On This Canada Day

Happy Dominion Day, everyone.
Death to the enemies of the Queen!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Red_Ensign

Absolutely correct in my opinion. Having lived my whole life in both Alberta and BC I have far more in common with the people in Sask. Montana, Idaho and Washington than I ever will have with the rest of Canada. cretian hit the nail on the head when he said, you people out West are different. Did he ever, different values, different ethics, different morals.

Happy Dominion Day Western Canada

Yes Vit, I forgot to add this, when I am out on the boat today I will be flying the Ensign.

yes, mr. coyne is right. i don't see any error in what he has written.

and thank gawd we are different.

Case in point . . Carolyn "I luv Amercia" Parrish, quoted in the Torrana Star, sums up the latte liberal, champagne socialist, gumbo brained eastern mentality with this little gem:

""Not all Canadians support our interference in Afghanistan, however."

Maybe we should tell the UN Security Council the good people of Toronto think our role in Afghanistan is just "interference"

So a Happy Dominion Day all true blue Canadians, to those who believe Trudeau was a moral coward for failing to answer the great call of his generation when Nazism needed to be stopped, who support our military, who despise those who whine on about their entitlements but never their obligations and who pander to Jihadis and other terrorists, gun toting juvenile thugs and cop killers.

Have a great day and thank the heavens for PMSH

Absolutely depressing article, so I think I'll miss the celebrations in this little Ontario village. What's to celebrate? The west continually bitching abt Ontario, and Quebeckers continually bitching abt sovereignty.
Living in a depressed area that relies on dwindling tourism, my life has been spent a few miles from New Yorkers and among the visiting Americans. I am not an American. I have never felt like an American. I don't want to be an American.
I have relatives from Man. to BC. We are the same - except, those in Alberta have become more 'Albertan' than I have ever been 'Ontarian'.
I'm a Canadian. It was 'my' fellow countrymen who fought for the freedoms I and my family enjoy in the First and Second World Wars. It is my fellow countrymen who are fighting against terrorism in Afghanistan.
The west can separate and align yourselves with the NW American states. Quebec can separate and navel-gaze to their hearts' content. The east can flounder on their own, if they wish. The aboriginals can protest, demand, and drink and drug themselves to death if they wish.
I haven't many years left - but I'll be damned if any of you are going to take away my pride in being a Canadian.
So, to the west, Quebec, the east, and aboriginals - go screw yourselves. I love Canada.

I have lived in Ontario my whole life but I have to say I identify more with the west in values, ethics, morals. Anybody in ON that isn't from Toronto or other large city is isolated just like the west is from the rest of Canada. Don't forget that when you slag Ontario it's really Toronto you are mad at. There's million of us rural Ontarians that are on your side and sick of this liberal garbage being shoved down our throats.

Coyne’s solution to his observation that “deep down, (the Premiers) do not recognize each other as countrymen.” is greater centralizing in Ottawa, more national Day Care, presumably. Coyne is a heavy handed centralist in an era when Canada has reached a population scale and has diversity enough for us to become more regionalized.

In the end all politics is local. The ecologies of Canada vary enormously from region to region. Quebec isn’t morally superior to Alberta because its hydro CO2 footprint is smaller than Alberta’s tarsands footprint. They have different ecologies, therefore they need different de-centralized solutions.

i assume it's nothing but blue kool-aid here today.sounds like gellen's already started indulging.

but I'll be damned if any of you are going to take away my pride in being a Canadian.
So, to the west, Quebec, the east, and aboriginals - go screw yourselves. I love Canada.

huh?

"We are more like Americans than we are one another".

Nothing wrong with that. Newfoundland screech, Quebec poutine, Alberta ribeye steaks, lunatic greenies on the west coast, ethnic restaurants in Toronto and big open spaces up North. Watch the 49th parallel - I'd hate it if this country had the cultural homogeneity of the Third Reich.

I love Canada! Happy Dominion/Canada Day!

Coyne is, in my view, absolutely right on key issues and absolutely wrong on one key issue.

He's right - the Senate is abusing its powers. It, as an unelected body, has no right to stop the legislated will of the elected House. Yet that is what it is doing. It has stopped Senate reform (I wonder why); it has watered down the Accountability Bill (removing the Senate from accountability among its removals); it has no right to hold up the Budget; it is abusing its powers - acting as an unelected power of the Liberal Party.

