On popular will

The Globe and Mail reports on an international poll spanning 68 countries. But in searching for a post-Gomery hook, the article diverts attention away from the issue which is most important both to the Canadians in the poll and to respondents generally:

Over all, 26 per cent of the poll's 53,749 respondents said the most important problem facing the world was poverty, more than twice those who chose terrorism, at 12 per cent. Canadians' top pick was also poverty, but the environment was seen as the second-greatest challenge. Eight per cent of Canadians chose wars and conflicts. Six per cent said terrorism.

"Everywhere in the world, the main problem is the same. The main problem is not terrorism, the main problem is the gap between the rich and poor people," Mr. Léger said. "That means that on this planet, people think the same way."

While Canada's numbers as to belief in "the will of the people" have declined since previous years, the problem seems to far less associated with Gomery, and far more linked to the fact that neither of the parties which have formed government in the past year have made meaningful progress on the issues most important to Canadians. And it's no wonder that few people from any of the countries listed see their will expressed by their government when the most important issue for those polled receives as little attention as it does on an international scale.