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Kathy's avatar

Here is one suggestion about why things feel broken (are broken): We used to know the people providing our goods and services, and we actively engaged with our goods and services. That provided a measure of accountability, and also we cared more about that accountability. We knew our cashiers. Our parents were friends with their bosses and coworkers, and we had big Christmas parties for kids of staff every year. We had to take time to accomplish anything, from grocery shopping to searching out information, and that meant that we had more of a stake in the outcome. Now we just click for our lives. The people providing our information, from local journalists to librarians, were local. Now our journalists provide opinions rather than reporting events, and Google is our librarian. We used to actively participate in our lives, and now we watch our lives unfold through processes far beyond our time and control. Our politicians now care more about what Twitter thinks, and less about what constituents think. That all feels chaotic, and feels like we don't have any influence. We don't have any influence, control, or stake in anything beyond our own households, if we have that.

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Tara Houle's avatar

A great starting point in fixing our country might be to acknowledge that our new Canadians should absolutely be invited to an in person ceremony to celebrate with other new Canadians, rather than clicking a button on a computer by yourself at home.

Community. Community. Community. Start with that.

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