The Opposition is violating its duty - which is to rationally critique and debate government motions. Instead, the Opposition is putting forth unworkable and potentially disastrous Motions - with one agenda only. To weaken and harass the gov't, so as to retain Liberal power.

The Civil Service is violating its duty, which is to obey the government. The Civil Service is an appointed nest of embedded Liberals - and it, like the Senate, is working to empower the Liberal party.

I'd add that the MSM is another area of appointed Liberal powers - the CBC is a prime example and it carries out its Liberal agenda daily- constantly denigrating and bashing Harper and the Conservatives, filling the time with anti-Americanism and leftist rhetoric.

Coyne is wrong, however, in stating that Quebec was recognized as a nation. Untrue. The Quebecois were recognized as a nation within a united Canada - and if Coyne can't tell the difference between a population and a geographic territory, then - he needs help.

And above all, decentralization of powers won't weaken Canada. Indeed, what Harper is doing is moving Canada back to its more robust federalism before the Liberal era of post WWII. This era saw Ottawa moving more and more into the provincial domains, moving into provincial jurisdictions of health care, education, social services etc. These are provincial areas - and Ottawa began to move into these areas.

What Harper is doing is right. He is giving back decision-making to the provinces, who are far better equipped to make judgments that are valid for the local area - rather than having judgments made for them that are too general and irrelevant or wrong for the local area.

Decentralization has nothing to do with the Liberal corruption in Ottawa - which is seeing the Liberal dominated Senate abuse its powers, the Liberal dominated civil service violate its duty and the ineffectual Opposition, violate its duty.

Doesn’t Coyne see that the expansion of federal spending on areas of provincial jurisdiction has made us more like a unitary state than a federation? Countries as large and diverse as Canada are not governable as a unitary state unless it has a totalitarian government like China or Russia.
But totalitarian light, was and is a Librano project.

Programs like equalization payments have led to the creation of permanent pogey provinces and a citizenry that increasingly clings to the government nannies.

Happy Dominion Day!
Reclaiming Canada back from the Trudeapians one day at a time.

Happy Canada Day Kate and all! Have a safe wonderful holiday! Got to go to the beach now......

As a Canamerican, I celebrate Dominion day ( the day the crown allowed its colony of Canada an elected federal representation)but also July 4th when my US relatives celebrate the creation of a constitutional republic of the common people...these days July 4 should be a day of mourning for the death of the republic and its replacement by a martial law junta based in Washington...papers pleeeeese...oh you're an illegal Mexican?...no papers needed cummon in.

To both sides on this day: Live free or die!

TJS said "Don't forget that when you slag Ontario it's really Toronto you are mad at."

Agreed. We have been to many Ontario places; Arnprior, Merrickville, Niagara Falls, Stittsville, Pembroke, Plantagenet, Ottawa, .... great people ---- in general, no different than us.

The national media, especially the Parliamentary Press Gallery(PPG), likes to 'wedge-issue' Canadians. (sells dead trees). They loved the 'divide and conquer' Trudeau era. Civil War Lite.

The Latte-Crowd and the Media and social studies Profs seem to think they have the moral "smarts" to "guide" the rest of us. Suzuki being their Mesiah.

I am from Ontario. The only province I have ever lived in is Ontario.I have traveled all over the country and seen enough of the rest of the world to know that it exists. I read the Andrew Coyne article and have to agree with a lot of it.

Just a few observations on this Canada Day. In my experience the only Canadians (usually)who consider themselves Canadian before their provincial identity are those from Ontario. I don't know whether this is a good or bad thing or what it means.

There was a story in the paper the other day that stated that as people get older they feel more Canadian. I find it has been the opposite for me. I was born in England, but came here young enough that I have no memory of living there as a child. I was proudly Canadian, probably until my early twenties. I lived in England for almost two years while in the army and felt a real connection with the place, but it also made me understand my Canadianness all the more.

The reasons I don't feel proudly Canadian anymore, probably has less to do with me changing that the country around me changing. I lived in Toronto for a few years and felt like a total outsider. Yes its nice to have lots of different ethnic foods to eat, but its also nice to have something in common with your neighbours besides a postal code.

