Documentary Takes Stock of NL's Satisfaction with Canada

This past weekend award winning journalist and documentary film maker, Guylaine Maroist, traveled to the fair province of Newfoundland and Labrador from her home in Montreal. Her purpose: To help define the TRUE Canadian experience, a tall order by anyone’s estimate.

In an effort to uncover the underlying sentiments about our place in Canada Ms. Maroist and her crew spent several days in the province interviewing local residents, political figures and journalists, a process I was more than happy to participate in myself.

The discussions were broad and wide ranging but with a single underlying current: What do we really feel about the federation as a whole (or as some would say “a hole”, but that’s another story) and why do we feel that way?

I know from my discussions with her over the past several days that she found what she came for. Newfoundlanders and Labradorians may be called a lot of things, shy isn’t one of them.

The concept of Ms. Maroist’s upcoming documentary is a simple yet enlightened one.

As she tells it, the idea grew from her life in Quebec and what she witnessed there.

Most people in Quebec, according to Ms. Maroist, see Canada, with the exception of Quebec itself, as one homogenous nation of people. They see the issues facing Quebec as a case of “us against them”. Having traveled extensively Ms. Maroist says she knew there was a lot more to the nation than a single culture and that many other parts of Canada are also dissatisfied with their experience in the federation. She decided to capture those stories.

From a growing separatist movement in Alberta to decades second class citizenship in Newfoundland and Labrador, a lot of dissent exists across the Country, Ms Maroist hopes to bring this story to the nation and, perhaps as importantly, to those in Quebec, in an effort shed light on the truth about the real Canada.

During the shoot, which is expected to take several months, Ms. Maroist and her team will travel the length and breadth of Canada, visiting as many provinces as possible. Her film, tentatively titled “Dis-United States” is expected to be released nationally next summer.

Good luck Guylaine. It’s a story that needs to be told and I look forward to seeing the outcome.

Patronage Plumbs Peddled for PM's Purposes

This morning I stumbled across an article from the “Hill Times” that immediately caught my attention and captivated my interest. The piece was about none other than Prime Minister Stephen Harper

The headline read, “Harper criticized for not 'taking care' of former MPs, top staffers”.

The author referenced Conservative MPs and staffers who are worried because, “...Mr. Harper demands loyalty … (but) he doesn't show the same loyalty when MPs lose an election or staffers leave their Parliament Hill jobs."

Apparently those loyalists are, "disappointed that he has failed to "take care" of them in their post-Parliamentary lives.”

I have to say I was left in total bewilderment after reading this.

I mean boo hoo for the party hacks moaning to this reporter but what's going on here?

First of all let me say I’m strongly believe that political patronage and the “old buddy” network is a major part of the problem we have with politics today. Anybody who chooses to run for office or to work for a political “machine” shouldn’t have any right to expect to be “taken care of” when the party ends. They do of course but that doesn't make it right.

Knowing how I feel about this I’m sure you can understand my confusion.

Politics in Canada has been an elitist and closed “scratch my back” system for decades and to hear that suddenly Stephen Harper, one of the most underhanded and self serving of the bunch, may have suddenly decided to do the right thing and give up the practice had me flabbergasted.

I mean wasn’t it Stephen Harper who claimed he would never appoint senators to that most golden of retirement homes, the Red Chamber?

Wasn't it also Stephen Harper who did just the opposite by appointing 18 of them?

Didn’t he thank Mike Duffy for his partisan service and support during the last election and for Duffy’s crucifixion of Stephane Dion after a botched Nova Scotia interview (an action by Duffy and NewsNet that was later described by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council as unethical)?

Didn’t Mr. Harper also send former Newfoundland and Labrador MP, Fabian Manning, to the red chamber after Manning was ridden out of town on a rail in his home Province? Wasn’t that a thank-you to Manning for standing next to the PM in the House of Commons, laughing and clapping as Mr. Harper callously stripped hundreds of millions from Newfoundland and Labrador and publicly ridiculed Mr. Manning’s home province?

Could the Stephen Harper I know and dislike have changed so much in such a short time that his party insiders and toadies were beginning to worry about their future expense accounts and "rolling around money"?

I was so confused. How could some reporter have identified a lack of political pork barreling and cronyism as a serious weakness in anyone but of all people, Stephen Harper?

Really?

What was I missing?

I mean here is a Prime Minister who has proven time and again that he is not to be trusted in any way, shape or form. For Stephen Harper breaking a promise or “sculpting the truth" is as natural as breathing. So my question was this: Had the Prime Minister suddenly turned over a new leaf or was he just proving to those in his inner circle what many of us already know, that he can’t be trusted?

It's something they all should have been aware of by now but in the rarified air of Ottawa clear vision is something often encountered.

Was it something else all together?

Did the Hill Times get boondoggled by the Harper media machine into running a story that might allow the Prime Minister to be viewed as the only one willing to “clean up dodge” even at the expense of his loyal minions?

The whole thing left all me with so many questions my head hurt and I believe (just for a moment) my morning muffin threatened to reappear from the depths.

What was I to say about this new information staring me in the face?

At first I almost thought that even though the Hill Times wasn’t very flattering to Mr. Harper (They seemed to view this lack of cronyism was a bad thing ) I might actually be forced to sit down to write something complimenary about the man.

My blood ran cold.

I nearly passed out from the stress.

But I was saved the horror of defending Mr. Harper's actions.

As I lowered by now tense frame over the keyboard and the blood slowly began to flow back into my head I suddenly realized what was really happening. It wasn’t that Stephen Harper had decided to do the right thing by turning his back on old school politics, it was just a case of the true nature of the man once again reaching the public eye.

I guess all the conflicting facts and my desire to see political cronyism done away with had clouded my judgment and overwhelmed my nervous system.

Think about it, Stephen Harper hasn’t actually done the right thing by deciding not to offer cushy jobs to his cronies on the taxpayer dime. Instead he’s been carefully weighing the market value of those around him and acting accordingly.

Those who have little future value to him, savagely loyal or not, must be removed and forgotten in the interest of the Harper "buddy" portfolio. In this way the limited number of valuable patronage positions available can be offered to those who have continued political or personal value.

I mean if Harper just gave away those plumb jobs as a thank-you to every Tom, Dick or Sparrow how would he be able to buy future influence inside Ottawa?

Consider this, were the onslaught of senatorial appointments really a political thank-you on the PM’s part or a way for him to meet his own self interests?

