With federal election looming political disivion is a problem

Canadian politics have reached a very dangerous state in my opinion. The divide between each side has grown to a point where a middle ground is non existent, and there seems to be a real disdain for the opposition whether your a right wing or left wing thinking person. I think this is a really big problem in our country.

With the federal election a month away, it’s a very polarizing time in Canada, but when people become so focused on their own wants and needs and dismissive of the opposite point of view, regardless if you vote Conservative, Liberal or NDP, it creates real animosity.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good political debate. In fact, I think disagreement is of the utmost importance to improving society. When people are able to respectfully present cases and actually listen to what each other is saying, that’s how compromises are made to take everyone’s considerations into account, instead of focusing on the needs of one segment of society and pushing aside the other.

The root of democracy is a governing body that looks after the needs of the country as a whole, not just of the party their affiliated with.

Look at what happened over the past year in the United States; the country is more divided then it’s been since the civil rights movement in the 1960s. As a dual citizen with many family members living in U.S., I can tell you first hand that the siblings within in my family refuse to speak to each as a result of the most recent presidential election. I fear that Canada could get to a similar state of civil unrest.

No matter what happens in the upcoming federal election, a large segment of society is going to be angry, and that’s okay. It’s your right to have your own beliefs, and to vote for who you want to run the country. However, I think it’s important to understand that no matter where your political affiliation lies, your opinion isn’t the only one in society that should be heard and respected.

When people talk about politics these days they’re so entrenched in their stance that they just block out any counter argument, and this happens with left wing and right wing thinkers; everyone’s guilty of it.

Social media plays a large part in this. We’re constantly being fed article links and posts that only enforce our beliefs, never getting a chance to look at things from the other side, or from a neutral point of view.

I think that political discourse is very important to society, and as each side grows farther and farther away from the other, discourse is lost and hatred for the opposition forms. That isn’t a healthy road to walk down.