The government really goes out of its way to denigrate and down play the role of Anglo-Saxon Canadians, in making this the kind of country that everyone else in the world wants to come to. As a man, and an Anglo-Saxon Canadian, I am a member of the only group in the country that you are legally allowed to discriminate against. Look at job ads for the civil service or large corporations that have not-so-fine print that states basically that white men need not apply. The government is funding the Canadian Museum of Human Rights. If any one thinks this is going to be anything other than the Museum of Hate Whitey they are sadly deluded.

I am sure a lot of people here are Mark Steyn fans, and her is much more articulate that me. On his web site today he ha reposted a couple of old Canada Day columns, that summed this up much better than I can.

I the defence of people from Ontario, don't tar us all with the same brush. A lot of us are more like people in other parts of this country than we are like the Ontario stereotype. I think the Ontario steroetype is actually a Toronto steroetype. This is a big province that stretches far beyond the "905" and "416"

I went to a public school in southern Ontario where we sang Oh Canada and did bible readings every morning. Everyone in the school was of Anglo-Saxon/Scots/Irish descent. That small town basically doesn't exist anymore. It has become part of the Greater Toronto Area urban sprawl. The farms we used to get summer work at picking produce have been replaced by apartment buildings and 90 percent of the students at the public school are third world immigrants. Criminal gangs are common and the peace and quite is often broken by the sound of police cars.

By any standard I am a successful person. I have a good job with an above average income. I own my own house and my wife gets to stay home and raise our children. I don't have anything personal to be bitter about, but where i live has changed beyond all recognition over the last 30 years. I am not parts of this culture anymore, I just happen to live here. I am now the stranger, I am now the outsider. I am now the person who doesn't belong.

Happy Canada Day

Happy Dominion day to all.

I came to Quebec from Australia more than 30 years ago. Because of the Turdeau legacy, I feel that I am more of a Quebecker than a Canadian.

However, SDA has made me appreciate that not all ROCers are latter-day lefties who want to take us back to the dark ages.

There may be a leftist legacy in QC, but my compatriots here are pragmatists before anything else

Happy Canada Day to all!!

PMSH hit the nail on the head and was roundly bashed in the MSM and in the house for saying that the Liberal dominated Senate and Civil Service would cause problems. He was right. Unelected and overruling the MP's??? Unbelievable.

Pat

Happy Dominion Day everybody. Unfortunately,the once great country called Canada has ceased to exist,both nationallly and internationally.There are to many disparities now,and too many all-too willing leftards/MSM ready to keep driving that wedge in. I think our next referundum should be whether or not the ROC gets to kick Quebec out,and take the GTA with them. We already have Communism Lite,thanks to Turdeau and 13 years of leftie rule. Might as well vote the Dippers in next time and finish the job. Then when the West(Sask,AB,B.C.)pull out of the new Canuckistan and its SSR's, things might just improve,although I don't hold my breath. Me? I celebrated AB's birthday far more then I will ever from now on celebrate a birthday to a dead nation.Happy Canada's Funeral day might be a better name.

I'm still traumatized by Crouton saying that "da Liberal party represent da Canadian values."

That was like taking my citizenship away. I've got nothing in common with those liars, thieves, and cheats.

Happy Canada and Dominion Day. I think we are all Canadians from east to west who are looking for roughly the same thing, peace order and good government.

I believe it is the politicians, the media, some of the senior bureaucracy, and the academics who are trying to dividing us. They do not want to lose their privileged disproportionate power and perks, so are setting regions against one another.

Witness the behaviour of Danny Williams, Lorne Calvert, and, yes, the Senate, to illustrate my point.

Trudeau changed the Canadian political culture so that decisions and policies rested with the few in the ivory tower, sometimes called the French or Rousseauian model, from our previous British bottom-up system, where the people identified their needs and desires to their elected politicians, rather than the other way around.

Having said that, ET, I disagree with your comments v.v. the Senate usurpation in parliament. Yes they are morally wrong, they represent an anachronistic power structure, and are using their power to advance the power prospects of a defeated and disgraced Liberal party. BUT, that is not illegal; they are acting within our laws and constitution (for the time being), misguided though they are. A system that gives them such power and influence is also the problem.

