If the news media (and social media for that matter) were a true reflection of a society, people would be more aware of the state of things.

A very recent example is the tragedy of the submarine Titan, which sailed off the coast of Saint John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. The tiny submersible with 5 millionaires venturing to explore the ruins of the Titanic imploded under the pressure of the seabed, sparking a frantic search for American and Canadian crews and immediate global media coverage. Then came the “raw information”, because a few days before there was talk of a boat with 700 African migrants that had sunk in the Mediterranean, where the coast guard had taken hours to react, and with very little help from the ships to proximity ; And the comparisons began…

Was it because they were millionaires that a large deployment of multinational ships and equipment was launched? Or why did they go to see the famous Titanic and end up like them, that it made the news? Why hasn’t the same media noise been made or the same help been given to the migrants on the sinking ship?

Well, the Canadian media has obviously covered the Titan a lot and, in fact, in recent weeks there has been relatively little talk about the municipal elections in Ontario’s capital and the country’s most populous city, Toronto, which c is tomorrow.

Something I mentioned in this space is that, for Canadians, politics is not a favorite topic; campaigns only last 45 days or less, and since no party or candidate (municipal elections are not party-based) receives public funds for it, propaganda money is just what each gets for their personal lobbying.

In fact, the Toronto mayoral election is going to be historic for two reasons, one because of the number of registered candidates: 102; the other, because the main contenders are not Canadian-born white, or as they are called, they are “racialized”. Recall that the former mayor resigned from his post a few months after his re-election, due to a scandal for having had a former municipal employee as a lover – being married -.

The three strongest contenders, in order of electoral preference, are: Olivia Chow, Ana Bailao and Mark Saunders. And although neither is officially a party candidate, two of them have received the endorsement of Conservative Party figures and the one leading the polls is the widow of a famous politician who was the leader of Canada’s third party, the New Democratic Party. .

Who are these candidates?

Mark Saunders, a 61-year-old black former Toronto police chief, was born in England to Jamaican parents and recently received a verbal endorsement from current Ontario Premier Doug Ford. His tenure as head of the police left a lot to be desired and he is now the 3rd in the preferences of the long list of aspirants.

Portugal-born Ana Bailao, 47, a longtime Toronto council member with a background in social housing programs, recently received an endorsement from former mayor John Tory.

The strongest candidate is Olivia Chow, widow of famous NDP leader Jack Layton, born in Hong Kong, who came to Canada at 13, studied philosophy and fine arts; He began his activism by promoting the federal government’s official apology for the “Chinese head tax”, he held positions at the municipal and federal level. She is recognized as a social fighter and travels to her campaigns by bike, as Layton did.

Analysts say this election campaign shows chaos in a city with the largest population in the country, the highest multiculturalism in the world, a critical lack of housing, a decadent public transport system and some flare-ups of insecurity. . If Olivia wins the election, it would be with less than a third of the vote of the entire electorate, and yet the town and its people are moving forward, after tomorrow’s results, little will be said in the media, because no It’s a subject you like.

And meanwhile in Mexico, we continue to talk more about the elections of 2024 than those that took place a few days ago and that some describe as the burial of what was one of the political parties that lasted the longer in power in the world. PR. So much repetition of the same themes, the same faces, generates boredom among viewers, especially at a time when the flow of information in the media or on social networks is very fast.

According to trend counters, in Mexico people are more interested in football results than any political or economic issue. And speaking of the power of images, let’s think about that, with so many people who can’t or don’t like to read, what remains in the minds of citizens, the faces of political actors or the initials of the party to which they belong? How many people understand or care about the name of the party they vote for, PRI, PRD or Morena (not to mention so many breaded PRI members who like chameleons conforming to the government in power)?

In Canada, as in the United States, we use a term that does not exist as such in Spanish, “taxpayer’s money”, that is to say the money that citizens pay in taxes and which constitutes the resources that governments use in all their programs, salaries and projects. If we transfer this to Mexico, how would people react if we told them that the money that parties spend on campaigns that last for years and on their social programs with which they buy votes are not generous gifts from my father, the government is the money that workers, consumers and businesses deliver to him through taxes; with which the infrastructures must be built, strengthen the education system, health, public safety, etc.

One of the biggest coercive tools of the Mexican government is to use the voter card as the only official ID, almost no country does this, it’s only to make sure democratic appearances are covered. It does not make sense to use a document which in theory is only used once every 3 years for any official procedure; It is as if the highest authority in the country were the Electoral Institute. In Canada, it is the province that issues the official identity card, as well as driver’s licenses, the most common identification documents in the world, as well as passports, issued by the federal government.

Apparently, people enjoy chasing ghosts of the past and admiring the ruins of sunken giants with famous names, even at the risk of dying trying.