It's not just in the movies, or a comedy sketches that the kid in the back, in a dry bored tone says, "Are we there yet?" It really is a good question, not just because every journey seems to have a beginning and an end, but philosophically ,the whole point of the question is. where is "there."

As a society and a a civilisation the same question comes up and hinges precisely on that same issue, what is the destination? Are we as a people, just struggling along, or do we actually plan to get some where? The problem of course, is encumbered by the time involved, when we think of our progress as a province, or a country, let alone a civilisation, it is abundantly clear, that it will take a succession of lifetimes to move ourselves forward, all the while making sure we do not regress and lose ground, or progress along the way.

Just as the child in the back seat contemplates the trip he is on, having an ending, getting to some place, in all likelihood, we too, are inclined to wonder, do we know where we are going, or are we just in this life along for an endless ride, as David Letterman said once, "hopelessly lost but making good time."

The folks who gather at their favourite place for coffee, or breakfast do so knowing full well that the most important part of that experience is the interaction they will have with their fellow travellers in life. They know that will share their lives, their attitudes, their worries and absolutely, they will share a laugh or two. But, deep down, coffee time is an important time, people are honest with one another and the ideas and thoughts they express are as genuine as it can get.
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The moment we put this ultimate thought to our minds the response is instantaneous, "of course we are going some where, there is a point to it all and . . ." That's where the realisation kicks in and we notice that each of us may have temporary and short term goals, we all seem to be a bit fuzzy when it comes to long term goals and if we think about ourselves as part of a society, it is very very clear that shared long term goals are very hard to be found and as diverse as each and every individual we encounter. Well at least, it seems that way.

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Once a person sorts out their initial priorities they can see that compromises in expectation, ability, opportunity and practicality combine to the selection of a career. Of course there are a few who stumble along without a career plan in mind, but in our world, they are much more of a small fraction then one might think. Our second most difficult decision in life is to come to terms with who we will share our life with. Sadly, our society is not doing such a great job of helping people out with this issue and luck, chance and circumstance seem to play a much larger role than really should be the case.

Success in life for the majority of people in our society, is measured by financial security. A lot can be said about this, especially when you realise this is being written by a baby boomer, who graduated in the idealistic and unrealistic world of the 1960s. In the world of flower power ,anything was possible man and fortunately, for most of us, that euphoric state passed and we got a meaningful job and we have raised our families, hoping that a bit of that care free world is still stuck somewhere in the back of our minds and appreciated by our children. So, here we are, graduated from the work world, with time to think about things and perhaps even time to share some plausible wisdom with others.

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Today as I read about John Diefenbaker's affairs and contrast that with the teetotaller and individual I remember him to be, with his ideals of a better Canada, where there would be no hyphenated Canadians ,where there would be solid human rights for us all and indeed, no capital punishment. I had to chuckle, his sexual indiscretions do not distract from his idealism for me, they just make the man I knew, just a bit more human. But, it also really made me think about what it was like in 1962, as a "young Conservative," contemplating the kind of society I wanted to live in and what it would be like for generations to come. We thought about those things and "yes," I believe the vast majority of us in mock parliament, on both sides of the floor and all of us on campus, did have a destination in mind.
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Humanity could do better, that year we discovered that universal health care was possible and a decade later we had seen a movement toward universal dental care for all children, a decade later a promise of universal access to pharmaceuticals, we were making progress, But there is more, to us in in the Progressive Conservative camp, the Liberals were the unprincipled bunch that seemed to shamelessly only promote one part of the country over the rest, but surprisingly, they elected, then so did we all, a law professor from Quebec, who set out to create a "just society". He, not Tommy Douglas brought universal medical care to the whole country, reformed the legal system and achieved remarkable success in using taxation to have corporations pay a fair share and work toward preventing the spread between the wealthy and the poor.

In my lifetime things have improved. Life expectancy jumped, epidemics suppressed, a five day work week became standard and all the while our quality of life improved.

I can't explain why societal progress went off the rails. The Conservative years of Mulroney and Clark saw a wicked rise in public debt so the Liberal governments that followed sorted out inflation and balanced the budget, but then the cold crept in. Voters who did not share the same destination of earlier generations, who had not experienced the ravages of total war brought about by totalitarianism, elected a one man government. Italy, Germany, Spain and Portugal had all seen what would happen with such a form of government, but Canadians in 2006 and since, have decided that one guy calling the shots was where they wanted to go.
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Now here is where we are at: the goal is to restore the quality of life during the dirty thirties where wages for everyone were so low, that all people would accept any work just to survive. Corporations in Canada pay the lowest taxes in all of the developed world, only half as much as they do on the other side of the US border. Unemployment among young people is growing exponentially and the quality of work is declining, as Canadian corporations spend next to nothing on research and development. Last week, on the CBC news a conservative Toronto economist suggested Canadian young people look at trades rather than going to collage. The right wing mantra of the 1920s and 30s is now with us "expect less because we are going no where." Corporations are begging for low paid foreign workers who they can bullied and pay 15% less than Canadians. The federal government claims they will break even in two years, but to do tha,t we all have to accept less, while most provincial governments are hopelessly in debt and our own province is telling bold faced lies, claiming they have balanced the budget, while the auditors say they are cooking the books.
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I really don't need to tell you all this, because you already know that things aren't working. In 2008 the free market system and the capitalist system crashed and money flowed unbelievably to the losers who caused the crash. Now we know, that the stock market is fixed and politicians who lose elections are given the reward of a lifetime job in the senate. Meanwhile, the crime rate continues to decline and yet new prisons are being built to house more and more people, most of them visible minorities. Rich people do not go to jail, aboriginal woman are killed at random and 375,000 Ontario people depend on the food bank to survive while more than half of all of Canada's people living in poverty are children.

Are we there yet?

No damn it, we are going the wrong direction!

Do not seek leaders who have all the answers, do not tolerate leaders who do not find out what their followers want and need then do everything in their power to help them reach their goals. Thomas Montclair, Justin Trudeau, Christy Clark and Brad Wall all do that, they are leaders that follow. Now is the time, not two years from now, to set your sights on the future, not just a political future, but the future, for there is no way to separate politics from life, nor is there a way of separating life from science.

During my seven decades of life, it has been science that has made life better. My mom had polio, my children were almost completely free of communicable diseases. I have seen radio flourish, then television, the coming of the digital age, which could dissolve because of government spying as people realise maybe paper was the right thing after all, I have seen good things like railroads used to transport people and goods be ignored only as we realise that we must return to that mode of transport and I have seen the productivity of agriculture reach absolutely astonishing levels through science.

We can do better, and better and better, but in order to do so, we must put our kids in collage and we must demand that corporate Canada pay its share, do research and development and pay descent wages to all its employees, not just its CEO. We must, if necessary, get out in the streets and join "idle no more" or whatever movement is going to force government to honour its commitment to the treaties and make our society truly equal, in wealth, in justice and in health.
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