There is an appropriate response - the government can, as Mulroney did in 1987, call an election, and go to the people, thus bypassing the Senate and the premiers.

That's what will happen IMO, the Senate will be shut up once again, and we will carry on with the greatest, and yes luckiest, country in the world.

Indeed. A blessed Dominion Day to all.

After a wee bit of research, I found that the Dominion of Canada still legally exists! Perhaps Coyne needs to ponder what defines a federally united Dominion. As for his moaning on the regard accorded rule of law and civility - hear, hear! Not a pleasant article to read, but better than the normal vapid pap that pretends to journalism.

Kate - You're becoming guilty of regional myopia. "We" are not more like Americans than each other, because the generalization is invalid. Yes, rural, small town, praire folk are remarkably similar to their counterparts in the American midwest, but Canada's large cities are only superficially similar to those in the USA (the appearance derives from economies of scale in mass media and popular culture). Canadian urban demographics are different.

"We" ARE like Ontario...at least those parts distinct from the Toronto megaplex and the regions huddled along the US border.

Having lived and worked in 5 provinces (Ontario not being one of them), I feel that I have a better-than-average exposure to the different cultural quirks of the various regions of this country.

Without any smugness or maliciousness, I feel that I can confidently assert that Canada is simply a country that has no business being a country. Maybe confederation wasn't a mistake in the beginning - but it has certainly grown to the point of where it is a mistake now.

It's got nothing to do with language (in the case of Quebec) or even geo-politics. The problem is that the differences in the core fundamental values among the provinces within Canada are simply too great. In any large nation, there will always be regional differences, to be sure - but these differences are usually about relatively minor issues - while the fundamental interests are the same. But, not when it comes to Canada.

The best way I have found to gauge this is to simply take a look at what people in the various regions think about "responsibility." Find out what people think that the individual should be responsible for versus what they think the government should be responsible for. The gaps are wide enough to drive a truck through.

And it is not as simple as trying to split people into left and right camps. For example, I would say that (on balance) BC is about as left as Quebec (both have lots of union control with enviromentalists and gays and feminists holding lots of sway, for example). But ask a British Columbian who should be responsible for your health care and, of course, it's the government - even if people die. Ask a Quebecer and you get a way different answer (Montreal is the Mecca of private health care in Canada).

That's why Ralph Klein (a provincial Conservative) would not have been able to get 1% of the vote in a place like Newfoundland (or any other province - but with a different reason for each province not liking him). And that's why Danny Williams (another provincial Conservative) wouldn't have a chance in a place like Alberta. They each are called "conservatives". But, this country's fundamental values are so different from province to province that even words like conservative don't have the same meaning from place to place.

I hate to be the unpatriotic one (what with this being the nation's birthday and all). But, it's clear that Canada exists only because the provinces and territories that make it up simply had no one else to unite with at the time that they each, in turn, needed hand-outs.

Interesting comments.
I too feel like a stranger in my own country. Many years ago I warned about the dangers of a mosaic rather than a melting pot approach to immigration, but I was shouted down simply because I was advocating the American approach.
I am tired of casual anti-Americanism and unfounded moral superiority among the latte classes who spend no time or energy in defence of our freedom or our culture. I cannot let it pass unchallenged - though I'm likely to get invited to fewer parties.
The middle class in Canada has been shackled to the poor and disadvantaged by false empathy foisted on us by encroaching socialism. Our freedoms have been slowly stripped away until only the veneer of our traditional values still exist to hide what this country has really become.
Unfortunately rousing anyone to take up ths cause is almost impossible - though it must be attempted one person, one comment, one action at a time.

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada!
Terre de nos aïeux,
Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux!
Car ton bras sait porter l'épée,
Il sait porter la croix!
Ton histoire est une épopée
Des plus brillants exploits.
Et ta valeur, de foi trempée,
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.

I wish you all a very Happy Canada Day from London where we are now confronting the latest evil machinations of the enemies of our Queen, our traditions and our liberties.

"In my experience the only Canadians (usually)who consider themselves Canadian before their provincial identity are those from Ontario. I don't know whether this is a good or bad thing or what it means."