I admit that at first I thought they were nothing more than a taxpayer funded pat on the back but on reflection, and in light of this recent information I’ve been forced to look for another explanation and it isn’t hard to find one.

Just squeeze your eyes into tiny slits, forget you’re human or even a primate and try to think like Stephen Harper. I know it hurts but if you try real hard the answers will come.

For anyone afraid of having their personality or moral compass get stuck in Harper mode stop now and I'll tell you what I came up with.

Mind you I didn’t have the time, inclination or article room to research all the senate appointments made my this PM but in the case of Duffy and Manning the answer is simple.

Those appointments weren’t Harper’s way of thanking two political hacks for climbing into his back pocket they served a much more important purpose.

Duffy’s senate seat ensures that Mr. Harper has a very experienced and well connected media insider at his back pocket and at his beck and call whenever he needs to create some spin. And here’s the really interesting part, it’s not costing the Conservative party a cent because the taxpayers are footing the bill for Mr. Duffy’s enormous salary and golden perks.

As for Fabian Manning’s appointment, that ones a lot simpler and less forward looking.

Harper still has a major pissing contest underway with the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, Danny Williams, and he needed a way to retaliate against the Province for not electing a single Conservative during the last election. What better way to send a message to the Province and the Premier than to offer a highly publicized senate seat to the Province’s poster boy for “traitor of the decade”?

Can you say “slap in the face” Premier Williams? I bet you can.

Anyway, once the reality of the situation got a little clearer I slapped myself for being so politically naive and I felt much better, not for Canada which is still politically screwed, but about my personal well being.

My headache went away and things began to return to normal after a few minutes of deep breathing. It was then that another terrible thought occurred to me. What will happen after the next federal election?

According to the same “Hill Times” article that threw my morning into such turmoil, Mr. Harper may not always “take care” of his loyal supporters but the Liberal party has, “a fairly strong support network, not only political, but also corporate and academic” to help its loyalists.

Oh great. Once again we are faced with proof that the Canadian political system is nothing more than a joke. The banana republic of the North.

Now Canadians can either elect a ruling party that has no morals but which is pickier about feeding its loyalists at the trough or one that claims to have all the morals in the world while historically handing out patronage positions like Halloween candy.

Thank God we live in a democracy (well actually a democratic monarchy) where the public is free to decide which party had the best publicity machine leading up to election day.

Personally I think I’ll take next polling day. At least nobody will be able to blame me for “choosing” our next government.

Putting the Cart Before the Horse

Chicken and Egg.

Cart before the horse.

However you want to describe it, it’s becoming clearer all the time that most Canadians simply don’t understand Newfoundland and Labrador and never will.

When you listen to most of the national media pundits, federal politicians and even the man on the street in places like Ontario or Alberta, one thing becomes abundantly clear, they all believe that Newfoundland and Labrador Premier, Danny Williams, is power mad and dictatorial.

They believe, as former media darling and newly minted Conservative senator, Mike Duffy, recently insinuated, that Danny Williams is a greedy hot head with a swollen ego and that the people of the Province have under his spell.

I’m paraphrasing of course.

The logic behind the argument runs like this.

Danny Williams is combative, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are a friendly and happy people, so therefore Williams must be running amok and stirring up trouble.

The argument doesn’t hold water for anyone who knows the first thing about the issues that matter to Newfoundland and Labrador or has any insight into the collective history of the people in the Province.

In fact the misconception is a perfect example of putting the cart before the horse.

Simply put, Danny Williams doesn’t have an 80% popularity rating because he has the ill informed yet contented masses suddenly riled up.

He was not re-elected with a larger mandate during his second election campaign because the people are afraid of his dictatorial vengeance.

In truth, Danny Williams enjoys his impressive level popularity because he is doing the bidding of his constituents rather than ignoring them.

When it comes to addressing their concerns over economic development, the oil industry and, perhaps most of all, dealing with the inequities that the Province faces in the Canadian federation Williams is the first political leader the Province has had in years who is willing to speak up.

His approach is like a breath of fresh air inside the Province but this reality is something that has been totally missed in the rest of Canada.

This is not to say Premier Williams is perfect, far from it. There have been, and continue to be, issues inside the Province that have put him at odds with much of the population but this doesn’t take away the deep respect many have for his willingness to take a stand when it matters most.

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have been disheartened for decades by successive provincial leaders who have either failed to stand up when needed or have consciously chosen to ignore the public will and for their personal benefit.

From the backroom deals that led to a loss of independence, to Ottawa’s refusal to enforce the Constitution and force Quebec into permitting the transport of Upper Churchill power across its borders, from federal mismanagement of a 500 year old Atlantic cod fishery to the recent unilateral gutting of an agreement intended to ensure that the Province would be the primary beneficiary of its offshore oil industry, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have a lot of painful memories pressing concerns to screaming to be addressed.

Newfoundland and Labrador has a long history both inside and outside of Canada. Over that time the people, who have a far longer political memory than most, have been used, abused and misused for as long as anyone can recall.

No, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have not fallen under some kind of spell perpetrated by a ruthless leader.

Yes, they are indeed a friendly people, but nobody should ever take their sunny disposition for granted.

After decades of suffering most of the people have learned that in order to survive when the odds are stacked against you the best approach is often to simply smile and crack a few jokes, but in reality the anger run very, very deep.

As much as many Canadians might prefer to believe it, Danny Williams isn’t stirring up an otherwise happy go lucky people. He’s simply giving voice to their collective anger.

Throne Speech a Triumph of Political Double Speak

It never ceases to amaze me how easily political leaders can talk from both sides of their mouth at the same time. It must be genetic or something.

During last week’s throne speech the Harper government made a point of telling the nation how important it was that Ottawa find innovative ways of securing Canada’s energy future, tackling climate change and building the economy.

That’s what the speech said but what it really meant was: “The Harper government will find innovative ways to secure our political future, pretend we are tackling climate change and build voter support.”

In that speech the government of Canada specifically said it would accomplish it’s publicly stated objectives by supporting nuclear energy projects and by developing the natural gas potential of the North, including the building a natural gas pipeline.

According to the Prime Minister, “Energy is vitally important to our country…The development of our rich energy resources is an important source of wealth and Canadian jobs…Our Government has committed to reducing Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020.”

Sounds great doesn’t it?

Sure it does but anyone living on the East Coast of Canada (the REAL East Coast of Canada) can tell you Harper's motives are not what the Prime Minister says they are.

The people of the Atlantic Provinces have suspected for decades that somewhere in Ottawa there is a map that depicts the Country as Ottawa truly sees it, with the border ending at Quebec.

