Concert of the Canadas 2: Peace - Prosperity
Original Kitchener, Ontario, Canada Easter Monday April 10, 2023
This series of musings follows a process of imagining a new addition to the civic realm in Canada: “an omni-partisan movement that is grounded in place.” The aim is to develop a means through which good-hearted citizens can better serve our respective communities, and, in so doing, serve Canada as a whole, the land and the people.
“Omni-partisan” says “come as you are,” with all ties intact – political, ideological, religious, ethnic, familial, social, professional and corporate.
“Grounded” says join in from wherever you happen to be.
The aim is to connect, converse, organize and begin working together to achieve practical results, step by step, each in our particular corner, guided by our own particular lights.
“Movement” may be the wrong word. The purpose for associating is to get things done that are difficult to do working entirely on your own. Yes, we’d like to cause a bit of a stir. But the aim is not to wield power or influence, nor to rebuild the world in accordance with some partisan blueprint, and certainly not to form a pool of energy for someone from somewhere to lead into action.
What I’m imagining is more like a company formed to get work done effectively and efficiently than it is comparable to, say, an army, a navy or an air force ready to be marshaled and mobilized.
I’m calling it a “concert” to distinguish what I have in mind from a political party. Partisan formations divide and detach; the aim here is integration, balance, harmony. But that doesn’t make this an anti-partisan movement, or an effort to find an alternative to political partisanship. It is meant to serve as a complement to the current order: Parties differentiate; the Concert of the Canadas embraces difference as a necessary condition for harmony.
Political parties in ongoing opposition to one another, usually with two mainstream forces taking turns at the helm, is ritualized civil war. Each shift in power is part of an endless cycle of revolution and restoration. The fact that the process is bloodless is the primary justification for keeping it going. Peaceful transition through an organized democratic process is one of the greatest political achievements of all time.
Conflict is held in check through ritual, but an election is not just a sport or a game. There is far more at stake than just winning. Partisan strife is playing with our lives and our livelihoods; with what we cherish and honour; with what we hold true, and what we hope for and long for.
The Concert is dedicated to civil peace. The intention is to experiment with the notion that the various banners people gather around -- red, orange, green, blue, black, white -- can be lined up in ways that enable them to serve common goals in distinct ways, not only without death and destruction, but in a harmony that is beneficial and pleasing to all.
The movement I’m imagining operates in the same field as traditional parties do: in the political or civic realm. A key difference is that a founding purpose here is to establish a better balance in the municipal-provincial-federal order, while political partisanship in Canada has customarily been concerned only with matters provincial and federal.
Mainstream parties operate in what are usually perceived as “higher” levels of power. Part of the purpose of situating this concert on the ground, at the basic constituency and individual citizen level, is to begin work towards a better balance. The aim is not equity or fairness so much as becoming practically more efficient and effective in what we set out to accomplish through our elected orders of government.
The motivation for proposing a new addition to the political order is a growing sense that, regardless of who we elect to represent us on our respective municipal councils, things will never improve unless active citizens begin thinking, talking about and implementing changes in the way the various “levels” of government relate to one another.
Better balance within and among all spheres of democratic practice in the Canadas promises to break, or at least ameliorate, a number of stalemates or impasses, such as:
the perennial stand-off between provincial and federal interests;
the impasse Canada’s municipalities find themselves in as permanent dependents under the antiquated “creatures of the province” principle;
US-style “culture war” patterns setting neighbour against neighbour;
the erratic path we have followed in recent decades due to irreconcilable partisan strife;
general apathy, mistrust, cynicism and/or despair regarding liberal democratic practices and institutions.
A credible promise of breaking these and other obstructive and destructive patterns would certainly be a welcome development. But setting out to tackle problems of this nature is not the best way to begin. A discussion of any item in this list of woes is likely to quickly get bogged down with standard ideological responses. Debilitating patterns soon become “just the way things are,” and we end up carrying on as usual, forgetting that improvement is even possible. It’s better to survey prospects, draw on strengths and build on what exists.