I think you are right and for a very good reason. The confederation of Canada was formed by the fussion of Upper (United Empire Loyalist) and Lower Canada the Atlantic provinces and the western territories. The nation soon evolved into Upper Canada, Quebec and the regions. It then evolved into the empire of Upper Canada with all other regions being subjects of the Upper Canadian Elite. All the wealth of the regions was fed into Upper Canada to the detriment of the regions. When ever a region wanted to develop a resourse it had to go cap in hand and beg from the Upper Canadian banks or go outside the country. For example Alberta had to go to the US for funding for its oil industry. In other words it is hard to feel a part of a country when you are constantly being excluded from being a part of the country other than an abused hand maid of the Upper Canadian elite.

Happy Canada Day, my friends!

After all these years, I still don't know what this great difference between America and Canada is supposed to be in terms of individuals.

I'd say if you want to be American, be American, if you want to be Canadian, be Canadian. We'll love you either way. Just don't let "being Canadian" be identical with disliking the United States.

I heartily invite all you good-buddy conservatives up there to please, please emigrate to the United States. Surely we can set up some sort of underground railroad. The conservative movement down here can use your idealism and your votes.

I'm going to agree with Kate that the differences in North America have to do with north to south and east to west, not whether you're Canadian or American.

And I'm going to agree with ET that a tremendous step for you would be an elected senate. We've just proved that again in spades down here. And the more politicians you can threaten at the ballot box, the quicker you're going to straighten out such problems as exist.

God bless the Canadian troops in Afghanistan.

I must agree with my fellow posters from Ontario(not trawna). Once you get away from the latte/leftard crowd, you will find a few million people who are the among the most dis-enfranchised people in this country. Take east of Oshawa for example. Unemployment over 15%, tourism industry devastated, light manufacturing devastated, unbelievable communism eminating from Queens Park vis-a-vis rural land management. The only growth industries are outdoor grow ops and contraband smokes. We have no representation in our provincial gov't(as the trawna idiots run the show). It is very lonely out here. If we were a province, we would be the poorest in Canada. We try a few grass-roots protests, and we get labelled as divisive racists/bigots/whatever leftards are using to shut up their opponents. All the fluff money goes to immigrants/lesbians/gay theatre/feminazis/refugees/wannabe artists/ etc. So. fellow Canadians(outside of trawna/Ottawa/Montreal), please do not lump us in with that crowd. We have a tough enough go as it is.

PS - one big Canada Day cheer for our troops overseas.....GO ARMY!

I've been a fan of Coyne for years now, but I'm on a bit of a hiatus because he led the Hysteric Brigade of journalists who suddenly a while back got amnesiac about Liberal behaviour, which allowed Mr. Harper's Conservatives to be declared a moral violation against this country.

In one particular -- post? column? -- AC threw this particular three punch combination (I paraphrase, but the gist is accurate):

1. Our nation's principles have been badly compromised by years of Liberal rule.

2. Our principles are also compromised by an increasingly unprincipled and hypocritical Canadian electorate.

3. The Conservatives are far worse than either, because they are supposed to be principled.

One could almost see this approach coming, because for all the criticism of the Liberals over the years, criticism about their hypocrisy and cravenness and enitlement and malfeasance and dark-corner thuggery, NO ONE -- Liberal, Conservative or NDP -- ever accused them of betraying Liberal principles. Think about it.

So if the Liberals were fifty or a thousand times worse than the Conservatives, at least they never violated their principles. The Conservatives are supposed to have principles, and it was on the issue of principle that Coyne went ballistic in attacking the Conservatives over their TV ads in Quebec. I have never read anyone more morally exercised -- it was like he was passing a stone. And HE made clear that he was outraged about a violation of principle.

But at the same time he was a regular guest on The National, sharing grins and chuckles with Mansbridge et al; in other words, he was making personal appearances on a series of multi-billion dollar anti-Conservative attack ad, the scope and intensity of which exceeds any Conservative ad by a factor of about a million, and which were presented on entirely fraudulent terms, that "this is non-partisan news coverage."

