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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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Living in Canada for more than 3 years, I continue collecting impressions and emotions about its vastness and its people. I also went through my earlier impressions that marked my first, second and third year as a Canadian resident. I've met some new faces and some of the old faces I met aren't around me anymore. By becoming more and more accustomed with everything Canadian I'm gradually losing the foreigner's perspective. I understand that it becomes more and more difficult to define Canadian-ness by becoming more and more an integral part of it. This is in fact the charm of every sense of national belonging. You stop asking questions about who are you vs. who are they. "You" and "them" just become two sides of one coin.

After officially turning 3 years on Canadian soil back in March I've started crossing the invisible line separating the status of immigrant from that of citizen. I have all the legal prerequisites to be a citizen, yet I'm still not until the moment the huge bureaucratic machine decides that I am indeed eligible. The whole procedure they say may take another year or more. I've plenty of time to study English or French, to learn more about Canada and my home province Quebec, about my future rights and duties and about some essential things that are part of the Canadian-ness.

I guess the time we live now in Canada the historians will look upon some day as the "Golden age of boringness". Except for some political scandals there isn't indeed anything that can shake the surface of the routine life for more than a day or two. I acknowledge that when I was living in my native country I've dreamed about such boring life. I still find it more attractive than living under constant stress of political and economic changes. The flip side of this quiet life is that people should look for interesting things without been compelled by any outside factor. The life becomes as much interesting as we make it.

The new generation in Canada is being taught to feel guilty about the world misery. It feels guilty about the poverty in Central America, guilty about the hunger in Africa, and guilty about the civil and ethnic wars around the world. Many university students are ready to go volunteering in many dangerous parts of the world to take redemption from this "western" guilt. When back home they constitute an essential part of the militant alter-globalization youth. They are selfless idealists though they are wrong on many issues.

After reaching 30-35 people become much more pragmatic. Making money here and now becomes far more important than helping people out there. Solving the world problems is still an important issue but not at any cost, not at the cost of their own inconveniency to be more precise. The less people are educated the more likely is that they can develop xenophobic attitudes. In Canada to be honest these people are much less present than in Europe.

From this age level and further up Canadians become unconditionally conservative. They have so many things to lose and so little to gain in addition to what they already have that they prefer not to make sudden changes. Sometimes there is a feeling that the governments, both federal and the provincials, are kept hostages to special interests. In some provinces the syndicates are especially vociferous. If Canada's shine begins to fade someday these non-elected special interests will probably be the ones to be blamed.

The past year I've become more concerned about the future of Canada as unified country. Not because the separatist sentiments have become stronger. The prime reason of my concerns is that the advocates of the unity have become weaker. Some federal parties find it a matter of convenience to make a game together with separatists and there isn't an overwhelming public outcry against such practices. I hope this trend will be reversed. Canada isn't only for the Canadians. So far it has given a very good example to the world of a country that can accommodate different ethnicities and languages. Without Canada as we know it today the world will be a less pleasant place to live in.

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