| Jul 29, 2006 @ 11:56 PM |
Canada
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hahohalo
Posts: 213
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Since we have the critics from the north, it seems only that some airing of opinion of their problems with comment.
The Next Failed State
by Austin Bay
A political specter haunts North America -- the specter of the world's next failed state.
We can still call it Canada, at least for a couple years. And who knows, like news of Mark Twain's demise, my cheeky pessimism may be greatly exaggerated. Our northern neighbor's polyglot populace of beer drinkers, peaceniks, Mounties and socialists may yet dump their crooked politicians and craft a new, more robust deal with Quebecois separatists.
If you don't know about Canada's crooked politicians, you're not alone. Democracy and free speech are breaking out in Beirut, but they're both taking a beating in Ontario. The Canadian government has a press clamp on an investigation into the ruling Liberal Party's "Adscam" kickback scheme. A "judicial publication ban" is the term. It may soon rank with the Watergate rhetoric like "modified limited hang-out." Canadian Prime Minister and Liberal Party leader Paul Martin is implicated in the Adscam fiasco, and he's starting to look like the northland's Richard Nixon.
In the Internet Age, clamps and bans crack quickly, and the Liberals have seen their popular support go poof. A U.S. Web site (www.captainsquartersblog.com), run by Minnesotan Ed Morrissey, started posting leaked statements from the judicial hearings. The Web site instantly became Radio Free Canada and Deep Throat combined, with hundreds of thousands of Canadians going online to read the damning evidence. Now Canadian newspapers are on the story, but it's another case of major media following the Internet's lead. On his Web site, Morrisey sums up Canada's Adscam as "... transfers of cash to the Liberal Party as part of the money-laundering effort ..."
Linda Seebach of the Rocky Mountain News, in a column about Morrissey's coda of Watergate's Woodward and Bernstein, observed that there's "hardly any coverage of what the Canadians call 'AdScam' in the U.S. press, although something that could cause the Canadian government to fall ought to be of interest to that country's southern neighbor ..."
But "federal" Canada remains an iffy proposition, and becomes iffier as the separatist Parti Quebcois (PQ) gains political clout at the expense of the corrupt Liberals.
Bewitched by a Never Land notion of a francophone French Quebec freed from the yoke of "English-speaking" Canada, the PQ radicals regard themselves as culturally unique, prime ethnic candidates for their own nation state and United Nations seat. It's not a new concept. Charles De Gaulle, in a 1967 act of French unilateralism, gave Canadians the jitters when he quipped, "Vive Quebec libre."
What happens to Canada if Quebec secedes? Canadians are once again pondering this question -- live on the CBC -- and given Canada's status as America's number one trading partner and continental neighbor, U.S. citizens should consider the ramifications.
Canadians in the western and maritime provinces already dread the political power of populous Ontario. (Quebec serves as a political balance to Ontario.) If Quebec bids adieu, "remnant" Canada's political rules will be subject to revision. Subsequent regional bickering could lead to further fragmentation.
What might a grand Canadian breakup look like? Jim Dunnigan and I, in the 1991 edition of "A Quick and Dirty Guide to War," played speculative cartographer and redrew Canada's political map.
Here's a thumbnail sketch of that analysis: Say Quebec does become a separate European-style nation-state -- a "people" with cultural, linguistic, religious and historical identity (never mind the objections of Mohawk and Cree Indians living in Quebec). Quebec has the people and resources to make a go of it, though the economic price for its egotism will be stiff. British Columbia also has "nation-state" assets: Access to the sea, strong industrial base, raw materials and an educated population.
Oil-producing Alberta might join the United States and instantly find common political ground with Alaska, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma. Canada's struggling Atlantic provinces might find statehood economically attractive and extend the New England coastline. A rump Canada consisting of "Greater Ontario" -- with remaining provinces as appendages -- might keep the maple-leaf flag aloft. As for poor, isolated Newfoundland: Would Great Britain like to reacquire a North American colony?
[Edited on 7/30/2006 12:03 AM]
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| Jul 30, 2006 @ 1:35 AM |
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dsma
Posts: 272
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This is old news..People have been sent to jail for this, already..Paul Martin is no longer Prime Minister..Stephen Harper is..
