Well, there goes my spending power. Maybe.

[robkelk]

Canada could use a unifying leader like Wilfrid Laurier or Lester Pearson, but I don’t see a person of their caliber at an international media level.

Agreed 100% in all respects. The problem is that politics has become so toxic that anybody who can make a living doing something else-- anything else -- is doing so. Foreign interference doesn't help, either.

For the record in case it wasn’t clear, I’m under no illusion that most government jobs are easy or cushy. (Correct me if I’m wrong in the case of Canada, but I think it’s nearly universal that government employees are overworked and underpaid)

True in the short- and medium-term, but career Canadian civil servants are one of the very few groups that still get a defined-benefits index-linked pension. It takes four decades to qualify for one nowadays, but that does happen and it goes a long way to balancing out the payment inequity. (Fair disclosure: I am a career Canadian civil servant, with less than a half year to go before retirement. Yeah, I'm that old.)