I understand the difference between awareness and activism, but unfortunately in this overly distracted and saturated media, it's hard to have one without the other.  It takes brave movements to stand up and be heard on certain issues.  

As for the reputation thing, one source that seems fairly reputable to me is a BBC World poll that can be found here:  http://www.globescan.com/news_archives/bbc_global_canada/

We're living in extreme times and asking the left to ditch extremist positions to gain favor when the right isn't making a single concession seems to be a dead end argument. My basis for stating the gov't is out of touch with the people comes from talking to people on the street who don't agree with troops in Afghanistan, who are ashamed of the tar sands, who don't agree w/ our environmental policies but feel like they have no voice.  We have a serious problem with voter apathy. If everyone voted, I have a hunch this country would be a very different place. 

So what can we do?  I think it begins with informing ourselves about what is happening.  we need to get more people in Canada aware of what's going on, not only with in our country, but what is happening round the world. Opening up a dialogue and sharing our thoughts and opinions is a good place to start.

I enjoy a good discussion for sure as I'm still learning and not an expert by any means, but phrases like "Canada's standing has improved in all but NGO circles, which are not that big in the greater picture." kind of boggles my mind! The greater picture? What is the greater picture? For me, the greater picture is the future of humanity on the only planet we have.  The greater picture is humanity over coming war/inequality/poverty/violence against woman/ and turning into a sustainable interconnected community.  And non-profit/grass movements/civil societies will be instrumental in this change.  We're past the point of sweeping the problems of the world under a rug in some naive belief that that's just the way things work. 

 On a side note, although my values are often labeled as left, I do not identify myself with the left or the right.  I find myself more aligned with the values of human beings that are shared across the spectrum.  No situation is simple enough to just tag it left or right.  World concerns have grown past the left or the right.  What we need to concern ourselves with is turning towards being a sustainable country/world.