In 1962, me being the dumb 12 year old that I was, I playfully asked my father how he voted when he left the community hall voting booth at the foot of our road in a rural community in Northern Ontario. It's one of the rare moments when he really looked me in the eye and sternly told me "don't ever ask anyone how they voted". I retreated feeling surprised that anything like that could be so important.
I later discovered that he voted CCF (today's NDP), for the founder of our health care system, Tommy Douglas. That might not seem like a big to-do but in those days, the large Fremlin clan was firmly committed to the old British conservatism and within the family, in 1962, this would have been an unforgivable sin.
There are still divisions within our family (I suspect) but those of us who vote left are no longer intimidated by the traditionalists in the family. Their preferred form of government, Harper and his soldiers, has rarely been in power these past 60 years so we don't get all worked up like we once did. Thankfully, Canada is still predominantly a liberal society, one that occasionally expresses empathy towards their fellow man.
Politics today is divisive and personal. Honest debate is rare. In Parliament, I can't recall the last adult and thoughtful discussion between all of the parties about an important issue. The electorate, mostly, read newspapers or online news that reflect their own views, reinforcing their already intransigent beliefs. No room for another view point. All are guilty of this, left and right.
This wasn't always the case. When I think back to my younger days in 1983 when the news was all about our premiers and the prime minister meeting to repatriate the constitution and pass the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, I'm reminded that compromise was a real force in Canadian politics.
It was short lived. That was a rarity in this country.