Atlantic Canadians have been unwavering in their disgust each time they have been forced to bend to the will of Ontario, Quebec and more recently, oil rich Alberta.

It’s gotten to a point where the average citizen in Newfoundland and Labrador simply shakes their head and walks away knowingly when a politician announces anything that’s supposedly good for “Canada”.

The most recent throne speech and government actions have done nothing to change this reality.
A few years ago Stephen Harper, upon catching a glimpse of the attitude adopted by long time Atlantic residents, referred to the region as having a “culture of defeat”.

Personally I don’t see it that way at all. What I see is a people that have come to understand that in Canada the cards are forever stacked against them.

When Ontario, Quebec or Alberta strives to accomplish their objectives in Canada they usually win.

When Atlantic Canada strives to accomplish its objectives in Canada, Ontario, Quebec and increasingly Alberta, usually win.

In fact, with successive minority governments constantly on election watch the task of pandering to the big three has become an art form.

No matter the political party or the issue of the day, Quebec is still Quebec, Ontario, even as a have not province, is still Ontario and Alberta has become the newest member of Canada’s political elite.

In reality the desire to protect the environment, provide secure energy and create jobs in the North are little more than fluff for public consumption.

The truth is that massive quantities of natural gas are needed to keep one of the most environmentally destructive projects on the planet, the Alberta tar sands, humming along smoothly. Without it they would grind to a stand still.

Score one for Alberta.

On the nuclear front, yes nuclear power is cleaner than coal or oil generation, but there are other options out there, including wind, solar and good old fashioned hydro.

An example of this is the power potential of the Lower Churchill River in Labrador.

For decades Newfoundland and Labrador has been fighting an uphill battle to develop the massive energy potential of the Lower Churchill River. The project is in the planning stages but not one word was mentioned in the speech from the throne about hydro power in general or the Labrador project in particular, a project that has the potential to create thousands of jobs while providing clean dependable and low cost energy.

If at this point you are asking yourself “why wouldn’t the government support this project?” then you might want to go back and read the first few paragraphs over again.

It’s Canadian politics 101.

Forget the fact that Nova Scotia and New Brunswick need and desperately want the clean power this project would supply (I say forget those two provinces because, once again they are in Atlantic Canada and well…I’ve already shown that they just don’t matter to Ottawa).

Putting Atlantic Canada’s concerns aside, politically important Ontario has also expressed an interest in Lower Churchill power so shouldn't that mean it will move forward?

No.

It doesn't matter because another politically important province, Quebec, doesn’t want the project to move forward unless they can profit from it.

Even though the Harper government has the ability to assist with the development of the Lower Churchill, through loan guarantees or other forms of federal assistance, they won’t do it.

The Harper government has also walked away from its plans for the “East/West power grid” we all heard so much about a couple of years ago. A project once touted as “a nation building exercise to rival the building of the continental railway”.

What was hailed as critical to Canada’s energy future such a short time ago has now been abandoned.

Why?

You see developing the East/West Energy Grid or supporting the Lower Churchill hydro project would:

A) Require a part of the grid to pass through Quebec which might upset some seperatists; and
B) Mean Newfoundland and Labrador could reach waiting markets with their clean energy without having to hand over most of the profits to, you guessed it, Quebec.

Score 1 for Quebec.

But hold on you might say “doesn’t that mean Ontario won’t get the clean power it needs”?

“Doesn’t it mean that by pandering to Quebec and denying Ontario this power Mr. Harper has hurt himself politically?”

Not so.

I don’t know anyone who has ever said Stephen Harper was politically stupid and I’m not about to be the first.

In a brilliant move intended to head off any political fallout (while perhaps trading it for the nuclear kind) the Harper government will appease the voters of Ontario by assisting that province in moving forward with building more nuclear capacity.

Yes, the public may have a lower opinion of nuclear, it may be more dangerous and it may even be more expensive for consumers than hydro, but in political circles it has two far more important things going for it.

Unlike the Lower Churchill development, which would create thousands of well paying jobs in the region of Canada with the highest unemployment rate, nuclear will create jobs in vote rich Ontario and it doesn’t tick off vote rich Quebec.

Score one each for Ontario and for Quebec on that one.

So, to recap, the Harper government plans to improve Canada’s energy supply, create jobs and protect the environment how?

By:

Constructing an environmentally risky and potentially insecure gas pipeline across Canada’s North;

Using somewhat clean natural gas to extract extremely dirty and highly polluting tar sands oil in Alberta;

Building nuclear reactors in Ontario (no word yet on where the waste will end up but somebody is probably scouting locations down East); and

They’ll do it all while ignoring Newfoundland and Labrador’s efforts to develop the largest untapped hydro electric reserve in North America. A clean energy project capable of lighting well over a million homes across Canada and creating thousands of well paid jobs in Canada’s highest unemployment region.

Score 0 for Atlantic Canada.

Strategic Voting Impacts Harper Campaign Hopes

Strategic voting, or vote swapping, seems to have become more prevalent during this election campaign than during any other in Canadian history. Whether all this talk about casting strategic ballots actually translates into an impact at the polls remains to be seen but by all indications it just may.

The question is why? Why has strategic voting become such a major issue this time out?

The answer could well be that voters have finally begun to understand Stephen Harper’s strategy of splitting the left and sailing up the middle to a majority victory.

Most vote swapping sites and strategic voters have one thing in common. It isn’t making sure the Liberals win. It isn’t holding back the NDP, Greens or others. It’s all about stopping Stephen Harper by any means possible.

This is something new in Canadian politics.

Never before have so many voters been this galvanized or determined to remove a PM from office.

In the past many people have disliked a party leader or didn’t agree with some party position and simply voiced their opinion at the polling station but it seems this time out there is a real undercurrent of fear and even hatred being focused directly at the Harper Conservatives and their ultra Republican attitudes on the issues.

It seems that a great many individuals who are very concerned about the thought of what might happen to Canada if Mr. Harper were to win a majority are beginning to run a grassroots campaign of their own.

As a result of this, and a string of public “insights” into the possibly true character of the man and his supporters, the latest polls are showing the Conservatives slipping in Quebec and beginning to stagnate in other areas of the Country.

The potential power of self organized and widespread strategic voting has not been lost on the rarely seen but often felt Conservative war room. Their latest strategy has been attacking the concept of strategic voting as somehow undemocratic or foolish.

