Blue Monday and the Gloomy Canadians

Today is Blue Monday, the day some say is the most depressing day of the year. For obvious reasons.

AS the Christmas memories fade, all we are left with are a hammered bank account, a bulge around the waist, gloomy weather and a return to work after weeks of partying. 

These factors all come together in a perfect storm for a single day believed to be the most depressing of the year which has been dubbed 'Blue Monday'.

And although I should be immune. I'm happy, I didn't spend much at Christmas, I didn't put on any pounds. And the only thing making me blue, literally, are the extremely cold temperatures this winter.

I did find something really depressing, so I could join in the collective misery.



This ugly poll. 

More Canadians than ever before dislike Mr. Trudeau's Liberal government, whose approval ratings are now identical to Mr. Harper's before the last election, according to a new poll being released on Monday by Nanos Research and the Institute for Research on Public Policy. 

The share of Canadians who say Mr. Trudeau's government is doing a bad job has jumped to 39 per cent from 33 per cent a year ago and 23 per cent in 2015, according to the annual Mood of Canada survey, conducted in late December.

For although the poll doesn't really tell me anything we didn't know. 

The thirty percent of Canadians who support the Cons, and about half the NDP, think Trudeau is doing a bad job.

This is depressingly predictable.

Respondents who disapprove of Mr. Trudeau's Liberals are most likely to be male, ages 55 or over and live on the Prairies.

And when I first glanced at the story, I shuddered to think how some of the other dotards in this country must be reacting...



But then I took a closer look at the poll, and I realized they wouldn't be celebrating for long.

The survey results are not all bad for Mr. Trudeau. Sixty-one per cent of respondents still rate the Trudeau Liberals' performance as average or better. And most Canadians remain satisfied with the direction the country is taking and believe Canada's reputation around the world is on the upswing.

And that nothing had really changed.

Another silver lining for the Liberals is that neither the Conservatives nor the NDP have so far capitalized on the government's missteps. Other recent polls show the Liberals have maintained and even expanded their lead in recent months.

CBC's Poll Tracker – a weighted aggregate of all publicly available opinion polls – suggests the Liberals would win another majority if an election were held now.

Except the looks on their faces...



Which tells me that while today may be Blue Monday, 2019 is shaping up to be a VERY good year.

And so is 2018. 

For while real depression is a serious problem in this country...



And we need to do much much more to help those who suffer from it.

I do find that many Canadians are addicted to misery. Even though in the time of Trump the American dream has moved North. 

By virtually every measure, Canada has surpassed the United States as the shining city on the hill, where everyone is safe to reach their potential. And people around the world have begun to notice. From the United States, refugees and asylum seekers are now fleeing into Canada hoping for a fair immigration hearing and a better future. In Latin America, there are reports of economic migrants heading north, intending to cross the U.S. border and keep moving, into Canada. And, overseas, ESL students are increasingly choosing Canada over the U.S.

Whether it was due to geography or history or maybe even policy, we have arrived. Everything America once aspired to be, we now are. Not only have we achieved the fabled American Dream, we are arguably among the safest, healthiest, happiest human beings to have ever existed.

And what we should be doing is thinking a little bigger, and making more of our good fortune.  

And what are we doing with this incredible good fortune? If we are painfully honest with ourselves, not much. We measure out our lives in coffee spoons and Caribbean holidays, a nation of overweight middle-class suburbanites, upset that a carbon tax adds an extra 5¢ at Tim Hortons, or one less day at the beach in Jamaica. 

No generation of Canadians has ever had more and been able achieve more than us—and no generation has been less ambitious. We have all the tools and all the opportunity to do great things, but no purpose, no national project, no imagination and no sense of determination.

But then I'm not a gloomy person, I'm an optimistic one. I strongly believe that despair is the mortal enemy of change.

So the only questions I have are, how can we crush the Cons so they can never recover?

And where will I be when the church bells start ringing to announce that Harper Two has gone down, just like the first one?

Will I be at The Wizard's place in the Scottish highlands?



Having completed my mission to Canada.

Or will I still be here freezing my behind off?

Waiting for the Zamboni to hurry up and finish before I turn blue...



So I can skate some more, and then rush off and start partying for at least a week.

Yes, as I said, life is too short to be gloomy.

But wowser, wowser, wowser, he does drive them crazy...



Happy Blue Monday everybody !!!