SO, as far as I can tell, it's like this: if you have no principles, like the Liberals, you obviously can't violate those principles. But if you have strong principles -- good, strong, identifiable principles of known provenance -- like Mr. Harper, but are in a position where the voters, and not you, get the last word, then the compromises you make are not only unprincipled, but also a living outrage to anyone -- journalists included -- who are highly principled.

I think I got that right.

Toronto is not Ontario.

I'm an Ontario conservative, and Toronto annoys the hell out of me. So does the current Conservative government (I voted for), prostituting its principles to attempt to gain a majority. Ask Ernie Eves how well that works.

Hey Alberta, what's taking you so long? Do the rest of Canada a favor will you? Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, you're more trouble than you're worth.
http://www.separationalberta.com/

Happy Dominion Day from Calgary!

1. Diomede - will be happy to oblige if needed but to me it seems like ROC abandoned the core Canadian values - independence, hard work, and less government and substituted it for Trudeau like cleptocracy and insane immigration. So maybe we get to keep the name of Canada and ROC becomes Union of post-Canadian Socialist Republics aka UpCSR ?

2. Andrew Coyne's column - IMO he is right about national securities agency - we are the only OECD country that does not have one and it is hurting international investment. I realize 99% don't care / realize this though. He is wrong IMO about federal powers of course.

3. Again Diomede - maybe TO + Maritimes should separate and create Democratic People's Republic of Toronto and Communist East?

4. I lived and worked in 5 countries, visited about 50, been to 8 out of 10 provinces and 35 out of 50 US states and yes Western North Americans have more in common (ditto for Eastern North Americans) than people across the same country - say California - New Hampshire or Nova Scotia - Alberta.

Take care and happy reading Kate's posts

Andy

As an extremely proud Canadian who immigrated to this country 12 years ago, let me suggest a simple test of Kate's assertion that "We are more like Americans than we are one another".

Remember the women's and men's Olympic Gold Medal finals between the US and Canada in Salt Lake City, 2002? Which sides were you and your neighbours cheering for?

Amongst fellow-Canadians we might identify and distinguish ourselves in terms of regions, cities or provinces. But when interacting with the rest of the world, with the obvious exception of many Quebecors, we are always Canadian first.

Happy Canada Day!!

Diomede - I for one would miss Alberta if they separated, Quebec on the other hand...

Amen to Zeroth,

Canadians are different than Americans - not better - but different - our cultural mosaic and our history and our politics are just different - be proud of that.

I just finished a 2 month run (with over 22K on my car) of the South West and North West US. They are just as regional as us and they are just as cross-pollenated as us. (Half of Newfoundland is in Fort MacMurray - half of Saskatchewan are working as S/W Engineers for RIMM in Waterloo or Mississauga - Americans are the same way).

Americans though have more confidence and pride in who they are and it allows them to be great - which they are. Our problem is that too many Canadians are insecure or see ourselves as less than Americans or Brits - and that's bogus.

You never see an American dissing New York City - they are proud of it - even if it has faults. Why do we dis Toronto - our biggest city (even if Miller is an idiot) - we should celebrate the fact that it is world class - and it is world class - by our definition - no one elses matter.

Canada is a great country - be proud - and - oh ya - Happy Canada Day!

Present day Canada is nothing to be proud of. We have a failed education system that does little but further the secular progressive cause. It does not provide a quality, useful education.

We have a failed social medical systems because government cannot run a business and health has been a business since Florence Nightingale left us. Unions and top heavy management are big culprits.

We have a failed immigration system because we have left our door open to terrorists from the Islamic wold and street scum from Jamaica and other Caribbean areas. Family reunification is also adding to the death of our medical and educational systems and an over-burdened welfare system.

We have a failed dominion because we are divided regionally by economic realities that vote-hungry politicians exploit with other people's money.

We are a failed Mosaic because the various cultures and religions that are accumulating don't like each other and are further dividing us.

We have a failed Federal government because none of them can achieve an honest majority governing body that works for the betterment of the country and not just special interest groups.

We are in the throws of a failing manufacturing sector because the unions have priced us out of the world markets.

We are failing our middle class quality existence by over taxing the population so they cannot afford to raise children anymore.

Other than our mostly western based natural resources we are a failed economy because our tax structure so penalizes new investment and wealth creation that we will eventually become just another failed Socialist state. Maybe even worse.

