Canada-la-la in Wonderland

It is time. Time to call Canada for what it is: A smug and underachieving group of huts that has lost all sense of perspective. This Confederation has gone awry. Long gone are the Pearson years when Canada meant something. Indeed, too many people are basing their Canadian pride on an era long since passed. We have done precious little to continue the once proud legacy of what was a majestic country. Canada is has lost its way.

Today's Canadian nationalists (including Quebec) are petty little intellectual minnows vulnerable to useless squabbling. Zombies if you will. Very few of them know of real Canadian courage as witnessed during the Great Wars nor do they know much of Canada's questionable past when it comes to racism as was the case with the little known eugenics movement. They know little of both our accomplishments and failures as a people, culture and ultimately a nation.

To be fair, there are some who want to revive Canada but I am beginning to wonder if they have a fighting chance. Some intellectuals like George Grant argued Canada has been gone for quite sometime now. Maybe this is why we behave like we do on the international stage. Like pampered naive sots we skip along pointing fingers and laying blame at everyone but ourselves. People eventually grow wary of others who always point the finger while refusing to look in the mirror. Why should it be different for nations? Look in the mirror. Instead, Canada buries its head in the ground and directs traffic.

It has grown tiresome to watch Canadian talking heads and their 'fresh' perspectives. It seems that only the CBC, in all its magnificent inefficiencies and bias views, is allowed to have 'alternative' views. More often than not, these 'alternative' programs usually end up being anything but that. They are just recycled bad air. Just like our economy is based on several flimsy economic constructs thus rendering economic data superficial, so is our political and intellectual life.

Within these confines lays a siege mentality that is no different than those found in Europe which usually stagnates a society. If not, can lead them into war. Ah, but Canada is a peaceful nation that does not wage war. True, Canadian politics is incredibly civil. Nonetheless, Canada, I submit, while aiming to create an impossible utopian state of superiour minds, is actually a weak kneed country where the most distrustful, distasteful and least admirable types have managed to get into the halls of power in Parliament. These people do what incompetent people know how to do: blame others for their mistakes and parade around with their pants down as if they are doing something important. Sometimes our behaviour is so obscure it makes me wonder if something is wrong with me. Surely, I must be missing something here. I doubt it, but it could be.

The sooner Canada comes to grip with its embarrassing behaviour the sooner we can get true statesmen in power. The sooner we can truly educate and train civil servants to be enlightened conveyors of the Canadian identity. We need to forge a new path with real intentions. Not the cliched empty rhetoric so incredibly hollow these days.

Until then, continue to watch our leaders disgustingly sit at the table with terrorists and murderers as they recently did with the Tamil Tigers. Some may trick themselves into believing that this is a practical example of Canadian 'soft' power at work where a progressive country is seeking to unite peoples. If the romantic revolutionary ethos has gripped some in this country than it must be said that this country's delusional state has met Abbadon.