Lately, in a bid to shore up support, Stephen Harper, has begun to publicly speak out against what could prove to be one of the most effective and truly democratic movements Canadian voters have been a part of in some time, strategic voting.

During the last days of the 2004 and 2006 campaigns thousands of voters, concerned with the what might happen if Mr. Harper and his merged Reform/Alliance/Conservative party actually took office, independently voted to block his ambitions and in doing so caused him to lose one election and eke out a minority in another. This was before anyone even thought to organize or publicize the strategic voting process and before anyone ever considered actually swapping votes to ensure a Conservative loss in specific ridings.

Mr. Harper is finally beginning to look in the rear view mirror and realize that a large segment of the population simply doesn’t support another party over his but are actually aligned against him. His greatest fear is that the left may not actually be as divided as the number of parties would suggest.

Mr. Harper and his handlers are finally beginning to see that deep pockets, political spin doctors and access to traditional media are not enough to control public sentiment any more. The intenet now allows a single voter in BC or Manitoba to swap their vote with someone in Nova Scotia or Newfoundland and Labrador with a few clicks of a mouse.

Politicians have always been slow to recognize the power of technology. Blogs, social networking sites like Facebook or Youtube and traditional web sites cost little or nothing to access and allow individuals to counter the spin and work together like never before.

It’s nothing new for voters park their vote with a “second choice” candidate in order to make a point but this time around the idea has caught on like never before and it's getting more organized by the day.

The proof can be found in web sites like the "ABC" campaign of Newfoundland and Labrador premier, Danny Williams and the increasing number of vote swapping sites on the internet (which have been declared perfectly legal by Elections Canada and are attracting thousands of members) .

When you consider that Mr. Harper won the last election with only about 40% voter support doesn’t it say a lot about how much he really represents the views of most Canadians?

With eligible voter turn out averaging somewhere around 65% in the 2006 federal election and with only 40% of those who actually voted supporting Mr. Harper it’s hard to make the case that he truly represents anyone but his die hard supporters.

Harper's campaign strategy is and always has been about keeping the other 60% of Canadian voters, those who support centre and left leaning parties, split at the polls and allowing him to sneak up the middle.

The Conservatives are now beginning to see a potential problem with that strategy and that's why Mr. Harper has recently begun to turn up the rhetoric and begun to attack the concept of strategic voting as somehow being a bad thing.

On a campaign stop in BC last Wednesday Mr. Harper said, "We're asking voters to vote for the party they have confidence in to govern the country.”

The PM didn’t say vote Conservative.

He didn’t say it because he knows roughly 60% of voters have no intention of doing so because they don't believe he is the best choice.

The Conservatives have already written off those votes and those voters and they don't really care what they do as long as they don’t organize and keep them from winning.

Mr. Harper knows he has enough support to win at least a minority government if he can just keep support for the other parties split as it has been over the past few years and he is doing whatever he can to encourage that without admitting that he has a large segement of the population that doesn't support him.

In Western Canada for example Mr. Harper recently asked voters not to waste their ballots on the NDP because Jack Layton has no chance of becoming Prime Minister yet in Eastern Canada, he warned voters to be careful because Mr. Layton could end up being elected Prime Minister.

The messages may sound contradictory, and they are, but they are being put forward for a specific reason:

To allow Mr. Harper to achieve his ambitions of gaining a Majority government while having the support of less than half of the Canadian voting public.

The Conservative strategy may be politically sound and it may even work but it strikes me as more than a little underhanded and sleazy that anyone would want power so much that they would aspire to win an election without caring if they actually win the public’s support.

Cultural Genocide: A Canadian Tradition

This week Stephen Harper apologized, on behalf of the government of Canada, to the 80,000 (surviving) Aboriginals forced to attend residential schools. Schools that, as the chief of the Assembly of First Nations says, “…served to disconnect them from their culture, families and communities and left them feeling "ashamed" of being born native”

“They tried to kill the Indian in the child, to eradicate any sense of Indian-ness from Canada. It was two cultures clashing, one dominant and imposing its will on the other, and the other suffered.”

"It was cultural genocide," said Ted Quewezance, a residential school alumni and director of the National Residential School Survivors' Society.

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the era of residential schools, which ended around 1970, is a dark one in Canadian history. And while the program was one of the most violent and cold blooded examples of cultural destruction unfortunately it is not the only case practiced by a government that has claimed for decades to embrace multiculturalism.

Minus the kidnappings and beatings, Canada’s attack on unique cultures has been happening for decades in other communities as well and continues, though unrecognized, to this day.

A clear example of this fact is the systemic cultural attack on the people of Newfoundland and Labrador being waged in Canada. Thankfully it never reached the level of brutality experienced by aboriginal groups but never the less it is a clear case of two cultures clashing with the dominant one imposing its will on the other.

After losing its sovereignty and eventually becoming a part of Canada in 1949 Newfoundlanders (as they were known at the time) were encouraged, through a federally subsidized educational system, to forget their unique history in favor of the Canadian view of the world.

Nobody stopped to consider that Newfoundland’s history was not Canada’s history.

Nobody cared that Newfoundland’s music was not Canada’s music.

Nobody understood that Newfoundland’s art, cuisine, dialects, values and way of life were not the same as those experienced by Canadians.

In spite of the spirit of multiculturalism espoused by Canadians, for Newfoundland and Labrador, becoming a part of Canada meant giving up everything the people of the once proud Nation had ever known in favor of the Canadian way of life.

The “training” given to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador served to disconnect a people from their culture and leave them feeling ashamed of themselves for generations.

While the people of Newfoundland and Labrador were largely impoverished in 1949, over the years many opportunities to prosper where denied to them by Ottawa after Confederation. This, along with other government actions, prevented the people of Newfoundland and Labrador from achieving the progress they so desperately hoped to achieve and led directly to the high unemployment rates, poverty and desperation seen in many parts of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Indeed, in the case of Aboriginal communities, Ottawa tried to kill the Indian in the child, to eradicate any sense of Indian-ness from Canada, but the government of Canada is also guilty of trying to kill the Newfoundlander (and Labradorian) in the child and eradicate any sense of that culture from the Canadian landscape.

After 1949 the schools in Newfoundland and Labrador were encouraged, through political and monetary pressures, to dispense with offering meaningful historical information that might instill a sense of pride in a people being incorporated into a new culture.

Young minds were spoon fed Canadian history and the Canadian experience. The exception to this regime was the occasional dalliance into negative historical lessons. Dalliances intended to shame “Newfoundlanders” by reminding them the dark events in their past, such as the extinction of the native Beothuk, rather than the historically significant contributions they had made to the world before joining Canada.