Happy Canada Day

Ontario is just like New York state, agreed.

Based on this article " Is Canada Governable by Andrew Coyne
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/issuesideas/story.html?id=0b0b74e8-4594-4ec3-93ac-d7cea58b0e19

here's a Dominion Day save Canada cure suggestion.

Further, "Can faulty liberal values that have foistered seperatism and native self-determinination be overcome in Canada?

One shot, unite our country, solve our collective liberal faulty thinking and the attached corruption scourge presently plaguing us. I think if we (Canada) just didn't allow anyone with a government job a vote, we would be through with liberal idealism and it's crooked bloodsucking government.

That's right, if Canada were to enact this little bit of Jeffersonian control on our pseudo-parlimentary system, it would go a long way to making Canada what it could be.

Quit your government job and your vote is returned, but while under the employ of the queen your position requires you to NOT vote in municipal , provincial or federal elections.

The "transnational progressives" and increasing big brother, less individual rights gubmint will be quickly brought to a stand still and effortlessly reversed.

What harm could the enactment of this suggestion do?

Really, If ancient Rome and Greece would have tried this suggestion out, our kids would be named Sophaclese and Aristotle, instead of Doug and Bob.

Does anyone have an objection to excluding lottery ticket sales personal from participating in our lotteries anymore?

Maybe throw all lawyers into the group of those, temporarily vote suspended, just for safe keeping.

There's your "one third tax cut" as painless as it can be, and our country starts to look at things that unite us rather than the bitter divisiveness that multiculturalism has brought us. No more Trudeaupian egomaniacal social engineering.

Welfareism would be drastically reduced and the nepotistic elite socialist OttawaMontrealToronto mandarins and their MSM influence might be weakened.

“The sweet dream of universal cultural compatibility has been replaced by the nightmare of permanent conflict.”

Happy Canada Day, Happy Dominion Day!

Pride is the gateway to hubris. But am I satistfied with Canada? Oh, please. We live in one of the freest and most successful countries in the history of our species. How can that not be satisfying?

Plato said, "The price that good men pay for doing nothing is to be ruled by evil men". I agree. I argue at length here in favour of the positions that I consider to be advantageous in avoiding evil men.

My point, then? I have to ask, why is it so hard for some people to take a day to celebrate the good things in life? Why do some people have to be the nattering nabobs of negativity all the time?

Do you have to talk about our great neighbours to the south, even on Canada Day? Do you have to fight between the provinces, even on Canada Day? Aren't the remaining 364 days of the year enough?

I'm glad I'm not some of you people. Being unable to celebrate must be a terrible burden. Oh, and I still think we should change the national anthem to The Log Drivers' Waltz, by Wade Hemsworth:

If you should ask any girl from the parish around
What pleases her most from her head to her toes
She'll say, "I'm not sure that it's business of yours
But I do like to waltz with a log driver.

Chorus
For he goes birling down a-down the white water
That's where the log driver learns to step lightly
It's birling down, a-down white water
A log driver's waltz pleases girls completely.

When the drive's nearly over, I like to go down
To see all the lads while they work on the river
I know that come evening they'll be in the town
And we all want to waltz with a log driver.

To please both my parents I've had to give way
And dance with the doctors & merchants & lawyers
Their manners are fine but their feet are of clay
For there's none with the style of a log driver.

I've had my chances with all sorts of men
But none is so fine as my lad on the river
So when the drive's over, if he asks me again
I think I will marry my log driver.

PS: My pocket Red Ensign on a stick that I took to a party today went down very well. Funny how people are interested in a contrapuntal argument when presented well. So at the risk of repeating myself, Happy Dominion Day, everyone.

[deleted. This is not your personal insult forum. And your continued use of proxy servers is a sure bet to have everything you post here removed. Clean up your act. This is your only warning. - ED]

I've always had mixed reviews about Andrew Coyne's writings. While he is right on most of the times, there are periods where you figure he has been sipping Ottawa koolaid.

I've had the priviledge of living and working in 9 of the 10 provinces and all three territories. They are all different and that is not a bad thing but at one time they were all able to get together behind one cause and be Canadian. These days it is all about "What's in it for me?" I for one am tired of these hyphenated Canadians.

