We Don’t Talk About Politics TRANSPARENTLY AND OBJECTIVELY AND TRUTHFULLY Here on Turtle Island And That’s the Problem!

 My girlfriend keeps telling me, “We don’t talk about politics or money here in Canada.”

(Bear in mind, we are 11 years apart, so we do have a completely different upbringing. She is also from Newfoundland and has been in Alberta for almost 30 years. I just got to Alberta 2-3 years ago. I was born and raised in Timmins, Ont. and I moved to Ottawa and then to BC for university and then to China, and now I am back...lol )

And I keep saying, “Why?”

And she keeps saying, “We just don’t.”

And I keep saying, “That’s not an answer.”

So I went digging….of course, lol

Because here’s the thing: I was abroad for ten years. Ten. Years. I lived and worked in China, at a BC Offshore school…which I then helped turn over into an International School System. And when I first arrived there, the very first question someone asked me wasn’t my favourite colour or what I did for fun. It was:

“Are you good? Have you eaten? What do you do? And how much money do you make?”

Blunt? Yes. Rude by Canadian standards? Absolutely. But also, honest. Transparent. Not wrapped in politeness designed to avoid discomfort. They know life is hard. They admit life is hard. They see the financial systems they are trapped in…but they work together because they come to each other in good faith, care and genuine concern and curiosity. They are not pinned against each other with divisive grievance politics.

And while I couldn’t really talk politics there (language barrier and you know, the fear of what I thought could be punishable by death), politics was everywhere. On television. In public messaging. In daily life. Power structures weren’t hidden. Governance wasn’t treated like a dirty secret you’re not supposed to mention at dinner. They all know they have one leader, and they must all work together to be the best citizens they can be for their country. Now, of course, it is all very complex and rooted in all sorts of traditional history from their continent. But, for the sake of a blog, and telling a story, and sharing a stream of consciousness, as opposed to writing a novel or a master’s thesis paper, lol, it was nice!

IT WAS SO NICE!!! NO PUNDITS! NO OUTRAGE CYCLES! NO BAD VIBES!

(Unless you watched any English news, of course…but even then, it was rather objective and unbiased, and definitely not emotionally charged or grievance-driven…..Now I am not saying anything about Chinese news…that’s a whole other ball game that I wouldn’t know well, lol. However, one idea does not negate the other by any means here.)

So, now I’m home...And I have Canadian culture shock! Legit culture shock! Like way worse than anything I have ever experienced in my life!

Real, disorienting, “what the h*ll is going on here?” kind of culture shock. I was in China learning about Truth and Reconciliation, SOGI, all sorts of inclusive modern ideas happening in my country and then what a disappointment upon arrival….

1) The airport people are mean AF! 2) The internet people are either fake or mean AF! 3) The grievance politics are mean AF!

Geezus..talk about a greeting from Canada…the peaceful, kind, inclusive country of the world! The example country of how we all get along! Um…WTF was happening?

And then I realized….American politics, American news, American lies and biases and fake news being portrayed as news (again worst than I had ever seen! And the Canadian grievance politics between Federal and Provincial governments...Although always a little familiar in our beautiful nothing country, Canadian media has been influenced so drastically by American politics since I left, and most especially from what I can gather since COVID that all we hear about is issues, blame and scapegoats! And yet, the general public doesn't even seem to understand the difference between provincial responsibilities and federal responsibilities? And everyone just keeps passing the buck around??? WTF???

Politics Everywhere, Except Where It Matters

Canada is drowning in politics, but not the kind that actually helps people understand anything.

Here is what I have recognized since being home from China…we have:

• We have hot takes

  • a quick in response/reaction to a recent event, to attract attention

• We have outrage cycles

  • repetitive patterns of public anger

  • triggered by negative one-sided narratives

  • amplified by the social media algorithms

  • lead to rapid, high-engagement spikes of anger

  • often fuel political, social, and cultural polarization

  • frequently resulting in disengagement (snowflakes, I think we call them now? the ones who want to do nothing because of their mental health? IDK, this is what I am picking up, and honestly it is ALL ridiculous!!!)

• We have pundits

  • a person who authoritatively offers an opinion, but has no legitimate evidence or facts to support that opinion (or one-sided story).

• We have vibes

  • the emotional atmosphere, mood, or energy given off by a person (condescending, fear, authority, confidence, etc.)