For decades 500,000 Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, like the the Aboriginal people identified in this week’s apology, have been led to believe that they are of less value than “ordinary Canadians”.

Newfie jokes are one example of the sort of abuse perpetrated against the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. Though the jokes are not directly attributable to government agencies the slurs never the less became accepted across the Country, as have terms like “stupid newfie” and “goofy newfie” and have been encouraged in many circles, including among the Ottawa elite and the general population. Nothing was done to quell these verbal attacks.

Within the Canadian culture Newfoundlanders and Labradorians were, and still are, often seen as nothing more than a cheap labour pool with limited intelligence. A people who can be used to tackle the menial jobs others abhor, but who can be depended on for little else.

Incorrectly viewed in many parts of Canada as drunks, seal beaters, uncouth and uneducated louts, many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have, understandably, been left with deep feelings of inadequacy that are a direct result of the action and, more often than not, the inaction of Canada’s government and Canadians themselves.

The Ottawa led dismantling of Newfoundland and Labrador’s railway system was one means by which Canada’s government stole away a cornerstone of a unique culture that is older than their own.

Witnessing the greatest food fishery in the world destroyed, after being greedily pulled into Ottawa’s death grip, served to help break down the resolve of many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Losing the ability to benefit from the massive power of the Upper Churchill hydro project, thanks to Ottawa’s support of Quebec, drove home the realization that, while there was a place for Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada, it was not as an equal partner.

After having their means of financial survival stripped away from them, time after time, only to be repeatedly told they are a financial drain on Canada, is it any wonder many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, even the current generation, can’t wait to out-migrate rather leave than put their skills and abilities to work in a homeland they often perceive as sub par?

The actions of ordinary Canadians, and Ottawa specifically, since 1949 have left many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians with a broken self image and a damaged culture that is only now beginning to repair itself.

In recent years Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have begun to recognize how unique their history and culture truly is. Thanks to their strength of character and the possession of a will that refused to be completely broken, many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are now beginning to see some light at the end of a long dark tunnel.

A new appreciation of their unique music, art, cuisine and traditions has begun to slowly spread throughout a place long encouraged to view itself as insignificant and unworthy of anything but disdain within Canada.

There is no doubt that Aboriginal groups in Canada deserve far more than the apology being offered by the government of Canada this week. Nobody can reasonably argue otherwise, but without detracting from their moment in time, it would serve all Canadians well to recognize another case of cultural genocide that has been practiced in Canada for decades and is still going on.

Unfortunately, while Newfoundlanders and Labradorians rediscover their past and rediscover their self worth not one of the half million people living there, or the countless thousands who have migrated around the world but are no less affected, is holding out any hope that their plight will be recognized or in any way understood by the Canadian people, let alone the people’s government.

Choose Your Headline

Reports Suggest Stockwell Day Hiding Illegal Firearms at his Ottawa Residence.

Jim Flaherty Stole Funds from Toronto Banking Consortium in the 1990’s

Stephen Harper Caught in Intimate Affair with Under Age Neighbor.

None of the preceding headlines are real of course, but they say so much about the self serving position taken by Canada’s governing party when it comes to the actions of former Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier.

For very good reason there are laws against possessing illegal weapons, bank fraud and sexual interference with a minor. There are also very good reasons why laws are in place when it comes to protecting classified government documents.

Why then does the Harper government refuse to call for a formal police investigation and continue to insist that the actions of Maxime Bernier are little more than a political gaffe? Why does the PM brush aside the fact that someone in Mr. Bernier’s sensitive position had an intimate relationship with a person directly connected to organized crime figures? Why, unlike the startling headlines above are Bernier’s actions touted as a “private matter”?

Would it be a private matter if the Finance Minister were indeed found to have committed a theft in the past, the Public Safety Minister broke Canada’s gun laws or the PM took part in an illicit affair with a minor? Of course it wouldn’t. Neither is it a private matter when someone with access to sensitive documents leaves them in the home of a “connected” person for over a month. There are laws against just that sort of activity.

Between the Bernier screw up in Afghanistan, NAFTA gate, the Chuck Cadman affair, the flip flop on income trusts, Jim Flaherty’s attack on the Ontario government, Bernier’s security breach and the Conservative’s stonewalling over every last one of those situations Canada’s governing party has gone from being seen as a calculating, controlling, but focused, group to a laughing stock across the Country. A Parliamentary version of the Three Stooges or the Apple Dumpling Gang.

When the Liberal party was under the gun over the Quebec sponsorship scandal they were rightfully recognized as corrupt and manipulating but they never, not even at their darkest hour, were seen as being comedic in their ineptness. In this respect Stephen Harper has reached a new low generally reserved for the likes of George Bush in the U.S.

There is nothing as deadly for a political party than becoming a laughing stock. As the butt of countless jokes the Conservative party has entered into uncharted territory in Canadian politics and as their comedic value continues to grow any public respect they possessed will fall accordingly.

It may have taken more than two years for the true character of the federal Conservative Party to show itself but it seems the truth is finally beginning to surface, no matter how hard the PM tries to throw a cloak of silence over it.

UPDATE June 5th - Govt. of Canada to Have Say on Lower Churchill

The article below has been updated with the contents of correspondence from a representative of the Newfoundland and Labrador government. It seems the situation outlined in this commentary is perhaps not as dire as was first believed. According to this recent correspondence the govenment of Newfoundland and Labrador has taken steps to rectify this sad situation.

If I've inadervertantly caused any concern on the part of Web Talk readers I sincerely apologize.

Please see the Update section at the end of this article for more information.

Recently there’s been a lot of talk about Newfoundland and Labrador’s plans for the Lower Churchill hydro project. Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are eagerly awaiting what they see as a way to finally benefit from Churchill Falls power after decades of being fleeced on the Upper Churchill development by Quebec.

Most Newfoundlanders and Labradorians will tell you they want things done differently this time. They believe this is as a chance to finally control their own destiny without Ottawa or Quebec pulling the rug out from under them.

They may need to think again.

While all eyes are focused on the new Newfoundland and Labrador Energy Corporation as the lead on the project what hasn’t been widely discussed is the existence of the Lower Churchill Development Corporation or the impact it could have.

Incorporated in 1979, under then Premier Frank Moores, the Lower Churchill Development Corporation is the legal entity actually tasked with moving this development forward. It also controls all of the water rights on the lower Churchill

The new NL Energy Corporation, on behalf of government, will act as the parent company of the Lower Churchill Development Corporation but that doesn’t mean it fully controls the actions of this subsidiary.

