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Why this blog?
Until this moment I have been forced to listen while media and politicians alike have told me "what Canadians think". In all that time they never once asked.
This is just the voice of an ordinary Canadian yelling back at the radio -
"You don't speak for me."
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I was discussing this book, and the issue at a recent family gathering..
The libs in the family are well described, by the authors..
Whenever I point out that Harper and the conservatives won a majority… (incidentally, you can make that word, roll on your tongue in a manner that is a horrible insult to a lib) my sister almost gets to the point, she could gnaw an anvil in half..
The only disagreement I have being old enough to clearly remember Canada prior to the Pearson, Trudeau years is that the shift is actually a return to the traditional Canada. I cannot say if he is correct, though I suspect he may be, about immigration being the cause. I do know that most immigrants share true conservative values especially when it comes to the family. The want-to-be elites however certainly live in a glass bubble and the author’s description of them is spot on. I hope that the return to our roots continues.
I can’t really get excited over the prospect of replacing one set of statists with another set of statists.
Canada’s “bubble boy” elite. Too true to be comical. I still say Medicine Hat is a great place to move CBC HQ. Parliament to Regina?
Hopefully the Laurentian Elites get tossed into the dustbin of history. Now, where have we heard that before?
Moved to downtown Toronto from the west last year and I am still stunned at the culture. The people honestly think Harper seized the state, like a Banana Republic coup, instead of being voted in democratically. They don’t get it at all.
The book is fascinating in the first half, possibly the first 2/3, and then becomes dramatically less interesting. The premise is logical, and as Bricker states in the Ezra interview, based on reams of data.
I couldn’t help shake the feeling while reading it though, that only credentialed members of the Laurentian Elite could get away with writing such a book. Take this passage from page 165:
“Starting in the 1960s, politicians and pedagogues began rewriting Canada’s history to make it less uncomfortable for the French. The unpleasant truth is that Quebec exists within Canada because the British defeated the French in the Seven Years’ War, and Quebec was one of the prizes….And so, in a series of acts of appeasement, Canadian history, to the extent any of it was taught, emphasized the Canada that created peace-keeping, that fought against apartheid, that campaigned for the land mines treaty, that contributed to the creation of the International Criminal Court. At every opportunity, monarchical vestiges were eliminated or shoved to the margins. Meanwhile, the Laurentian elites sought to craft a set of national myths, built around the Liberal-created Maple Leaf flag, the Liberal-created social safety net, the Liberal-inspired policies of bilingualism and multiculturalism.” (165-66).
Just imagine the howls of protest if anyone outside the Toronto media had said this on say, Power and Politics. If this passage appeared in a Tory MP’s mailout there would be calls from him to resign.
I think the great failing of the book has to do with the discussion of the culture industries: television & newspaper, and the complete lack of discussion regarding publishing, the arts, universities, libraries, museums & galleries. The authors barely touch on these, other than to demonstrate that the media are Laurentian, and their influence is waning.
The ‘Big Shift’ won’t be confined to politics & business; the last and most entrenched Laurentian hold-out will be the ‘culture’ industries. What will the universities have to do to accommodate the ‘shift?’ Will an increasingly Pacific-oriented Canada tolerate continued millions in various arts subsidies to Laurentian elites? Look at any publisher’s list and tell me, is that Laurentian or Pacific Canada?
There’s currently an interesting example of this going on at Library and Archives Canada: the Tories have made some very minor changes & want, amongst other things, a greater emphasis on digitization. L&AC is throwing a hissy-fit and acting like it’s the end of the world. L&AC is going to have to change to accommodate these shifting priorities or they will cease to be relevant to the larger community who picks up their tab.
The book is worth reading, but I’d get it from your local library.
I suggest the ‘elite’ in Canada have simply continued a top down management of the Canadian colony back to the 1600’s. Exploitation of western resources (furs) centered in Montreal and later Ontario. This activity conducted in the West and the Atlantic provinces simply provided the wealth necessary to maintain the political power to dominate the country.
Current re-balancing to the CPC is more a reflection in the economic uncertainty that some sectors of the eastern economy are experiencing as industry there finds more difficulty in remaining competitive. When not enough money is coming into the home more questions are raised on how that tax dollar is spent. Building more windmills makes less sense to those footing the bills. Transit bus drivers creaming the taxpayer in TO is more obvious.