I had a conversation with my Dad a few years ago where I proudly asserted that I was a progressive. He protested mildly that the opposite of progressive didn't necessarily mean "regressive." His point was that there is always room for lateral movement and points of view in the middle. Hence our long, long tradition of centrist Liberal governments.

But I am beginning to wonder if what my Dad said is true anymore. Is there room for the middle? Where is it? The political philosophy that has prevailed in Canada has been by-and-large centrist, it's true. But the Conservative philosophy seems - and has always seemed - to be that they must point the country as far to the right as possible and get up a good head of steam, so that it will be harder to turn it back again when they leave power.

That is what is happening now. And while the left is at least trying to bring the Conservative government's policies to the nation's attention, the middle is abstaining from the debate altogether. Worse, they are allowing the right to frame the debate. It is become more and more apparent that nobody from the centre believes in steering - heck, I'm not sure they remember where the steering wheel even is anymore.

And the country will continue pointing to the right until it hits the side of the road. At least the left is attempting to act as a guard rail, but we're meeting with only mixed success. The longer this situation lasts, the greater the chances of flipping the car, and the harder it will be to get back to where we started, let along make any progress in the future.

If this metaphor has become too strained, let me put it directly: The Canada that Canadians say they want? It is being ruined.

Go and read this excellent column from economist Jim Stanford of the Progressive Economics Forum.

... Our trade balance is eroding, our non-resource industries are imploding, and our national productivity is stagnating. This is all the result, directly and indirectly, of us being the only major country in the world to offer our oil and other resources up to the highest bidder – no muss, no fuss, no strings attached.

It’s time to take down the ‘For Sale’ sign that neoconservative governments have hung on our national door.

This? This is not just steering us to the right, this is losing control of the car. My question is: why aren't we screaming bloody murder about this? Anyone? Bueller?

I'm working on a project for my Sustainability course. So far it's my favourite course this semester. But this might simply be because I'm doing so much better in it than I am in the course where the TA accused me of plagiarism, for not citing a source for the assertion that the Irish Potato Famine was a world-changing event.

Bitter? Me? No. Well, maybe.

Anyway. The project I'm doing is a sustainability analysis of mass transit (since I don't own a car, and am very smug). I sat down today to do my research. I logged into the Queen's library proxy, typed "sustainability mass transit" into Google Scholar and got to reading.

Then, something happened. I clicked "next," and came across a paper titled something like "The Mass Transit Delusion". My eyebrow went up and I was about to click on the link when I noticed the source: the CATO institute. Aah! Of course.

So, boys and girls, when doing your research, trust no-one. Just because something appears in a search for scholarly articles does not mean that it comes from a reputable, non-laughable, not-obviously right-wing, not hideously conservative source. It's not enough to shun Wikipedia. You also have to brush up on your wackos. I mean, aside from the obvious.

When in doubt, try SourceWatch.