Old home, new home, striking similarities

 Now that I am firmly replanted back in Canada, I thought I would drop this little nugget on Germaine and friends.

Leaving "home", small-town Minnesota for the 2nd time, was not easy. Leaving behind the country I was born in. But I have been struck with how similar the two countries have become.

Let me explain:

I moved back to Minnesota in 2009, thrilled that my home country had finally grown up and elected a black President. Then 2016 happened.

As for my home town, not much had changed, and still hasn't changed, despite the change in mood in the country. We have been and continue to be a progressive town, but the demographics have changed slightly since my childhood.

Now most of the convenience stores, gas stations, and some restaurants are owned and run by East Asian and South Asian people. I have seen no animosity towards this group. The town had, in my original absence of living in Canada, become a bit more upscale. Fancier boutiques, coffee shops, gift shops. But all in all, the town has retained it's charm, and it's progressive views.

The shame is, the country around it has changed, and not for the better. I feel like a father abandoning a struggling child. Makes me sad.

Now contrast THAT to my new home. The town I am moving back to has always had it's problems but also it's charms. Not much has changed. Like my home town in Minny, there are now a few more fancier shops and upscale restaurants. BUT what the residents of this northern Ontario town love is the big city amenities but the small town "feel." People here are general kind, generous, willing to help a neighbor and lack the standoffishness you find in some big cities.

BUT...as with the U.S, the country has changed. Canada has now it's fair share of anti-vaxxers, anti-maskers, anti-mandates. NOT as bad as the U.S, but still.....

We had the truckers protest, Conservative politicians are starting to sound more like American conservatives than Canadian ones.

Have far-right radicals infiltrated Canada’s conservative parties?

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/04/29/opinion/far-right-radicals-infiltrated-canada-conservative-parties-commission

Is this the shape of the world to come? Where a socialist paradise like Canada is starting to slide into some of the same political wonkiness that is infecting the U.S.?

In my case, I have been fortunate to leave both a progressive small town in Minny, and move into a larger town but with still a very calm and generous population here in Ontario. I know we can't all be that lucky.

Future elections in both countries will be ever the more important because of the changes we are seeing. At least - SO FAR - Canadian conservatives haven't embraced the stolen election mantra - SO FAR!

Here is hoping that this one bit of sanity will still prevail here in Canada, and will eventually return to American politics.