Regional identity often knows no borders so it is no wonder that mainland BCers have a lot in common with Washington state folks or Maine and New Brunswickers. Heck, here in Texas you have Cajuns, seafaring fishermen, panhandle cattlemen, oilmen by Oklahoma, and Rio Grande vaqueros.

So, from this expat, I'd like to pass on a Happy Dominion Day or Canada Day.

Vit -- The ENSIGN was a hit on the water. I was actually set aside by the number of boats flying the eastern maple leaf that looked then gave the thumbs up.

That has been my experience too, W.C. I flew my Red Ensign on a stick at the restaurant I jentaculated at this morning, two people thanked me, and one new Canadian (the owner of said establishment) asked me to explain why I was flying same.

Needless to say, I constrained my five minute presentation to Persia, Greece, Rome, and the Magna Carta, since the brilliant U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution, especially their Bill of Rights in the first through tenth amendments, was clearly beyone the scope of our Dominion Day legacy. My interlocutor, interestingly of Persian descent, agreed with me.

But you tell that to the CBC. They won't believe you. I 'spose they just can't get their heads around the concept of engineers teaching art and history.

"So, to the west, Quebec, the east, and aboriginals - go screw yourselves. I love Canada."

Posted by: gellen at July 1, 2007 11:05 AM

Spoken like a true Canadian.

First off, people in Quebec are Canadians and second off, Quebec is not a nation unto itself; otherwise, it best stop taking the billions of dollars in transfer payments from the other hardworking Canadians and start making their own way. Quebec will never separate because it is not financially feasible - they just like to demand money....ALL THE TIME, and if for some bizarre reason they think they can go it alone, Canada should give Quebec to the rightful owners - the Indians, and the French and the Indians can fight it out. Either way, the war won't last long, because they both will need money to fund the war, so we'll eventually end up with Metis - problem solved.

I use Quebec maple syrup, and BC 'happy cow whip cream on my Belgian waffles this morning.

Happy Canada Day.

Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht BGS, PDP, CFP

Commander in Chief

Frankenstein Battalion

2nd Squadron: Ulanen-(Lancers) Regiment Großherzog Friedrich von Baden(Rheinisches) Nr.7(Saarbrucken)

Knecht Rupprecht Division

Hans Corps

1st Saint Nicolaas Army

Army Group “True North

I hope Vitruvius appreciates this argument:

Decentralization is good for Canada. Each of the ten provinces should be allowed to develop their own educational standards and processes, their own health care systems, and their own social assistance standards and processes. Why? Because the chance of finding a BETTER solution is much higher when you have ten experiments going on, rather than just one. By all means, let Alberta and Quebec experiment with mixed public/private health care, and then let's compare the outcomes with those of statist Ontario. Let's see how Quebec's subsidized daycare works out compared to other provinces' approaches. How do the educational systems of BC and Saskatchewan compare, both in approach and results? (I'm equally ignorant of both.) The point is the more we try different methods, the greater the chance we will find a better way than the current static situation. This is one strength of the US system; the states provide 50 different idea incubators, and when one idea proves irresistibly better, it slowly spreads to other states. Over-reaching federal power in both countries stifles progress and entrenches bureaucracies in capital regions that are divorced both physically and psychologically from the people they are supposed to serve. Decentralization is good!

Happy (belated) Dominion Day from this Canadian who lives five miles north of the dreaded Trawna.

As some someone who lives 5 miles south of kevinB in the Tar-wana experiment, I don’t know how anyone could not agree with his comments.

LOL!! Joanne at July 2, 2007 12:50 AM, I noticed that, too. I thought to myself: Hmmmmm. What does that leave? Why it's Ontario!! That's what Canada is. Now we know. How could we have been so wrong!

I not only appreciate the argument, Kevin, I fully agree with it.

Blue kool-aid must have made me ill, Jeff. Just got back online. I recognize it as an insult, Jeff, but then much of what you write insults someone so no offense taken.
One day of the year, Jeff - one day of the year - for Canadians to put aside their gripes and differences (perceived and real) and celebrate what is good about Canada. Or, for that matter, to celebrate Canada with its strengths and its flaws. Not much to ask.
Maybe next July 1.