I woke up this morning to another Trudeau government.
And I’m numb.
Oh… the numbness isn’t Justin’s fault, although I’m sure we’ll soon discover that just about everything else is his fault. That’s part of his job. From here on in, everything is his fault.
But the numbness I feel right now has nothing to do with our PM-to-be.
Depending on how you look at it, the numbness began in my tongue and spread to my lower lip… or on the other hand, you could say it started in my dentist’s office.
Either way, it’s annoying.
Half of my lip feels like it isn’t there – kind of like that opera phantom’s face.
And it has twice already caused me to bite my tongue – something I don’t usually do when I’m discussing politics!
Actually, this election was a lot like my visit to the dentist.
First comes the realization that the visit is unavoidable. Inevitable, in fact.
There is a pain that refuses to go away.
And it keeps getting worse.
I don’t know about you, but my trips to the dentist always involve a dollop of fear.
Past experience tells me that you never know how it’s going to turn out for sure.
There’s always this underlying concern that the trip will be costly, it could very easily involve a great deal of pain, and it might not even solve anything.
Then, when it’s over, it turns out the whole ordeal wasn’t so bad after all, and next thing you know, you’re smiling again.
That’s how I felt about Monday’s election.
And, yes, there will be some folks still crying today.
For some people, that trip to the dentist didn’t end well. For instance, racists and Islamaphobes who have been watching too many episodes of Homeland are right now cowering in corners, in deathly fear that the next niqab coming around the corner isn’t hiding an alluring smile, but a terrorist’s sneer.
They never seem to think about how much danger might be lurking in the briefcase being carried by the Bay Street suit coming from the other direction.
Although the dentist’s visit this morning appears to have been a total success, now that the numbness is beginning to fade, I can’t say that I’m equally pleased with last night’s election results.
It was a good result.
It was a great result.
But it wasn’t a perfect result.
To me, an perfect election ends with the beginning of a minority government.
Minorities are underrated in this country.
But that’s only because the politicians have convinced the masses that they should be allowed to be lazy.
Minorities require our parliamentarians to work harder. They can’t just go ahead and do what they want and claim that they have a mandate.
For one thing, majorities – like Justin’s freshly minted one – are rarely elected by a majority of Canadians, and even still, different Canadians will have cast their ballots for different reasons.
We don’t all think alike, and it is disingenuous for leaders to assume that they have all the answers that we all want.
Refreshingly, Justin said as much in his amazingly gracious acceptance speech.
It’s an unusually good start for a majority.
Let’s hope he makes this trip to the dentist a memorable one – for only good reasons.