#elxn42: What's Next

Update: This Luke Savage article says it all better than I ever could

I'm optimistic. Really.

Like most Canadians (and as it turns out, most of my multi-national office), I'm absolutely thrilled that the Stephen Harper decade is finally dead. I have no doubt that the Liberals are capable of salvaging what is left of the country to restore us to who we should be, and on many things, I think they might even be willing to do that work.

There's a lot to do though:

• Getting us back on track with our international environmental commitments.
• Repealing C-51
• Restoring the long-form census so we can start making fact-based decisions again.
• Restoring benefits to veterans and seniors.
• Funding the massive infrastructure deficit in our cities.
• Letting our scientists talk to the public again.
• Investigate and prosecute those responsible for the 1186 missing or murdered aboriginal women.
• Welcoming the thousands of refugees we should have brought in years ago.
• Repealing the "Fair Elections Act"
• Restoring funding to the CBC
• Restoring full citizenship rights to expats and dual-citizens
• Reforming the Senate
• Reforming the electoral system so that we never again have to suffer through a decade of autocratic rule propped up by 38% of the public.
• Undoing the culture of hate and fear the Conservatives saddled us with.

This is off the top of my head. There's so much more to do.

I'm still worried though. With a majority, Justin Trudeau has effectively been given a blank cheque to do with the country as he sees fit. When it comes to who we are as a people, I'm confident that Trudeau will put us on the right track, but when it comes to things like climate change, civil rights, and international trade, his record is worrying.

The Liberals still deny the science of climate change in their support for oil pipelines out of Alberta, and I'm going to go out on a limb and say that we'll sign onto TPP on a Friday when nobody's watching, after which our government will be compelled to act against the interest of Canadians if it means losses of potential revenue for private companies. TPP also governs important 21st century subjects like copyright and digital rights management, that will shape the nature of public discourse for the next century.

The Liberals also supported Harper's insane "Barbaric Cultural Practises" act, as well as the abomination that is C-51, which outright violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Reforming the Senate is going to be an uphill battle (if it's fought at all), and restoring the funding for the CBC was never a priority of former Liberals, so I'm not sure that it will be one for this government either.

But much of the damage will be undone, which fills me with such joy -- Seriously, it's as if I got my Canada back today.