• We have fear-based headlines

  • Almost everything and anything you see by the Alberta Prosperity Project or any other ‘Prosperity’ movements (BC, SK, ON) and especially anything with BertaProudDad conservatives, and the conservative party needs to be investigated. (They are FOX NEWS of Canada as far as I am concerned and traitors to this country! Of course, just my culture shock opinion but like holy moly I don’t see how not EVERYONE sees it!!! I hope Carney sees it and I hope Albertans see it because these trumparoonies are coming in hot right under our noses!)

    • I by no means am saying I am a Liberal either! I do not really care what side is leading me. What I care about is their integrity, their morals, their values, not how deep a few pockets can get while we continue to repeat the same cycles! Have we learned nothing the last decade or two?!

  • the ‘he said-she said’ narratives

  • the East vs. West narrative (Ottawa vs. Alberta….China vs. Canada…China vs. USA)

    • The only reason Trump sh*ts on China as far as I am concerned, is because he owes that country his country….because his country is built on the backs of those people to this day! His pockets are deep because he and others like him are manipulative, fear-mongering bullies!!!!

• We have scarcity narratives

  • There aren’t enough resources for everyone!

  • We don’t have enough!

  • They have more, and we have less!

    • THERE IS NEVER ENOUGH! When will you realize you need to just be grateful for what you have, and keep working to build community and prosperity for everyone, not just yourself and your own?

• We have social media and algorithm-fed anger

  • Social media is made to keep you on it as long as possible;

  • If you are scared you are staying indoors and online

  • If you are online, they can feed you anything you want! (Watch the documentary: The Social Dilemma)

    • You must always do your own research. Use your phone for research, too. Find the opposite perspective of what you heard, and then a few more perspectives. Question everything! See if you can find the answers, and then, mix all the information you find in your head and decide for yourself what you want to do or think. Always question: Who are they trying to convince/entertain/persuade/inform? What is the purpose? Are they convincing me of something? Entertaining me? Persuading me? Informing me? Educating me? Why? Why say or write this?

• We have way much poisonous social media and media coming from the USA, instilling fear in anyone trying to ‘keep up’ with the news and current affairs.

  • Grievance ‘news’, fake ‘news’, and biased ‘news’ is everywhere.

    • This is also why you need to keep up with the House of Commons and the Bills and Petitions!

  • Integrity in journalism, has been exchanged for sensationalism + headlines

    
    
    
    

Here is what I have recognized since being home from China… we DON’T have: normalized civic conversations.

(I don’t understand. Did critical thinking, debating with facts and perspectives (not full blown lies), and having respectful discussions end in high school for my generation??? (80s baby, 90s kid, graduated high school in 2003, went abroad in 2012, lol)

Outside of high school, it seems we stopped talking about:

• How laws actually get passed…

  • How the provincial government is MORE THAN LIKELY the one wasting your dollars and then blaming the federal government for not giving them enough….you know like spoiled children…..

• What the House of Commons is doing today! Tomorrow! This week, this month….

  • https://www.ourcommons.ca/en#pw-agenda-publications

• What provincial legislatures are debating about, and when and where

  • I mean, how can they pass laws without ALL of us knowing what is happening?! UM HELLO! That’s why we live in Canada! We want our say too! You can’t just go run wild with your power! That is literally UNCANADIAN!!!!!

• Who our MLAs even are

• Why does it take a regular citizen to make a website to show other citizens the MLAs and the laws they are passing? (Albertawatch.ca) Why don’t we already know this? Who is voting for these people? Are ALL CANADIANS WITH A CITIZENSHIP COMING TO DO THE WORK?! Are we just leaving this all up the to the Indigenous to take care of? Why aren’t we talking more about voting and politics and laws and all this, ALL THE TIME!? Why are we not holding these so-called LEADERS accountable!

  Don’t we know that Leaders Eat Last! 

  (Click the link, read the book. Yes, I can get a little kickback if you purchase it from this link. But I promise you as a leader you should read it and as a citizen you should know what to expect from your leaders.)

  
  

  Now it is important to note: Some people don’t know who represents them. Not because they’re stupid or lazy, but because the system does not make this information easy, visible, or culturally normal to engage with.

  • And I know because I have been trying to catch up, and I am a TEACHER!

  • I am a CURRICULUM WRITER!

  • I have 4 POST-SECONDARY DIPLOMAS on the wall.