The referendum as to whether Quebec would leave Canada was almost 11 years ago and the No side won, barely... Quebec would never leave because it could not survive on its on..It's like a 5year old child who threatens to leave home every once in awhile, but it very well knows it's not going anywhere..
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| Jul 30, 2006 @ 1:42 AM |
Canada
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SunBabe
Posts: 12,279
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~grin~ I'm glad a Canadian finally commented on this.  Heck, don't more people here ever find themselves browsing/following (at least) Yahoo.ca news? The ".ca" does NOT stand for California ALL the time. 
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| Jul 30, 2006 @ 1:45 AM |
Canada |
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dsma
Posts: 272
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Sunbabe..
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| Jul 30, 2006 @ 1:51 AM |
Canada
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hahohalo
Posts: 213
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Agreed, was written last summer. The referendom for secession was barely defeated, but the movement has not gone away and is still going full on in Quebec. Ontario is still at great odds with the western provinces. The liberals have destroyed the canadian military. They are a generation behind their nato partners. At present, Quebec is in the best position economically and close politically for secession, but the PQ president says not yet. Problem for Harper is can he push the socialists back enough to prevent further disintigration.
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| Jul 30, 2006 @ 2:40 AM |
Canada |
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RareQuestor
Posts: 2,652
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I don't know why Canadians are so worried about that issue. According to a newspaper poll that I read somewhere, 50% of Canadians believe that Canada will become a part of the USA sometime in the next fifty years. So all the Canadians need to do is just relax and wait for the inevitable and then it will become an "American" problem.
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| Jul 30, 2006 @ 3:17 AM |
Canada
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SunBabe
Posts: 12,279
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 That's mean 
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| Jul 30, 2006 @ 9:18 AM |
Canada |
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uab_5
Posts: 4,759
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I gained most of my political knowledge of Canada from the John Candy movie Canadian Bacon. 
We're basically talking about the world's second or third largest country, by land area, massing 90% of it's population within 100 miles of it's U.S. border!
Furthermore, to avoid infringing certain minority groups, like the Quebecois, all there signs have to be in French and English!
Intelligence has it that they are planning an invasion!
Hopefully, the Canadian invasion will be led by an Albertan who will be most likely more American than any of his colleagues from other provinces.
This wouldn't be an issue now if Benedict Arnold had been able to take Quebec 230 years ago.
This is serious stuff, people! Petition George Bush Mk.2 to add Canada to the Axis of Evil.
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| Jul 30, 2006 @ 9:27 AM |
Canada
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spongebob777
Posts: 7,904
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I gained most of my political knowledge of Canada from the John Candy movie Canadian Bacon.
Michael Moore's first movie. It would have been much better if he tried to make it funny. Strange Brew is the best Canada movie going.
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| Jul 30, 2006 @ 10:33 AM |
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dixiepixie
Posts: 869
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This is a current issue, these items were published a few months back.
It seems there are calls by some for Canada to look at the option of discontinuing their current style of government and consider adopting the U S form of government.
Excerpts in quotes with links to the entire articles below.
Separatism here to stay
But the case for my point is stronger than that, for one must assume that Quebec separatism is not going away and that we must be prepared for the eventuality of new constitutional arrangements.
A Canada without Quebec is one economically and politically controlled by Ontario. We know that British Columbia and Alberta won't put up with that, so is there another way Canada can continue without la belle Province? Are there structural democratic reforms that can adequately offset, in part only because the majority must have its clout, the political domination of the new country by one province?
As always the devil is in the details. How is this to be set up? Who will be on this Citizens Assembly? Will it be strictly rep by pop meaning that recommendations will essentially be in Ontario's interest?
We should embark upon an exercise like that we had in British Columbia with the Electoral Commission except we should examine everything - I mean everything from whether we want to continue as a constitutional monarchy to whether we should separate the executive branch from the legislative branch and become a republic.
I think it useful to look at how the Americans did it in 1787 when, with equal representation from all states, large and small, they came up with what is unquestionably the best constitution ever made. If you have a chance, get a copy of Catherine Drinker Bowen's Miracle at Philadelphia - it makes constitution construction very exciting indeed.
