Smarten Up, Canada: 51% of Canadians think we directly elect the PM

Here in black and white we have one of the big problems with our government relieved, and for once it has nothing to do with our elected representatives. The fault, dear reader, lies not in our stars but in ourselves.

Only 24% of Canadians surveyed correctly identified HM Queen Elizabeth II as our head of state (I will forgive those who said the Governor General, but certainly not those who said the Prime Minister).

17% of respondents described us as a "Representative Republic".

and here's the kicker:

51% claimed we elect our Prime Minister directly.

When Rick Mercer did the rounds with his "talking to Americans" bit, we all laughed and said "oh, look how little they know about our country, isn't that hilarious?". However in this case, it seems we know just as little when it comes to the important workings of our government, and Americans don't vote in our elections (unless they have dual citizenship). We do. Being a good citizen is much more than simply marking an "x" once every four (or three, or two) years (or months). We must become informed not only about the crises our elected representatives seek to face, but about the most essential workings of our government as well.

If we choose to remain blissfully ignorant, we are inviting unscrupulous partisans to take advantage of us for their own ends. If we are unable to think for ourselves, and rely only upon others to educate us on the issues of the day (or whether one party is engaging in a “coup d’état”) we are not citizens, but serfs.