A good first step would be to develop a purposeful vision - something aspirational, but also practically achievable -- starting with how we live, work and learn in proximity with one another in our towns and cities. To repeat what I said in another sequence of musings: Let’s try to cultivate “a sense of possibility.”
With regard to the fundamental purpose of the civic enterprise I’m imagining, I can think of no better summary than the original motto of Waterloo County, Upper Canada / Canada West / Ontario (1853-1973), now adopted by both the Regional Municipality that was set up to replace the County here 50 years ago, and the Waterloo Regional Police Service: “Peace - Prosperity.”
Among the attributes that are fundamental to this proposition, “Peace” and “Prosperity” belong at or near the top of the list of key themes, which could look something like this:
Peaceful
Prosperous
Civic
Plural
Harmonious
Grounded
Practical
Well-meaning
Forward-looking
Peace, in the fullest sense, as in the lion with the lamb: reconciliation, not as a cessation of hostilities or a negotiated settlement, but as real peace, total peace, meaning a resolution of tensions or differences to the satisfaction and benefit of all concerned. But also peace in the practical sense of agreeing, from the outset, never to use violence, and to try to avoid, whenever possible, provoking it.
Prosperity means general well-being, reconfigured to suit 21st century realities, needs and opportunities, planet-wide.
The Civic Realm is another way of saying the political, in the root sense: polis and civis, Greek and Latin for “city” or “town.” The emphasis here is on civic or political fundamentals, meaning humans living in physical proximity and in formal association with one another.
The Canadas include the People (or the Commons, as in House of Commons), the Land, and, since 1867, the Sovereign State, with all constituent elements, and therefore plural as well as singular, yet also
Integrated, meaning that the constituent elements are connected to a whole while remaining distinct, in order to leave room for the possibility of
Harmony, achieved through an alignment of differences that allows the parts to become part of a more complex whole.
Hence this Omni-Partisan call for input and invitation to engagement. Progress towards peace on earth, good will to humankind, and a sustainable approach to general well-being can be made in countless different ways. The concert does not ask participants to set aside differences, but to make the most of them by devoting energies, convictions and commitments to matters that are specific and immediately at hand.
Grounded -- in place, on earth, where we stand side by side, face to face. This also means grounded in the particular, in relation to actual people and places that have names, faces and characteristics, not aggregates or generalities.
Practical, and readily feasible, one step at a time. It’s the actual doings that count, the more modest and immediate, the better: A small mistake can be readily rectified; a major error can cause damage that reverberates over many generations, from coast to coast to coast.
Well-meaning is a necessary precondition. Participants need to at least have good intentions, be considerate of others, and be ready and able to embrace the complexities of human interaction.
I’ll mention one more critical aspect of the project as I’m imagining it: The Concert of the Canadas is is meant to be work in Progress. The proposition is that we put our heads together, drawing on everything each of us have seen, heard or learned, to look for steps we can take that can move things forward, and not to return to any imagined past state.
That’s the general idea, but not the rule or the measure. Imagining possibilities is what this is all about, but always mindful of human frailties and the fact that we’re dealing with life here, now, on earth, wherever you happen to be and, hopefully, belong, not in some man-made paradise populated by saints, heroes and geniuses.
Our limitations as human beings are connected to the variations among us. The concert concept is based on the idea that difference can be a strength as well as a curse. In the story of the Tower of Babel, linguistic diversity is punishment for the pride of mankind, who thought they could build a shortcut to Heaven. But surely difference is also a blessing, a gift, a treasured part of the inheritance we all have a share in.
My imaginings need not be what you hope for, care about, and are willing to work towards. But that needn’t prevent us from being engaged in a concerted effort of one kind or another, briefly or over a longer period of time. If our differences cannot not be harmonized, we can choose to sing different songs, or play different roles, in different places, for different objectives.
The Concert isn’t ready for membership, or any other kind of support just yet, except expressions of interest, which can offered by signing up for a free subscription to this Substack. Questions, comments and suggestions are also very welcome.
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