Why do political handlers confuse contrarianism with "substance"? The Justin Trudeau campaign, keen to put to bed allegations of its candidate being a lightweight, just put out an opinion piece embracing the takeover of Nexen by China's state owned CNOOC. Unexpected, eh? It must therefore be substantive. Who knows, a real debate about Canada with real options beyond the current narrow bandwidth may open up and engage Canadians in politics again. Goodness knows that what's currently on offer isn't exactly inspiring.

We, as the electorate, have a certain level of expectations for children at school: don't be rude, respect each other and your teachers and complete your work to the best of your ability. I certainly don't think that it's too much then to ask the same of our MPs and our government. We cannot continue to remain silent as our elected "adults" act like children while they represent us, as Elizabeth May did recently.

In Canada's next election, which isn't due until 2014, the country could follow France, choosing a socialist over a conservative to captain the ship of state -- in Canada's case, perhaps a canoe of state -- through rough seas ahead.

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