petty, vindictive, and above all small-minded man, and my Canada is bigger than he is.

Enter Trudeau fils.

His dad was a brilliantly intelligent man--even his enemies (and Pierre had many) agreed on that. Justin doesn't have his dad's smarts. I've read his biography, and he admits as much. What he does have, in spades, is emotional intelligence. Empathy, in other words. I'll take that, and gladly, because pace the past nine years, it's not called "The Harper Government" or "The Trudeau Government" but rather The Canadian Government. If Justin is truly as emotionally intelligent as he is said to be, he will recognize his weak areas and seek out those who are strong to guide him. If he's really smart, he'll take ideas from all over the political spectrum when he does this.

I wouldn't hold my breath, for two reasons. The first is because he's a Liberal. I can only hope that all traces of entitlement have been washed out of that party, but I think I'm wrong because of the second, which is that damned majority government.

I hate majorities. They say absolute power corrupts absolutely. That's not true--if your power is truly absolute, there's nothing to corrupt you with. It's really the perception of inadequate power that corrupts. And power being like money, the more of it you've got, the less of it you really think you have.
Majorities grant too much power. They negate the need for consensus, which is the defining characteristic of a true leader.

Trudeau absolutely needs to understand -- and take to heart -- that his resounding victory tonight is much more a repudiation of Stephen Harper than it is a wholesale endorsement of his platform or personality. The majority he's been granted can evaporate just as quickly as it coalesced, likely in favour of a Conservative party led by someone who doesn't hate everyone else.

In the meantime, I will be watching for the following promises to be made reality.

• Legalization of marijuana. I put this first not because I am a pothead, but because Colorado has shown this to be an extremely lucrative and harmless way to raise tax money--money that currently goes to organized crime. Also because pot has numerous benefits for those who do partake. And if pleasure is one of them, why is that my business? Alcohol is legal and tobacco is legal and pot is basically alcohol you smoke. Except nobody high on pot ever beat the shit out of anything other than a bag of chips.
• Electoral reform. This is a big one. I highly doubt that Trudeau will move on this now, having been given a majority government. If he does, my respect for him will go through the roof and into the stratosphere. A different electoral system would mean that no vote (or at least dramatically fewer votes) would be wasted. We could actually get a government that reflects our vote...a government that would be forced to work together, the way government is supposed to.
• Action on C-51. Trudeau supported this odious piece of Harper-dung because, he said, Harper would have eaten him alive if he hadn't. As I just wrote in a comment to my last blog, C-51, by virtue of Harper's majority, was going to pass anyway, so opposing it wouldn't have made a difference. Trudeau has said he will amend the ugly parts. There are a lot of ugly parts and he'd better get amending.
• Open, honest government. The usual promise. Walk the damn walk, Justin. If there isn't an extremely pressing reason for something to be secret, it must not be. Do what you said you do. I respect Mike Harris for that reason, even though I hate what he did to my province. He said what he was going to do, won TWO majorities on it...and did it. 
• Dedicating money and attention to the common good. This includes scientific research, effort on diversifying the economy beyond oil (preferably towards less environmentally damaging substances), public transit and infrastructure, and a whole host of other things that have gone largely by the wayside of late.

Congratulations Justin Trudeau. Now the hard part begins.