blogcutter

Today instead of a throwback Thursday, I'm going to do a kind of throw-ahead Thursday. Our local newspaper is asking people to write in and briefly describe what their "new normal" will look like, or what they would LIKE it to look like once this pandemic is a distant memory.

So here's what I hope for, tempered by what I think we can realistically expect.

You know that old adage, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger"? I don't think anybody will come through this totally unscathed, even if their own and their family's health are not directly affected. I would hope that most of us have learned to be kinder and more compassionate than we may have been previously, and that we will be more appreciative of what we have. I think we are coming to understand, in a more heartfelt way, the value but also the fragility of our lives. Many of us have reassessed our goals and priorities over the past several months. Some of us have had ample time to take stock of our lives. As for those stressed-out folk fighting a sometimes losing battle on the front lines? It's probably fair to say that somewhere in the back of their minds, their psyches are busily taking stock FOR them and once the day-to-day and minute-to-minute crises have ended, these people will find themselves at a fork in the road, making decisions about what to do next.

That's the more macro picture. There are some more specific things I'd like to see happen too.

In Canada, I'd like to finally see a universal basic income for every adult Canadian citizen. And in fact, that is definitely on the agenda of the federal Liberals at the moment. I'm hoping it won't go the way of the Liberal promise to get rid of the first-past-the-post electoral system. We shall see.

I'd like to see more of a "Man is the measure of all things" society. Human-scale, walkable, public transit-rich environmentally conscious cities and towns. But to accomplish this, we need to be conscious of people's habits, of the things people DO do rather than just what we think they OUGHT to do. For example, it's one thing to say that everyone should travel by bicycle instead of private car ALL THE TIME and no one should EVER smoke or eat junk food or do anything that's bad for them - but that's just not going to happen! So what do we do instead?

We need to make it easier for ordinary everyday people to do the more desirable things, at least a good portion of the time, and to feel their efforts are being acknowledged. Less of the carrot and the stick; more of the incentives and deterrents, without actually outlawing most popular activities. Provide as much in the way of information and social, consultational and educational opportunities as possible and let people make up their own minds about how they will proceed.

Politically, we have so many levels of government in this country and things can end up being very polarized. What doesn't always work well is executive federalism, where the Prime minister meets with the Premiers or the Health Ministers or the Finance Ministers of the provinces and territories (and lately often with indigenous leaders, which is at least a step in the right direction). Individual Canadians feel very much excluded from the process as in fact they are, with no MP or MPP or local councillor or other constituency person to represent them.

But there are many issues that transcend party lines. I'd like to see more collaboration between politicians of different political stripes. All-party committees, special committees, public consultations, even more good old-fashioned constituency work on the part of our representatives at all levels.

I know I've lapsed into generalities again here, but I'll close with one specific example. While I'm unlikely to vote Conservative any time soon, I definitely applaud the private member's bill of our local Conservative MPP, Jeremy Roberts, which aims to get rid of the nonsense and aggravation of changing our clocks twice a year. And good on him for seeking collaboration with Quebec and New York State!

Of course, we'll need to backtrack on that message of changing the batteries in smoke alarm and CO detectors at the same time as we change the clocks! I wonder what they do in Saskatchewan?