The Lower Churchill Development Corporation, not the new Energy Corporation, controls the development, distribution and sale of power on the Lower Churchill (NL Hydro would actually purchase power from its “sister” company) What’s more, the Development Corporation is only partly owned by the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

According to the Lower Churchill Development Act, by which the corporation came into existence in ‘79, the company’s shares are owned jointly by Newfoundland and Labrador and, here it comes… the federal government.

Newfoundland and Labrador has a controlling interest, 51% to 49%, however this arrangement does not give the people of Newfoundland and Labrador a final say in the decisions made by the company.

Neither the Energy Corporation nor the government of Newfoundland and Labrador can make any major decision about the Lower Churchill development without the agreement of Ottawa’s representatives on the board.

The following are excerpts from the incorporation legislation relating to this:

The general policy for the operation of the Corporation shall be determined by its board of directors consisting of 12 persons of whom 6 shall be nominees of Newfoundland, 5 shall be nominees of Canada and 1 shall be the chief executive officer…

(the following) shall require the consent of a majority of the nominees of Canada and a majority of the nominees of Newfoundland…

…any agreement with the Province of Quebec relative to water flow in the Churchill River, any arrangements with respect of the transmission of electricity from the Project, the sale of electricity from the Project…

In other words the government of Newfoundland and Labrador does not actually have the final say on Lower Churchill development and isn’t the only government that stands to profit from it. It also means, among other things, that the decision on whether or not Hydro Quebec’s grid is used to access export markets depends on the agreement of representatives for the federal government.

Under these circumstances, and given the political clout Quebec has with Ottawa, how likely is it bypassing Quebec will be acceptable to the board. How likely is it that once again Quebec will attempt to profit as much as possible from the Churchill River?

Because of the existence of the Lower Churchill Development Corporation and the 49% stake held by the federal government, Newfoundland and Labrador may once again be at the mercy of Ottawa and Quebec over Churchill power.

Rather than simply dreaming of the day the Lower Churchill is developed, the people of Newfoundland and Labrador might be better served to ensure that their government is focused on regaining full control of the project for the owners of the resource. If they don’t, Newfoundland and Labrador’s aspirations of becoming “Masters of our Own House” will only come to pass if it’s acceptable to Ottawa and, by extension, Quebec.

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

Hello Mr. Higgins,

The answers to the questions you posed to Minister Dunderdale regarding Bill 36 are below. I hope the following explanation is sufficient. If you require anything else, please let me know.

Thanks,

Q: Does the Lower Churchill Development Corporation still have a role to play in this potential development and if so, what is that role?

A: The Premier announced in May 2006 that the province, through the energy corporation, would lead the development of the Lower Churchill Project.

The Lower Churchill Development Corporation was formed in 1978 as a means to develop the Lower Churchill. You are correct that the corporation, which is now inactive, is co-owned by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador (51 per cent) and the Government of Canada (49 per cent). An option to obtain water rights on the Lower Churchill is currently held by the Lower Churchill Development Corporation, however, the Provincial Government will not be exercising this option.

Instead, Bill 36, which recently passed the House of Assembly, provides the authority to Cabinet to grant water rights to the Lower Churchill to the energy corporation, when requested.

Q: If the project moves forward, who controls the water rights and electrical capacity generated (who would capture the revenues from the development). NL Hydro or the Lower Churchill Development Corporation?

A: The water rights and electricity generated will be controlled by the energy corporation. Revenues from the development will be returned to the energy corporation and ultimately the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador .

Q: Is the Lower Churchill Development corporation still owned 51% by the Province and 49% by the federal government?

A: Yes, however, this corporation is inactive and not involved in the development of the Lower Churchill Project.

We Are Canada

As surely as the sun rises and sets, the Canadian federation is slowly devolving into a handful of separate and independent states.

The dissolution of the Canadian federation has been quietly advancing for decades but the timelines have suddenly become more compressed and gaining momentum. Few of us have even noticed.

The idea that there will come a time when Canada no longer exists as a Country may be laughable to some and frightening to others. Though many of us may no longer walk this land when it finally happens, the movement from a single National entity into several autonomous Countries has already begun.

Quebec has been on the cusp of separation since the 60’s. Though public sentiment there has eased on the issue it still exists and requires only some unknown spark to re-ignite and flourish.

Ontario has long bemoaned the unfairness of a federation that has seen its once great manufacturing sector contribute so much and, in the opinion of most Ontarians, recieve so little in return. Ask any Ontarian about this Country and they will likely tell you, “We ARE Canada”.

The vast majority of Canada’s population resides within the borders of these two Provincial giants. This means the federal government has always been hard pressed to do anything that might upset voters there, even when the best interests of the nation are in jeopardy.

As a result neither the East nor the West has ever been recognized as anything but a handy supplier of raw materials. A group of eight “lesser” provinces orbiting a black hole that swallows up all the oil, timber, fish, wheat, beef, iron, gold, potash and low cost workers the regions have to offer.

With no real voice in Canada's government the Atlantic Premiers have, for several years, held meetings and conferences designed to more closely align their direction. They continue to find ways to strengthen their economic ties, enhance their political clout and streamline their individual expenses, without Ottawa’s assistance.

In recent years the Western Provinces have also begun to follow the lead of their Atlantic counterparts by working together to address issues of mutual interest and strengthen their ties to one another.

Now, with manufacturing heavy Central Canada slowly being weakened by an impending recession, Ontario and Quebec, the two most powerful provinces in Canada, have decided the time has come for them to band together for self preservation.

To all appearances, the coalitions formed in the Western Provinces and those on the Atlantic Coast may have been fortuitous, in light of what is to come after this latest move by Ontario and Quebec. A move that could well put the final nail in Canada's coffin.

When Ontario or Quebec sneeze Ottawa reaches for the tissue box. It’s always been that way. Now that both Provinces are joining forces the likelihood that any federal government would dare deny them just about anything they want has never been lower.

This can only mean very dark days for the rest of the Country.

What Ontario wants Ontario gets.

What Quebec wants Quebec gets.

For years Ontario and Quebec have been enviously eying the oil and energy wealth of other Provinces and looking for ways to “access” it.

Now that Canada has shifted to an energy based economy oil and electricity are the new currency of the federation. Oil, electricity and cash are three things many parts of Canada have more of these days. They are also three things Ontario and Quebec desperately want.