Why Canada Is Unraveling Again Add up the bumbling by Trudeau, Mulroney and Chretien.
http://thetyee.ca/Views/2005/06/20/UnravelingAgain/
How to Deal with Our Next Unity Crisis
http://thetyee.ca/Views/2005/06/27/UnityCrisis/
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| Jul 30, 2006 @ 11:11 AM |
Canada
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hahohalo
Posts: 213
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Sooner or later canada will self destruct and be bi-sected by socialism. When it does, and if portions petition to join the U.S., I would hope we would be smart enough to grant only territorial status. Granting statehood to the politically handicapped would overburden our mental health system. 
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| Jul 30, 2006 @ 5:37 PM |
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uab_5
Posts: 4,759
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Michael Moore's first movie. It would have been much better if he tried to make it funny. Strange Brew is the best Canada movie going .
That was a Michael Moore movie?
Some one once told me if ever watched a Michal Moore movie, I'd turn into a commie, flag-burnin', anti-American. 
Let me check...nope, I still bleed red, white, and blue! 
I actually thought about finding a structural engineering job in Manitoba until I realized their construction market was in worse shpe than ours. 
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| Jul 30, 2006 @ 6:52 PM |
Canada
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Jankia
Posts: 11,895
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I heard there fishing was allright. 
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| Jul 30, 2006 @ 7:53 PM |
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hahohalo
Posts: 213
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Speaking of Moore, I know  but I can't resist. That fat turd sure disappeared after the election! 
Did he go to canada?
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| Jul 30, 2006 @ 9:15 PM |
Canada
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uab_5
Posts: 4,759
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Did he go to canada?
Doubt it. The Canadians I know are too classy to tolerate him unless he settled in Yellowknife or Whitehorse. 
Mo' probably.
Way up north, way up north,
North to Alaska the gold rish is on!
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| Jul 30, 2006 @ 9:37 PM |
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irish20835
Posts: 1,224
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Being from New Hampshire as a child we would weekend in canada ,,,i found it to be a lovely place for a socialist country ...nice people, good food ,clean cities
Furthermore, to avoid infringing certain minority groups, like the Quebecois, all there signs have to be in French and English!
here in Florida we deal with spanish and english
Strange Brew is the best Canada movie going.
amen not only that possibly top 10 of all time
Speaking of Moore, I know but I can't resist. That fat turd sure disappeared after the election!
Did he go to canada?
Alec Baldwin and him got married ...and started their own country where no one tells the truth and every one get s free health care ....I heard George Sorros was the best man
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| Jul 30, 2006 @ 11:52 PM |
Canada
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WickedWench
Posts: 1,613
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According to a newspaper poll that I read somewhere, 50% of Canadians believe that Canada will become a part of the USA sometime in the next fifty years. So all the Canadians need to do is just relax and wait for the inevitable and then it will become an "American" problem.
Rare you silly man. Since when does quoting something from an Archie Comic book pass as a newspaper poll?
Granting statehood to the politically handicapped would overburden our mental health system
. LMAO..What health system? If you're rich it's ok but the average person pays through the nose!!.. Yup.. Besides, and this is not intended to offend the Americans I do care for, you lack consistency throughout many of your states on too many things ie abortion, rape. That's just plain old archaic to me after having lived in THE BEST country where a woman's rights are far more protected and enforced. We're a younger country than the states but I like the direction we've been heading in.....and it's not backwards either.
You allow the church into too many areas where it has NO business in being..Government and church have no business being side by side
You also have this "Freedom of Speech" which, after having debated that ad nauseum I do understand but don't agree with. We're pro active about anti-racism and all the other ism's you wanna toss out there.
That's progressive and that's Canada.........so take your best shot Irish.. You're a "wanna be Canadian" at heart....you and I both know it..
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| Jul 30, 2006 @ 11:56 PM |
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irish20835
Posts: 1,224
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progressive=socialist
no thanks
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| Jul 31, 2006 @ 12:09 AM |
Canada
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robodad
Posts: 7,823
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I'm glad a Canadian finally commented on this. Bah! I read the first thread and noticed that the guy was out of date. Sooo, I took a toonie and got a Timmie and just enjoyed the nonsense 
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| Jul 31, 2006 @ 12:30 AM |
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SunBabe
Posts: 12,279
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...and TimBits? 
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