I have had some interesting (and very telling) post-debate political discussions with my youngest son (22 years old). He asked me whether the federal debate changed my opinion of the political leaders we have to choose a prime minister from.
Personalities Show up in Political Discussions
My own post-debate opinion? If you are interested in personality, I thought Singh (NDP) was the “winner” last night. He was charming, funny and an eloquent speaker (no ums or aws), but weak (sometimes even evasive) on the primary issues. Unfortunately (for Singh) nice and charming does not necessarily make a good leader, at least not a leader of a country as diverse and large as Canada.
Scheer (Conservative) had to repeat himself often as was often talked over by either Trudeau (Liberal and current PM) or May (Green), although he did a fair share of it himself. Not a good look for any of them. The other two, Bernier (People’s Party) and Blanchet (Bloc Quebecois), were/are only interested in Quebec. Their presence was distracting in my opinion for a federal election debate. I don’t think they should be included in these circumstances.
Federal Debt
My son’s opinion? “The debt our country is faced with is not really a problem.” This appears to be a typical response from his age group. However, it makes me sick to my stomach. More interested in the “perks” that might be promised or taken away, this opinion was from an uninformed youngster who does not (yet) pay for his own:
- mortgage
- taxes
- car loan
- groceries
- insurance (except for his own car)
- expenses for children
- education
- etc, etc, etc
Inevitably, political discussions always end up in arguments as our generation is much more conservative or concerned about the future.
Oil and Gas Reserves
Maybe that’s why I was so impressed with a youngster the same age as this son. Chris Kitchen’s wrote an article at Queen’s University on why Canada’s oil and gas reserves would and should be beneficial to our economy.
Political Discussion Conclusions
We (my husband and I) have tried, over and over (in many heated political discussions) to get this youngest son to acknowledge that living in growing debt is never a good thing, especially a staggering debt like the one our nation is faced with. We feel like we are banging our heads against a brick wall. Are we bad parents because he does not understand this concept? I keep telling him he will understand in ten years (hopefully less), but he refuses to think that far ahead, let alone plan for it. In our defence, this son does pay for his own cell phone and clothes as well as car insurance, gas and repairs . Oh, and LCBO and Uber tabs.
Thankfully, our two older sons, both with mortgages, car payments, and children of their own, get it. There is only five years difference between our second and third son, so it appears (to me) that it’s not a full generation, but just a demographic, that don’t get it. At least this theory is apparent in my family. I have heard from many others that their much older children have the same myopic outlook.
Did you watch the debate? What are your post-debate conclusions, thoughts, opinions?
