One of the ways less corrupt countries keep it that way is by free societies calling out and addressing that corruption. When we refuse to, that’s when corruption festers, even if it looks like heaven on earth to an outsider, corruption is corruption.

We’re not North Korea or anything like that, but we have a pretty terrible legacy with residential schools and the destruction of indigenous people’s families, languages, and cultures, not to mention land.

Canada is also in the midst of the biggest housing affordability crisis we’ve ever had. We’re in 3rd place in the world behind Luxembourg and Portugal for the most unaffordable housing, relative to income.

The U.S. may have some serious affordability issues in the Bay Area, Seattle, and New York, but large swaths of the rest of the country aren’t so bad. Most Canadians are crowded into a few extremely unaffordable cities.

I know, and these are real issues.

But sometimes I talk to (born) Canadians - I’m an immigrant here - and they think of these issues as overwhelming, unsolvable crises that fundamentally undermine the viability of Canada as a nation.

And I think this isn’t a good problem-solving mindset, and isn’t the correct perspective either.

Or maybe I totally overinterpret their level of exasperation.

Well, like anything people's mindsets are relative to the situation. Most Canadians cannot possibly imagine what Ukrainians are going through. If we could, we would probably be a lot happier with the situation we have here.

But that doesn't change the fact that Canadian democracy is under a lot of pressure with polarization and influence by wealthy special interests. We would be a lot better off if we had a better electoral system and were able to move toward more Scandinavian-style social systems.

I take your point. I don't blame them for not knowing how bad it is elsewhere. But what I'm saying is that this lack of perspective leads many Canadians to underestimate the value of the system as it exists today.

First-past-the-post - FPTP - and wealthy interests have been here for a long time now. The system as it exists today works insanely great. This came to pass in spite of FPTP and the wealthy interest (hell, maybe even in part because of them).

Because the problems here are minor, the changes to the system should be mild, not radical. You don't give a complicated mechanism a big kick hoping to take it from 99% to 100% efficiency. You fine-tune it very carefully. Big kicks are for going from 0% to 50%.

Those of us born here have seen the decline. And are not happy about it.

I'm 50 next year, and have been politically conscious since I was a teen.. so have seen a half a century of it.

In particular the decimation of the health care system has just been slow and terrible to watch. Destruction of green spaces, sprawl, and difficulty of living in the GTA. Destruction of farmland, garbage on the beaches, overcrowding in almost every tourist or recreational area near Toronto. Nasty political polarization and viciousness. Racism and bigotry on the rise. And worst of all, that housing has become inconceivably expensive for working class people.

I wouldn't call the problems -- especially the trend line of them -- minor.

The expectation for previous generations was improvement of quality of life over generations. Unfortunately, that's no longer the case.

Again, I blame both major political parties. Liberals just happen to be wearing the hat right now federally.

I can see your point of view. Here's why I think these problems are "minor": there's a very richly-resourced system of capital, highly-developed and educated people, developed systems, and social trust (even if you think trust is declining, it's approximately one million times higher than the world average).

This system can take care of every problem you mention with a couple of tweaks. Now "tweak" doesn't mean it's easy or will work instantly; it might take decades and consume entire political careers. But there's no need for a total re-imagining, or a doom-and-gloom outlook.

Most bad things I've noticed in my time here (GTA + Calgary) can be fixed by cheap housing. This is a matter of political will - there's a ton of space and a ton of capital ready to triple our housing stock in a year if they're allowed to build. Toronto doesn't have to be the Center of the Universe. Even if we insist on putting every tourist and immigrant in this one city, there's so much space around it, it could in principle be one of the biggest on the planet.

I'm not arguing for complacency. I'm saying let's not throw our hands up in the air.