  • I am a GLOBAL CITIZEN.

  • I AM AN IMMIGRANT!

  • I AM A CANADIAN WITH CANADIAN CULTURE SHOCK!

What I have also noticed is that instead of real news and real citizenship duty, we outsource our understanding of democracy to:

• social media clips

• opinion panels

• one-sided narratives

• gossip dressed up as analysis

And then we wonder why people are angry, polarized, defensive, and confused.

East vs West. Separatism. Silence.

Here’s what I truly don’t understand.

How do we have:

• rising separatist rhetoric and political movements

• regional resentment (Alberta vs. Ottawa)

• “East vs West” narratives

• grievance politics everywhere

…and yet nobody talks about it openly?

Or rather, we do talk about it, but only in whispers, comment sections, or echo chambers. Never face-to-face. Never in good faith. Never with curiosity.

Everyone’s first reaction is to get mean. Defensive. Hostile. Like curiosity itself is an attack.

If we actually talked to each other, really talked, maybe we’d realize:

• not everyone is the ‘caricature’ or ‘stereotype’ we’ve been fed

• people’s fears usually come from confusion, not malice

• disagreement doesn’t mean disloyalty…you can still continue to DISCUSS

But we don’t do that.

We posture.

We perform.

We retreat.

And the silence keeps feeding the divide.

Learning About Canada From the Outside 

Here’s the part that messes with me the most.

While I was living abroad, I learned more about Canada than I ever did living here.

I learned about:

• Truth and Reconciliation

• colonial history (unlearning + learning)

• Indigenous perspectives

• how immigrants see this country

• how Canada presents itself globally

  
  

And then I came home… and it was like none of that translated into daily life.

Instead of dialogue, I found avoidance.

Instead of accountability, I found defensiveness.

Instead of collective responsibility, I found grievance politics.

And I kept thinking:Isn’t this exactly what Indigenous peoples have been telling us since colonization? Isn’t this what I learned in high school? In university? In China???

Listen.

Talk to each other.

Make decisions collectively.

Stop hoarding power.

Stop governing through fear and silence.

These weren’t radical ideas.

These were lessons.

And somehow, we still haven’t learned? We still haven't outgrown the same patterns???

Democracy Isn’t Entertainment

Here’s my biggest issue:Democracy should not be this hard to access.

If democracy is real, then:

• the House of Commons should be easy to watch

• provincial legislatures should be visible

• decisions should be transparent

• primary sources should be centralized and simple

• civic education shouldn’t feel like a graduate thesis

• TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION BILLS SHOULD BE PASSING MORE QUICKLY THAN DANIELLE SMITH HIRING A NEW UNNECESSARY AUTHORITY FORCE!!!

Why is there anything on our televisions more prominent than the actual rooms where the people we elected are making decisions?

Why do I have to dig so hard to find what’s actually happening?

I have time right now.

I’m on vacation for five weeks.

Most people don’t have that luxury.

They’re working, raising kids, surviving.

And then we (I) shame them for being “uninformed.”

That’s not fair.

That’s not a people problem.

That’s a system problem.

Grievance Is Not a Political System

What we’re doing right now isn’t democracy!

It’s grievance management. It’s distraction while big bad wolves get away with bad behaviour!

Fear sells.

Anger mobilizes.

Outrage keeps people glued.

But none of it builds understanding.

None of it builds trust.

None of it builds community.

And it definitely doesn’t build a country.

We don’t need less information, we need better information, presented honestly, without hysteria, and without treating citizens like children who can’t handle nuance!

So What Actually Needs to Change?

We need:

• normalized political conversation

• curiosity over defensiveness

• good-faith disagreement

• transparent, accessible civic information

We need to:

• know who our MLAs are

• write to them

• expect clarity

• demand accountability

And we need to stop pretending that silence equals politeness.

Silence is not neutral.Silence protects power.Silence is how systems stay broken.

Final Thought

So if you’re just popping in, hi. My name is Ashley. And I have culture shock!!!

I left Canada for ten years and came home expecting maturity, dialogue, and growth. What I found instead was fear, avoidance, and politics treated like gossip instead of responsibility.

We can do better.We’ve been taught better.We know better.

The question is whether we’re finally ready to act like it, or whether we’ll keep pretending that not talking about the problem somehow makes it go away.

Because it doesn’t.

It just lets it rot.