Make no mistake, Ontario and Quebec intend to improve their lot and the rest of the Country can be damned.

When Ontario and Quebec band together the oil wealth of Eastern and Western Canada will be up for grabs. The electrical energy capacity of places like Newfoundland and Labrador will no longer be safe. And a federation that was extremely dysfunctional, even when Ontario and Quebec acted independently, will begin to spiral into collapse.

Either Alberta or Newfoundland and Labrador will likely be the first to see the full impact of this new reality as more and more of their dreams are crushed to satisfy the yearnings of the two larger provinces. They will also be the first to make a move toward independence.

Then, like a series of dominos, other Provinces or regions will follow. An Atlantic State will form, then one or two Western States, Quebec will finally achieve the independence it has so often talked of and, in the end, the people of Ontario will be able to say with all honesty, “We ARE Canada”.

It’s no longer a matter of “if “Canada will cease to exist as it does today but when. Perhaps within the next 20 years, perhaps the next 30 or 40 but it will happen, as surely as the sun rises and sets.

Forget "Make Work" - Try "Take Work"

I know I’ll probably get some nasty feedback over this little brain fart of mine but what the hell. Besides, there are two things I really hate:

Keeping my mouth shut; and
Sitting in front of an idle keyboard.

Here goes.

Has anyone living in, or who has recently visited, the St. John’s area noticed that on almost every street there are countless signs practically begging people to apply for a job?

I drove down Torbay Road a couple of weeks ago and counted no less than 11 such signs in a 1 kilometer stretch. It was inspiring.

Granted most of those jobs are in the service sector but with the high demand for employees these days companies are now offering everything from medical plans to dental plans to flexible shifts, above market wages and a myriad of other perks.

If you look in any copy of the Independent or the Telegram the number of job ads has reached a point where they use up more and more pages every day. Soon the ads may create enough demand to keep the Grand Falls mill open for another hundred years, and the thing is, most often those jobs are high paying professional positions.

This new reality, where there are more jobs than applicants, may exist in the Metro area but once you move into rural parts of the province the picture is much bleaker.

The unemployment rate across the rest of the province is staggering.

With a provincial election underway this dual reality is providing fodder for the parties and has led some to shout from the rooftops that rural Newfoundland and Labrador has been neglected ever since the oil boom hit.

Well folks, I don’t believe that for a minute and neither should you, no matter how often you hear it said.

It isn’t true under the Williams government and it wasn’t true under the previous Liberal government.

In fact I’d be willing to argue that a great deal of focus has been placed on rural areas for a long, long time. Unfortunately most of that attention wasn't on what really mattered, like protecting the fish stocks before they were destroyed rather than building another unnecessary fish plant to help some candidate win an election.

It's not a matter of rural areas not getting any attention but of getting the wrong kind of attention.

Maybe it’s time someone looked at the entire problem from a completely different angle. One where politics is left out of the equation and where pandering to voters is not a concern.

If nobody else is willing to try it I will.

“It is not the job of government to make work”. There I said it and it feels good.

As someone far wiser than me once said, “It’s the job of government to keep the trains running on time”.

Granted that might be a little more difficult ever since our railway was ripped up and sold off some time ago, but the point is that governments shouldn’t be in the business of holding our hands and creating jobs for the sake of creating jobs.

The place of government is to make sure that essential services are delivered in the best way possible, that the public is safe on the streets and to foster an environment conducive to business growth. It’s business that should create employment, not government.

Yes, a responsible government should, and usually does, encourage business growth. They do this by offering tax breaks or other incentives to setup shop in strategic areas. They also try to court investment and market the benefits of the places they govern. That doesn’t mean, no matter what any candidate might say over the next two weeks, that government can, or even should, throw money at any industry that is clearly not salvageable or create work just to get people working.

That’s especially true in Newfoundland and Labrador these days.

I originally came from a small town and moved around the province and around the Country for years before finally settling in the St. John’s area. Essentially I went where the work took me. I didn’t want to leave my home town and I still hope to return there when I retire, but I did what I had to do. I’m still doing it.

I’m just thankful I managed to find a job where I can take a 5 hour drive on a long weekend to visit my home if I choose to do it.

Most people want to stay where they grew up, where they have family and where they are the most comfortable in their skin, but most of us can’t do that. This isn’t something that’s unique to Newfoundland and Labrador, it’s happening across Canada and around the world.

Business and industries generally congregate in large urban centers and attract employees from more rural areas. This isn’t some sort of conspiracy or plot. It’s just the way things are.

No matter how much oil or how much gas is produced and no matter what politicians may promise, most of the business spin off from the oil industry will continue land in the St. John’s area. That’s something the government has very little control over.

Business leaders usually want to locate where they can most easily find suppliers, are close to their customers and have a bigger pool of potential employees to choose from. This is true for direct oil industry employers as it is for secondary industries like IT companies, retail stores, restaurants, hotels, taxi services and the rest.

Why is it then that so many people believe that if there isn’t a job in their small town that they are being neglected and forgotten? Why do they look to government to spend millions to create employment in places where there is none and where business does not, for whatever reason, want to move?

Think about what that expectation would really mean if it were acted upon.

In today’s reality, it would mean that government revenues, including the tax dollars desperately needed for infrastructure, schools, hospitals and so on, would be eaten away trying to find ways to make employment in one part of the province while just a few hundred kilometers away, in another part of the province, companies are screaming out for new employees. Does that make sense?

When it comes to new industries like aquaculture, wind farms, smelters and the like there are valid reasons those need to be built outside of the city centers, and there is no doubt that this sort of development is, and will continue, to happen as viable opportunities arise. It’s doubtful however that those developments will grow fast enough to make a serious dent in the unemployment rate in rural Newfoundland and Labrador any time soon. That is also a reality.

Spending millions to try to create work in some areas while there is a severe shortage of workers in another is a recipe for economic disaster.

So why are there still those who believe that simply because there is a dual economy in the province, rural Newfoundland and Labrador is getting nothing from the oil boom?

As I noted, I’m originally from far outside the overpass but I now live near St. John’s. Do you know something? I get the same benefit from the oil industry and increased government revenues as most people in the province do, urban or rural.

I don’t get a cheque in my mail box every week. I don’t glide to work on gold paved streets and I don’t spend my days sipping champagne. I work for a living and more often than not I work damn hard only to drive home over a road full of potholes.

On the other hand, I do occasionally notice some improvement in highways across the island (it’s here that the folks in Labrador may have a far better argument than most about being forgotten or neglected).

