dadsm3 said:
George, you're being oversensitive. Lashing out at your closest international friends is counterproductive, and just baits the lefties. End result is Americans think all Canadians are anti-American socialists, and that's just not the case.
Have you seen how much lumber we have up here? There's only 30 million people here in a land mass bigger than the whole US for God's sake, and that includes Alaska and the islands. How could our stumpage fees NOT be lower?
Nafta? Again, you're listening to the always LOUD left.....the vast majority of Canadians in the private sector make their living exporting to the US, that's a fact. Nafta is a big reason Canada is doing so well and our dollar is getting closer to yours all the time. It's the only reason I'm still in business, and I know that goes for the bulk of our economy.
The Queen? Give me a break....Crown Lands are just public lands, but I think you know that. Don't mistake ceremony and respect for our national roots for any real power. If I get arrested and it's "The Queen vs. Mike" doesn't mean I have to armwrestle her or anything...
Jumping the queue for medical attention? Yes, it happens among wealthier people who simply refuse to wait their turn. Go ahead and pay for it in Buffalo if you want, it just takes some of the strain off our system. Is ours perfect? By no means, often wait-times are too long, but everybody's covered. Our health plan is borne of a conviction that the poor should not die for lack of medical attention, and that a person's worth is more than the thickness of their wallet. Contrast that with the 50 million Americans who don't have any coverage at all. I went through intestinal surgery last year, operated on by one of the best surgeons in the province, in a semi-private room (but by myself for most of the 10 days), in a clean new hospital with the latest equipment. I'm self-employed, so I have no medical or drug plan. My cost? ZERO....
Don't forget many Canadians, Brits, and Europeans also died on 9/11. I'm a swarthy type (Sicilian blood), and I've never made it through an airport line in the US since without being pulled over, and I couldn't care less. Makes me feel like they're doing their job....Only in Canada do they make security guards check an equal number of old ladies with white hair to be fair about it.....
All that being said......if I had a leader who ignored the law and wiretapped whoever he felt like I'd be concerned. Or a VP that hasn't even spoken to the press in years....just walks over to the Fox network for some kid-glove stroking. Or an admin so beholden to big-biz that they'll allow a company from a country full of extremists run their ports....and now torn between traditional Republicans who want some kind of border management and big-biz Republicans who just want the cheap labour. Don't get me wrong, Canadian politicians don't come second to anyone in sleaziness....but if I was American I'd be concerned, and I'm no member of the looney left.
All Bill C. did was get some action in the oval office, and he got impeached. This guy does whatever the hell he feels like with nothing but contempt for congress, the senate, the press, and the judiciary and all he gets is low poll ratings.
That's not the America I've always looked up to.....and I'm surprised the American people are rolling over and accepting it. We have to up here, but we can toss a government early if they piss off enough people.
But airport checks aren't the same as hassling photographers. One is vital, the other is just security guards and other cop wannabes trying to assert an authority they simply don't have, just for the pleasure of it. Bill M and I probably aren't on the same plane politically, but he's dead right...know your rights and tell 'em to screw off. You Yanks are the last bastion of individual rights left.
Mike
Mike,
On a truly domestic forum I would be one of the loudest critics of my government and how wrongly I think it has run the country.
But it is because I live in a democracy where there are tolerated "lunatic fringe" ideologues who "use" our freedoms to advance their own outland agendas that I get upset on an international forum.
I am very aware of the arguments, pro and con regarding Canada and the U.S. Much more aware than the vast majority of Americans. This is why, in fact, I knew how to "pull you chains" with my post about soft lumber and Crown Lands etc.
[Now we do need to talk about that mad cow thing!
😀 ]
And, in fact, there is much I admire about Canadian society although I do think that you media is very dominated by a left wing cadre in T.O. (G&M, Star, and CBC) which is very anti-U.S. (probably goes all the way back some 200 years to some degree). When I visit my very good friends in Ottawa (who also have a cottage in the Lauerntians) they invariably put the CBC news on the radio. It is amazing how much time is spent talking about all kinds of bad things supposedly happening in the U.S.
Heck, they seem to talk more about the U.S. (very negatively) than they do their own domestic news!
Yes, the actions of the present US administration are to me, reprehensible. But, Mike, there are millions of Americans who would disagree with you. You are hearing about the US through that CBC filter.
The reality is that many, perhaps most, Americans are not focused on political issues and generally accept the government of the day. Is it really any different in Canada or anywhere? Most people are concerned with family, jobs, social obligations etc. and are not very "political".
Further, as you folks in Canada are so ready to point out, unlike you, there is a much larger proportion of Americans who believe in God and are religious. While I am not among them, I do know that these folks are a very powerful element within American society.
While my comments about closing the border were meant in jest - to be honest - given the way many Canadians talk about America these days (particularly the ON ones) - it wouldn't take to much of a demagouge down here to convince folks that maybe we should do so.
Perhaps "bashing" America is a way for folks in ON to forget how fragile their own country is?
Did someone say: "Vive Quebec libre!" ?