The ambassador of Canada .

china

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Jul 30, 2006
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By Andrew Cohen, Citizen SpecialJune 25, 2009Comments

At the opening of the session on identity and history, the ambassador of Canada was asked to say a few words about Canada. That was a mistake.
It was one of those international conferences drawing leading international thinkers. One expected our distinguished representative -- who is, after all, sent abroad to show a country's best face to the world -- to muse about our history, geography or diversity.
Perhaps a public service advertisement on behalf of our musicians, writers, artists, architects and athletes. Perhaps a paean to the depth of our democracy (largely the same political configuration since 1867) or our spirit of accommodation (the world's second most heterogeneous nation).
Perhaps our survival in a cold, big place. Or, failing that, how about our ambiguity? Our moderation? Our endurance?
But instead the ambassador talked about -- wait for it -- Tim Hortons. His Canada, it appears, is a Hockey Dad munching a pastry and sipping coffee in the stands on a Saturday morning.
Behold, Canada as a danish and a double-double.
It might have been funny had it not been embarrassing. His Excellency was earnest, congenial and fairly clueless about how to present Canada, beyond a cliché.
He didn't seem to have any idea about who Canadians are, and if he did, how to portray them abroad in anything but self-deprecating terms. No wonder the foreigners in the audience laughed; they probably thought this was a send-up. The Canadians, who knew it wasn't, cringed.
Could it be this bad for us? Paul Lavoie, who knows something about assessing ideas and creating brands, thinks it is. He is co-founder of TAXI, an innovative international firm that focuses on advertising and design. He is something of a guru in the field.
Lavoie, a Canadian, sees Canada as a brand. We have good things to say about ourselves and good things to sell, he argues, but we have "managed them poorly." Like the ambassador, we are inept at talking to the world.
It isn't just the inability of Foreign Affairs, for example, to celebrate Canada's influential role in the founding of NATO on its 60th anniversary in April. Or the reluctance of the Canadian International Development Agency to find good news stories about development assistance, when asked, to tell the world (and Canadians, who pay for it.)
Would that be boastful? Rising above our station? Actually, it represents a missed opportunity to celebrate the good things we do and to use that to build a constituency to support our internationalism when our politicians try to erode it. Canada suffers when it cannot make its case abroad.
As diplomat and scholar Evan Potter reminds us in his illuminating new book, Branding Canada, we must present a more compelling, coherent image of Canada to the world. We need to harness the tools of public diplomacy -- culture, international education, business promotion -- to present an image of a certain kind of country, with a certain kind of values, which reflects the people we are.
As a flavour, says Lavoie, we're celery. We have no singular, clear vision of ourselves. We define ourselves -- no news here -- by what we are not (American, British) rather than what we are.
Lavoie asks, for example, why we have wood and the Swedes have Ikea, why we have water and the French have Perrier, why we have iron and the Americans have Ford.
All true, of course. We lack innovation for the extraordinary human and material resources that we have in this, the second largest country in the world.

And what we do have we don't know how to market. Lavoie laments a television commercial that the federal government ran last winter on citizenship. The reality is that Jason Kenney and his department are doing excellent work strengthening the awareness and responsibilities of citizenship. But the ad was all about Mounties and Maple Leafs, tired and sophomoric.
Canada cannot learn overnight how to create Ikea and Perrier; we have a colonial mentality we cannot easily shake as hewer of wood, drawer of water and producer of energy. But we can learn how to leverage ideas and experience, such as our history of liberal internationalism.
We can embrace -- and sell -- an idea of ourselves as the good-governance nation, for example. That would mean, among other roles, keeping the peace, building federalism, writing codes of conduct, monitoring elections and encouraging mediation.
We can also trumpet a sense of self as a green society, the greenest in the world, harnessing conservation. Or a knowledge society, harnessing the Internet.
A smart Canada could exploit the brilliance of the BlackBerry as a national brand as the British have exploited the appeal of Burberry. A smart Canada could use Cirque du Soleil as the Russians have used the Bolshoi Ballet.
It will take a commitment to excellence and imagination -- and a lot less talk about Tim Hortons.
Andrew Cohen is a professor of journalism and international affairs at Carleton University. Email:
 
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Cliffy

Standing Member
Nov 19, 2008
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Nakusp, BC
Being the flavour of celery has served us well for generations. Being a cliche of Timmy sucking, donut munching hockey buffs is what we pride ourselves on. Adding spice would spoil the flavour.
 

darkbeaver

the universe is electric
Jan 26, 2006
41,035
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RR1 Distopia 666 Discordia
The writer shows a profound disrespect for the basic elements of life
wood water and energy it's possible the twit dosen't like air either. He's a professor of journalism so we can comfortably blame him for the dismal state of journalism in the west which he has no doubt helped to destroy.
 

china

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Jul 30, 2006
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Durka Durka ,
Canada seems to do well enough without ......

That,s the problem with the majority of Canadians ; "we seem to do well enough".Well enough what?
There ain't no...."seems to " in greatness.There ain't no 'well enough' in greatness.
As long as that's the mentality of the majority of the people ,Canada will never be great .
Take me to court.
 

china

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Jul 30, 2006
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lone wolf
They who chase carrots on stings will never be satisfied. Good enough has it's benefits.

Good enough has it's benefits.?????????????????????????????
 
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dumpthemonarchy

House Member
Jan 18, 2005
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www.cynicsunlimited.com
I read about this but somehow skipped it. The ambassador may be a political bagman for the Libs or Tories and his perspective on the world doesn't seem to extend beyond his city. Cdns are good salesmen, we see them everyday here. Yet, send them abroad and they embarrass us.

Having breakfast and a sugary doughnot is not a uniquely Cdn thing. Time for the fed govt to get some talking points together to advertise Canada properly. One wonders, Harper is hugely pro-American, yet cannot emulate their marketing prowess.

Yeah, Canada has brands to tell the world about, Blackberry, Cirque de Soleil, Lavelin, so we have something to tell the world about.

Our politicians are wooden and stiff, so the nation's reps are the same. But we can only improve.Time to think about Canada, we have survived.

This is the link to the article.

A country in need of a smart brand


By Andrew Cohen, Ottawa Citizen. June 25, 2009

A country in need of a smart brand
 

Liberalman

Senate Member
Mar 18, 2007
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It could be worse we could be Americans of the deep south the Americans of the north are OK.

We would all be eating grits
 

Liberalman

Senate Member
Mar 18, 2007
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I heard that some members of the Conservative government hold the US Green Card if this is true then the Conservative party does not give a rats A$$ about Canada
 

china

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Jul 30, 2006
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lone wolf

Didn't give the answer you wanted? Guess I'm not quite so tight ... being looser and all

Well I have given an answer but it was delited by someone who saw them self in that very answerer .