There is an existential difference between our governments: the U.S. federal system and the Canadian parliamentary system have little philosophical compatibility.

These are design structure differences, and those that whinge about the “failures and shortcomings” of their respective systems need to understand root causes — and then perhaps shut up.

The United States is a republic, and its legislative structure is designed for gridlock. U.S. founding fathers were more fearful of dictatorship than of governing paralysis. Indeed, if a proposal doesn’t have very substantial support, it will invariably fail. Consequently, this reality is reflected in our intricate assortment of checks and balances with essentially co-equal Legislative/Congressional bodies (the House of Representatives and Senate), each elected and completely independent of the other. Consequently, either can defeat legislation passed by the other, regardless of the consequences. The Executive branch (President and cabinet)

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford says he won't step aside.

A 2011 Forum Research Poll indicated that Canadians were not then satisfied with their mayors. Lack of confidence in big-city mayors today is probably at an all-time high, but in reality is an old problem.

The lack of confidence isn’t restricted to Canada. The first big-city American mayor recalled was Frank Shaw in 1938. He had protected bootleggers and brothel owners and virtually put the city of Los Angeles up for sale. The legacy of L.A. mayors is rampant with characters that seemed straight out of Raymond Chandler novels.

One L.A. mayor was even from Canada: Damien Marchessault. After leaving office in 1865, he committed suicide in the L.A. city council chambers. Burdened by drinking and gambling, he noted that he was “ashamed to meet (his) fellow man on the street” — streets that had become sinkholes due to administrative incompetence.

Now as then, communities are reflected in their leaders, so we need to consider the qualities we want mayors to have:

• common courtesy — or bad boy

A generation ago the statement “We’re from the government/Internal Revenue Service, and we’re here to help you” was characterized as one of the Great Lies. It joined, “Of course, I’ll respect you in the morning!” in that category. At the time, we laughed. But, if we were skeptical/cynical about the activities of the United States government a generation ago, now we have good reason to be afraid.

The “hat trick” of political disconnects now roiling Washington is not yet at the level of definitive scandals, let alone a “Watergate” level, president-impeaching catastrophe. Despite the leaping-up-and-down efforts by frenetic Republicans attempting to link (a) mangled talking points about terrorist murder of the American ambassador and three other diplomats in Benghazi; (b) IRS targeting politically conservative individuals for intrusive tax audits and deliberate delays in registering conservative groups for tax exemption status; (c) and investigations of major media for links to

For two years, the British Columbia provincial election was the NDP’s to lose with the Liberals viewed as roadkill awaiting the street sweeper. But — amazingly — they mangled, stumbled, misjudged, and miscalculated a 20-point polling lead into defeat. It is hard to rein-in hyperbole when describing the Liberal victory.

B.C. is Canada’s socio-political equivalent of California. Not in meteorological terms to be sure, where California’s 400 days per year of sunshine is countered by BC’s 400 days of rain. But their politics have characterized each as “left coast” replete with “fruits and nuts.”

Admittedly, while B.C.’s politics can appear “wacky” (originating with W.A.C. “Wacky” Bennett, premier from 1952-72), it has never elected a movie actor as premier as did California with Arnold Schwarzenegger. But during the extended period prior to the Liberals' victory in 2001, two NDP premiers (Harcourt and Clark) and one Social Credit premier (Vander Zalm) had tenures characterized by dramatic

Following a vigorous election campaign and probably the fastest turnaround in political fortunes in British Columbia’s history, the 50 Liberals, 33 NDP, one Green and single independent MLAs elected on May 14 leave little doubt in anyone’s mind as to whom voters want to govern in Victoria during the next four years.

While losing her own seat (a minor problem she’ll solve in an early byelection when one of her personally-recruited successful candidates resigns), Christy Clark’s surprise win over Adrian Dix, leader of the official opposition NDP, has evoked much commentary across the province and country.

Among the more interesting insights:

• All nine opinion polling firms, most of whom predicted an easy NDP win, simply got it wrong. British Columbians, like many other Canadians, are so weary of being harassed by telephone callers about their political party preferences that it perhaps became a new provincial sport to fool them. Pollsters must in future also better factor in the reality that

Followers of Sufism, a mystical form of Islam that preaches tolerance and a search for understanding.

Terrorism acts occur in many countries and occasionally close to home, such as the recent bombings at the Boston Marathon and the conspiracy to derail a New York-bound VIA Rail passenger train.

The list of organizations designated as terrorist by various governments is lengthy. In the past, they included the Irish Republican Army, Basque Homeland and Freedom, Brigate Rosse , and the Baader-Meinhof Group. Current banned groups tend to be radical Islamic ones, such as Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Al Fatah, Hamas and Boko Haram. Like terrorist groups generally, they use violence against civilians uninvolved in their issues to address perceived wrongs.

Islam is a religion of peace in many parts of the world. The Qur'an contains extracts of violence — as does the Old Testament, by the way — but does not incite violence as its first or only recourse. Patience, self-discipline, and forgiveness are attributes of the vast majority of the world’s Muslims. The actions of radicals will never symbolize what

Tamerlan Tsarnaev fell under the influence a Muslim convert who steered him toward a strict strain of Islam.

On September 11, 2001, 15 Muslim terrorists hijacked four commercial aircraft crashing three into occupied buildings and killing approximately 3,000 people. But Islam is a religion of peace.

On July 7, 2005, Muslim terrorists exploded backpack bombs in the London metro system killing 56 and injuring 700. But Islam is a religion of peace.

On November 5, 2009, at Fort Hood, Texas, a Muslim doctor killed 13 and wounded over 30 while shouting "Allahu Akbar." The Department of Defense termed it an act of workplace violence. But Islam is a religion of peace.

On separate occasions Muslim males attempted terrorist attacks. These included inter alia: the December 2001 “shoe bomber;” the 2006 Toronto 18; the 2007 Fort Dix Six; the Christmas 2009 “panty bomber”; the 2010 Times Square bomb; and two attempts to send timed explosives by cargo plane.

Most recently, on April 12, two Muslim brothers planted two bombs, killed three, and injured over 250 at the Boston Marathon. This terrorism was followed

Syrian refugee women wait for medical treatment in front of a women's clinic at the Zaatari refugee camp in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, near the border with Syria April 15, 2013.

The judgment remains a good gamble; it is both clever and accurate wordsmithery. However, it is not entirely true. There has been negotiated “peace” in the Middle East. The most obvious illustration of such was the President Carter negotiated 1978 Camp David Accords which orchestrated peace between Egypt and Israel. The result undid of parts of the 1967 war with the return of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt (albeit with a peacekeeper contingent stationed there indefinitely) and the beginning of a “cold peace” between the two nations. Although frequently challenged by various alarms and excursions, such arrangements have endured to the present. While the consequences of the Arab Spring are still playing out, they have not (yet) ruptured the essence of the agreement.

Likewise, other neighbors of Israel have come to more-or-less effective non-war arrangements. Thus there is peace with Jordan (negotiated