This week's Throne Speech represented the banality of normal. In this regard, as we face unprecedented crises across the world, I found the Throne Speech oddly alarming in its normality.
In trying to decipher what I felt about a Throne Speech followed by a prime ministerial, prime-time address to warn us that the pandemic is going to get worse before it gets better, two pieces online guided my thinking.
Tom Clark, the veteran TV journalist, set the mood, writing, "If this were the 14th century, our little ship of state would be in the blank corner of a medieval map that stated, 'there be dragons here,' and our ship would be taking on water in full view of the sea monsters".
In a similar vain, Jen Gerson wrote about the crisis, too, suggesting, "This might be the year when the bad really got started; when history reasserted itself".
She widened the aperture of her alarm, pointing to "The probability of America devolving into a state of civil unrest in the coming months is not zero, and it's getting higher. What are the implications for Canada if our largest trading partner is courting the title of 'failed state'?"
I'm reminded of the scene in one of the Harry Potter movies when sidekick Ron Weasley whimpers, "can we panic now?"
Or, as the Mountain Goats sing, "I'm gonna make it through this year, if it kills me. We'll be singing and dancing in Jerusalem next year: I'm gonna make it through this year, if it kills me."
It is all quite a lot.
The superpower United States is run by a fool who may not concede the election a combination of Nero and Mad King George all in one. We are in the worst global pandemic in a century; we face the worst economic conditions since the 1930s. Right-wing authoritarianism is back, fuelled by income inequality and dormant racism is reasserting itself. Oh, and the planet is quite literally on fire.
As Clark said, "Canada, and in fact the entire world, is in unexplored territory."
With the scope and scale and severity of the crises in full view, the Throne Speech felt small in comparison.
Again, to quote Clark, "Almost nothing about the Throne Speech was revolutionary. A lot of it had been promised in the past, such as national childcare, and the rest was pretty standard fare. Except, of course, for the price tag."
He adds, "What worked in the past isn't working now, and public policy is being formed at breakneck speeds with an 'announce now, detail later' approach."
Gerson makes a similar point: "Except for a few mentions of COVID-19, the speech was indistinguishable from the platform promises he gave when he was first elected to power five years ago. Apparently the answer to an unprecedented global health crisis and economic collapse is — identical to the answers the Liberals proposed before the global health crisis and the economic collapse."
I'm reminded of the eloquent line from President Abraham Lincoln: "The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves."
Tinkering with Employment Insurance, namedropping leftist buzzwords, touting the notion of pharmacare the Throne Speech sketched out what might have felt like a bold plan this time last year; today, it feels barely adequate to the "stormy present".
The one line I took assurance from was the admonition that now is no time for austerity.
Rather, now is a time to do whatever can be done, to experiment, to jettison programs (like the commercial rent subsidy) when they are not working, to experiment again, and to keep trying to make this unprecedented economic upheaval and health crisis manageable.
At the same time, we cannot take our eyes off the ball when it comes to the climate crisis the phantom menace that is happening before our eyes even as we deal with the pandemic.
This is no time for the banality of normal. It is time to do what it takes to get our ship through these unprecedented, dragon-filled waters.
Photo Credit: CTV News
