Canadian consulate adventure

I should preface this post with the fact that I am a big fan of Canada. I can't exactly pinpoint the origin of my warm feelings for the Great White North... maybe it has something to do with my love of hockey, or fondness for ice wine.

Anyway, I got invited to an election night party at the Canadian Consulate in Boston by a friend who hails from British Columbia. We passed time waiting for the polls (at least those in eastern Canada) to close by enjoying some fine Canadian wine (no ice wine, sadly) and of course, beer (Molson is actually popular with Canadians). Then, like good citizens of any first world country, we gathered around a big screen TV to watch the election results come in.

It was interesting to have a sort of insider's p.o.v. as to how another county's government is formed. I also learned that I can pass for a Canadian. (As long as I stayed sort of quiet and pretended to get jokes about Corner Gas, The Friendly Giant, and the NDP.) It felt kind of odd having to repeat "I'm from the U.S. and I'm a tad confused by your minority parliamentary government. Can you please explain again how your electoral system differs from mine?" But everyone was very polite about my lack of understanding. After all, they're Canadian.

Baby wars, eh?

Like the South End, it seems that the hipper neighborhoods of Toronto are also teeming with urban assault strollers. Are Canadians really more polite about tots in trendy restaurants? Not always.

"The bartender and all the staff were cool, but we got a mixed reaction from other people—a lot of really dirty looks in that passive-aggressive Toronto way, like they thought we were bad parents. "

"The next day, she woke up to a lengthy rant in her in-box: “I will let you know, as a manager of a high-end retail store in Toronto, that your ‘mommy bubble’ attitude is ruining the independent retail sector in this city."

"a sign in the window: “No SUV-type strollers, please” (the store has since moved to the Danforth, but the sign remains). Every time I saw that sign, I thought about the descriptor “SUV” and how it connotes something specific: space sucking, aggressive and, above all, entitled."

"The entitled parent easily becomes the militant parent, lashing out at the restaurant that doesn’t serve organic milk or the singleton who doesn’t help get the stroller up the streetcar steps."

... or the Starbucks barista who wants you to stop changing your tot's diaper on a table?

Some Canadian complaints sound like what we've heard (read?) about some Boston neighborhoods.

"What emerges in these family-driven downtown neighbourhoods, over a long period of time, is effectively the kind of monoculture that happens instantly in the suburbs when a group of economically similar people buy into a development while it’s being built."

They also apparently have some problems that have developed between 'human parents' and 'doggie parents.' Like what happens when an off-leash dog nearly knocks down your toddler.

“She was definitely afraid,” he says. “And the owners just laugh. They think those dogs are their children, but I tell them, ‘Your dog doesn’t grow up to be a taxpayer. My daughter will, and who do you think will be looking after you when you’re old? My daughter and her taxes.’ ”

"After two years of consultation between dog owners, the dog-less, and parks and recreation officials, the dogs of Jean Sibelius lost their off-leash hours in January. An appeal is under way.... She believes city councillors and judges favour parents, and notes, like a police officer talking about a gang, that parents are “highly organized.” Interestingly, Mills complains that the dog owners are “highly organized,” because they have no kids and far more time to lobby for dog rights; Mills uses the word “entitled” to describe dog owners, and Morton uses it to describe parents."

Not sure if this kind of activism has made it to Boston yet. But I won't be surprised when it does. Parents are parents, I guess.