So during the spring we all went a little crazy for "Elbows Up" and Canadian patriotism and all that, and then Carney was elected and for a while there is really seemed like everyone was onside with rapid economic development, accepting Carney's challenge to pull together and carve a new path for the country.
But we were told that it wasn't going to be easy, and turns out that is true, its all challenging and difficult and expensive and unknown.
Easier, really, to just retreat and regroup, just go back to our old ways - inter-provincial fisticuffs and endless development consultations and hold-ups, and everybody hating Ottawa but wanting more money from them.
So I'm afraid our old patterns and annoyances are reasserting themselves.
Carney's first budget is going to be a test case, not just for him but also for us -- can we actually try to envisage a larger picture, to see what future the Carney Liberals are trying to achieve, and to decide from that whether we can get behind it or not? Or are we going to just nitpick the Liberals to death, along with their budget -- "what about MY program? How dare you give more money to THOSE GUYS instead of to ME? And if THEY got some then I have to get some too because otherwise its UNFAIR!" And "How can we trust them when somebody somewhere might take advantage of us?"
