- The Ancient Hippie
- Retired from 10 years in the Canadian Navy, and 28 years in the Canadian Diplomatic Service, with postings in Beijing, Mexico City, Sri Lanka, Romania, Abu Dhabi, Guyana, Ireland, Trinidad, and, last but not least, India.
Monday, 18 January 2010
In a (parliamentary) league of our own
"...no other English-speaking nation with a system of government like ours -- not Britain, Australia or New Zealand -- has ever had its parliament prorogued in modern times, so that its ruling party could avoid an investigation, or a vote of confidence, by other elected legislators."
In a (parliamentary) league of our own
In a (parliamentary) league of our own
Sunday, 17 January 2010
Smug Canada is NOT cool
Article by Ms. McLaren in Friday's Globe and Mail
Leah McLaren
Published on Friday, Jan. 15, 2010 2:27PM EST Last updated on Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010 9:05PM EST
Dear Canada:
Who would have thought, a year or two ago, that things would be looking so good for you? It all starts off so innocently, doesn't it? Without really meaning to, you find yourself at the top of the international heap. All the cool kids who used to lord it over you are suddenly at the bottom. Your prim moral certitude and sense of restraint turned out to be your ace. The conservative economic policies that made you seem so boring, so beige, so unerringly moderate, paid off. And then some.
In other words, my dear nation, you are vindicated. And frankly, it feels pretty good. You're a teeny bit chuffed with yourself, and why not? It's nice to be appreciated, for once, especially when you're such a modest wallflower.
And then your success builds on itself. Your ego blooms. You've got a hot date with the Olympics and a health-care system that's the envy of your neighbours to the south. Your biggest city is booming, the real-estate market is in a lather of condo development and bank profits are on the rise. Suddenly you're riding high, while the cool kids of yesteryear are trying to figure out how to fix the mess they've made of their lives. I mean, they've got issues you don't – rising unemployment, decimated markets, bank bailouts to contend with.
But hey, it's not your problem, right? Your consumer confidence is strong, you're beginning to emerge from the cocoon of cultural inferiority that has been your psychological home for too many years to count. In metaphoric terms, you're losing some weight, getting a new haircut and enjoying your smaller, firmer butt. Slowly but surely, you're beginning to believe your own hype.
So you think, why should I bother calling my old friends back? Why should I drive this beat-up car? I'm a star. Don't you hear me? A star! You throw caution to the wind. You decide to take a couple of months off from being a legislative democracy. You need a vacation, after all, to rest up for your other hot date with the G20 in June.
And now it's official, you're smug.
But I have a message for you, Canada: I liked you better before you got successful. Before the superiority set in. Back when The Beaver magazine was called The Beaver, not self-important Canadian History.
Smugness, after all, breeds a false sense of security. It makes politicians ignore the needs of voters and animal trainers think they can feed their snuggly pet tigers by hand. It deludes people into thinking they can raise breast-cancer awareness by posting their bra colour on Facebook and a gang of suburban weekend warriors into believing they can blow up the Toronto Stock Exchange. In short, smugness is breeding a cocky arrogance in this country and I, for one, don't like it.
All things considered, Canada, you were nicer in the early nineties, when there was barely a Conservative Party to speak of and Montreal apartments were cheap and plentiful. You were depressed back then, always wandering around in sweatpants, stroking your greasy mullet and moaning about the collapse of Meech Lake and the impact of the North American free trade agreement. You were a mess, but at least you were honest.
Now you're so up on yourself it's getting obnoxious. I'm all for national pride, but this is ridiculous. Once upon a time, a person got some respect for daring to leave the land of free health care and Tim Hortons iced capps. But not today. If you choose these days to reside outside Canada (as I do most of the year), people look at you like you've chosen to join an unpleasant, money-sucking cult. “Why would you want to live in England when you could be in Toronto?” a friend asked me recently. “The economy's so much better here.”
It's this kind of reductive provincialism that really irks me about you these days. I think it's great that you're feeling good about yourself, but do you really have to be such a jerk about it? Some of us live in places where the economy is in the toilet and we'd rather not be constantly reminded of how the recession left you so “relatively unscathed” that you're building a new wing on the cottage. Didn't your mother ever tell you it's not polite to brag?
The real danger of smugness is the way that it imbues people and nations and, in your case, an increasingly arrogant Prime Minister's Office with a sense of superiority – one that makes them believe they're exempt from the rules. Well, guess what, Canada? You're not so special. Prorogation is not just a failure of democracy but a triumph of self-satisfaction. It is a national embarrassment that, I fear, will be forgotten once people trade in watching figure-skating finals for expressing their outrage on Facebook.