I sometimes see new dialysis equipment, cancer clinics or seniors care facilities being built.

I see attention being paid to refurbishing schools or improvements being made to other government services.

I see more or different medications being covered by the government funded drug plan than in the past. (Though not nearly enough)

I see provincial debt slowly being addressed and I see the amount of income tax I pay every week reduced thanks to lower provincial taxes.

It’s these things that are made possible by an increase in provincial revenues and it is these things that are used to spread the wealth from the oil and gas sector around the province.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not praising the current government for these things. It’s simply a fact that there is more money coming into provincial coffers today than there has been in the past and as a result more can be done.

More will continue to be done as time goes by, no matter which party wins the election on October 9. Though the specific spending priorities may change, the way the wealth is distributed will not.

If there are deficiencies in how services are dispersed across the province now or in the future then yes, by all means fight for more attention and better treatment, but don't for a minute believe that no benefits are finding their way to rural Newfoundland and Labrador simply because you can't find a job where you live.

If, instead of improving services, the next government opts to spread the wealth around by actually listening to those who believe they are being neglected and artificially prop up or extend the life of any industry that isn’t viable then we will all pay the price eventually.

It's simple folks.

Government should not spend its time and millions of dollars of our money trying to artificially create employment in one part of the province while there is a severe shortage of workers in another.

It’s all about keeping the trains running on time.

Editor's Note: (Though I had been considering a commentary on this topic for some time, I would like to take a moment to thank an anonymous poster over at Sue's Blog, which I visted the other day, for giving me the final inspiration I needed to get it finished.

Thanks as well to Sue for being so courteous when I asked how she felt about me running this piece so soon after the comment appeared on her site. You're one of a kind.)

PM Supports Seal Hunt - Denies Canada's Multiculturalism

What do Atlantic seals and multiculturalism have in common? They were both center stage when Stephen Harper visited New York this week.

I’ve often said politicians are eternally on standby to give their constituents something with one hand before quickly taking it away with the other. This week Stephen Harper took that practice to almost artistic levels, when he managed to display support for Canadian citizens and a total lack of support, at almost exactly the same time.

Arguably none were more directly impacted by both than the native peoples of Canada and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Recently the North American Environmental Commission dismissed an application by two animal rights groups who claimed the Atlantic seal hunt violates international agreements on environmental protection. Though the application was dismissed, Harper, while in New York on Tuesday, was approached by reporters on the issue, it was there that he publicly showed his support for the annual Atlantic seal hunt by saying it (the hunt) is "dedicated today to humane and regulated practices."

When asked why Canada permits the hunt, Harper said anti-sealing groups present false information about the practice and that the clubbing of baby seals has been outlawed for over 20 years.

He went on to say, "The seal population is exploding in Canada - it's not an endangered species by any means.”

“There is no reason to discriminate against it any more than any other industry of animal husbandry. We will not be bullied or blackmailed into forcing people out of that industry who depend on the livelihood, based on things that are simply stories and allegations that are simply not true."

Well done Mr. Harper. Unfortunately your next statement, though also accurate, clearly pulled the rug out from under many of the same people you supported with that comment.

After giving the people of Atlantic Canada, native hunters and the people of Quebec, who are the primary participants in the hunt, such a strong show of support on the international stage Harper almost immediately turned around and exposed the total lack of understanding for those people that has existed in Canada for decades. To his credit, at least he had the stones to tell the truth rather than hide behind the standard rhetoric of most federal politicians.

When asked by another reporter why Canada is perceived with less hostility around the world than the U.S., even though the two have similar cultures, Harper’s response revealed his true feelings and a reality that has existed in Canada for years.

Harper responded by saying, among other things, that “…Canada's nature as a "bicultural country" gives politicians an inherent understanding of cultural differences on the world stage.

Now there’s a mouthful.

Canada has long billed itself to the world as a multicultural country, but Harper’s response at long last has revealed the truth to the world. The Prime Minister has, in one simple sentence, finally put to rest any misconceptions once and for all and removed the long standing façade that the government of Canada actually respects the cultural diversity of its people. It doesn’t.

No matter what the political rhetoric, Canada is not multicultural in the eyes of its government and the Prime Minister has now said as much.

It can only be assumed that by calling Canada a “bicultural” Country he was referring to the Anglophone and Francophone majority in Canada, but what of the other cultures that exist here? Are they of no value? Do they not exist in Canada, or does Ottawa simply refuse to support their diversity?

What of the cultural identity of people in Newfoundland and Labrador? People who were a separate and distinct nation before entering Canada after world war two? Were the people of Canada wrong when, in a poll conducted just a few years ago, more than 70% of them said they viewed the people of Newfoundland and Labrador as a unique culture?

What about the various native groups in Canada? Are the Innu no longer a distinct culture?

What about the Inuit or the Mi’kmaq? Do they not have their own culture?

What about Canada’s many immigrant citizens? Canadians who originally hailed from places like China, India, Germany, Russia and so on, are they not representative of separate and distinct cultures in Canada or does Ottawa simply hope to assimilate them and bury their past and their traditions?

Though Harper’s lack of support for the cultural diversity of Canada is disgusting, to his credit he is the first Prime Minister actually willing to admit the truth. The only cultures that matter to the government of Canada are those who account for most of the votes needed to get a party elected and keep them in office.

For those who still labor under the perception that multiculturalism is alive and well in Canada, Harper’s comment that Canada understands cultural differences around the world because it is itself a “bicultural” society, should send a clear message that the government of Canada truly has no understanding of cultural differences around the world or at home.

Harper referring to Canada as “bicultural”, rather than multicultural, clearly identifies a shift in direction that has been happening in Canada for decades, one that has been clear to those who live in one of Canada’s forgotten cultures.

It’s a shift that has seen Canada increasingly align with U.S. policy and under Stephen Harper that alignment, thanks to his silencing of the voices of people who would fight it, is gaining momentum every day since the Conservative decision to cut funding to women’s rights groups, court challenges and more.

The so called “melting pot” of the U.S homogenizes all cultures into the mainstream, while officially recognizing only two distinct groups of people, Anglophone and Hispanic, at the expense of all others.

Canada has long touted itself as a society that celebrates multicultural diversity in its people, though it has never really done anything, other than talk about it, to prove that it respects any distinct culture outside the French speaking people in Quebec.

The multicultural mosaic we have all heard so much about may be something Canada’s political leaders claim to support, but in reality, is Canada any different than the U.S when it comes to respecting and celebrating diversity?