Canada Is More Than Politics

Canada has occupied a lot of space in my head over the years.

Not just Canadian politics. Canada.

The places, the people, the differences between regions, the things we complain about and the things we don’t appreciate nearly enough. I’ve lived in Quebec, Ontario, big cities, suburbs and smaller communities. I’ve driven through an awful lot of this country, talked to people from just about every walk of life and discovered that Canada usually looks considerably different from ground level than it does from behind a desk.

That’s what this section is for.

There are other places for my political writing. The Canadianist covers Canadian news and public affairs. The United Canadian Centrist Party has a website for policies, ideas and the work we’re doing there.

This isn’t either of those.

Sometimes I might write about a town I stopped in and didn’t expect to like as much as I did. A restaurant somewhere that deserves more attention. Something distinctly Canadian that we’ve somehow stopped noticing. A conversation with someone I met along the way. A bit of history. A place worth visiting. Something we’re doing particularly well. Something that drives me absolutely crazy.

Maybe I’ll write about Montreal one week and some little place along Highway 11 the next.

There’s no mandate here other than Canada.

I’ve always been fascinated by the fact that this enormous, complicated country somehow holds together despite our geography, our regional differences, two official languages, wildly different histories and our occasional determination to irritate one another.

Maybe that’s part of what makes it interesting.

I spend plenty of time thinking seriously about where Canada is going.

This is where I get to enjoy where Canada is.