This is, after all, what the smuggies in Ottawa are counting on. Don't let them win, Canada. Let's return to our roots. Be humble, be modest, bring back the inferiority complex. The truth is, you were nicer (and healthier) that way.
Leah McLaren
Published on Friday, Jan. 15, 2010 2:27PM EST Last updated on Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010 9:05PM EST
Dear Canada:
Who would have thought, a year or two ago, that things would be looking so good for you? It all starts off so innocently, doesn't it? Without really meaning to, you find yourself at the top of the international heap. All the cool kids who used to lord it over you are suddenly at the bottom. Your prim moral certitude and sense of restraint turned out to be your ace. The conservative economic policies that made you seem so boring, so beige, so unerringly moderate, paid off. And then some.
In other words, my dear nation, you are vindicated. And frankly, it feels pretty good. You're a teeny bit chuffed with yourself, and why not? It's nice to be appreciated, for once, especially when you're such a modest wallflower.
And then your success builds on itself. Your ego blooms. You've got a hot date with the Olympics and a health-care system that's the envy of your neighbours to the south. Your biggest city is booming, the real-estate market is in a lather of condo development and bank profits are on the rise. Suddenly you're riding high, while the cool kids of yesteryear are trying to figure out how to fix the mess they've made of their lives. I mean, they've got issues you don't – rising unemployment, decimated markets, bank bailouts to contend with.
But hey, it's not your problem, right? Your consumer confidence is strong, you're beginning to emerge from the cocoon of cultural inferiority that has been your psychological home for too many years to count. In metaphoric terms, you're losing some weight, getting a new haircut and enjoying your smaller, firmer butt. Slowly but surely, you're beginning to believe your own hype.
So you think, why should I bother calling my old friends back? Why should I drive this beat-up car? I'm a star. Don't you hear me? A star! You throw caution to the wind. You decide to take a couple of months off from being a legislative democracy. You need a vacation, after all, to rest up for your other hot date with the G20 in June.
And now it's official, you're smug.
But I have a message for you, Canada: I liked you better before you got successful. Before the superiority set in. Back when The Beaver magazine was called The Beaver, not self-important Canadian History.
Smugness, after all, breeds a false sense of security. It makes politicians ignore the needs of voters and animal trainers think they can feed their snuggly pet tigers by hand. It deludes people into thinking they can raise breast-cancer awareness by posting their bra colour on Facebook and a gang of suburban weekend warriors into believing they can blow up the Toronto Stock Exchange. In short, smugness is breeding a cocky arrogance in this country and I, for one, don't like it.
All things considered, Canada, you were nicer in the early nineties, when there was barely a Conservative Party to speak of and Montreal apartments were cheap and plentiful. You were depressed back then, always wandering around in sweatpants, stroking your greasy mullet and moaning about the collapse of Meech Lake and the impact of the North American free trade agreement. You were a mess, but at least you were honest.
Now you're so up on yourself it's getting obnoxious. I'm all for national pride, but this is ridiculous. Once upon a time, a person got some respect for daring to leave the land of free health care and Tim Hortons iced capps. But not today. If you choose these days to reside outside Canada (as I do most of the year), people look at you like you've chosen to join an unpleasant, money-sucking cult. “Why would you want to live in England when you could be in Toronto?” a friend asked me recently. “The economy's so much better here.”
It's this kind of reductive provincialism that really irks me about you these days. I think it's great that you're feeling good about yourself, but do you really have to be such a jerk about it? Some of us live in places where the economy is in the toilet and we'd rather not be constantly reminded of how the recession left you so “relatively unscathed” that you're building a new wing on the cottage. Didn't your mother ever tell you it's not polite to brag?
The real danger of smugness is the way that it imbues people and nations and, in your case, an increasingly arrogant Prime Minister's Office with a sense of superiority – one that makes them believe they're exempt from the rules. Well, guess what, Canada? You're not so special. Prorogation is not just a failure of democracy but a triumph of self-satisfaction. It is a national embarrassment that, I fear, will be forgotten once people trade in watching figure-skating finals for expressing their outrage on Facebook.
This is, after all, what the smuggies in Ottawa are counting on. Don't let them win, Canada. Let's return to our roots. Be humble, be modest, bring back the inferiority complex. The truth is, you were nicer (and healthier) that way.
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The Ancient Hippie
Natraj dances with us all.