In
this article in the Globe, Konrad Yakabuski notes that Canada is among the few countries in the Western democratic world where there isn't a rise in a nativist, right wing demagogic movement. However, he doesn't have any theories as to why Canada is able to escape this.
I think many of us can immediately think of some obvious reasons why: we're a country of immigrants; we have a points-based immigration system rather than an asylum system; we don't share a land border with a developing country, etc.
I have a weird, unverifiable theory that Canada isn't enlightened, it's just 10 years late to every party. This applies to everything from ramming freeways through our inner cities (luckily we were able to look south and learn from this) to electing neoconservative hawks ten years after 9/11.
Still, are there other reasons that might have escaped our attention? Can Canada be free of this for long?
If there's anywhere I can think where interesting ideas might bubble up about this topic, I figured it would be here. Discuss away!