You do have nice beaches. :) I tend to think that ordinary people everywhere are capable of understanding political policy. It's just a matter of convincing them of this, and reframing the discussion. In the case of Canadian media and the Liberal Party's Green Shift plan, (and even Obama's economic policies), the media is working to complicate the debate and convince people that expert mediators are necessary, not supplementary. Like, 'you couldn't possibly understand this, listen to our legal expert!'

Of course that's all dependent on people being interested in policy. :s