A Truly Canadian Canada
TenPenny, I thought the same thing my first run through the sentence.
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Introduction
What do Canadians want?
This is an extremely broad question, with perhaps an unlimited amount of answers; however, I would assert that there are some common goals that an overwhelming majority of Canadians would agree on. Canada is a country rich in its traditions and heritage, and one with a reputation the world-over for unmatched efforts in peacekeeping, and in being a voice of reason in an often turbulent world. The people of Canada want our society to be sustainable, and they want a clean and healthy environment. These desires seem to boil down to one common wish: Canadians want a
truly Canadian Canada.
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Our Institutions of Governance
In my opinion, our institutions of governance are, or at least once were, one of the defining features of our nation. The style of respectful debate in the House of Commons and the Senate were once an envy of the world; and I would assert that, despite the fact that their reputation within Canada has perhaps been tarnished due to recent events, I would think that our institutions remain an example to the world.
Canadians want to be able to take pride in our Government; we want to be able to trust our Members of Parliament to make decisions that are truly in our best interest, and to unequivocally defend our rights to the end. Canadians want an effective House of Commons, and an effective Red Chamber; we want and require that the Government be truly accountable to the people, and that Canada has priority over the sometimes narrow-minded interests of whomever the governing party of the time may be.
We need to be able to take pride in our institutions, and we need to ensure that these institutions are protected. Arguably the most important institution in Canada would be our Supreme Court; the current Court, under the guidance of the Right Honourable Beverly McLachlin, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and Privy Councillor, has been one of progressive rulings in the interest of protecting our rights and freedoms, sometimes even before the House of Commons has even considered legislation on the topic at hand. We should be very proud of a Court, and should continue to push for the independence and non-partisanship in the Judiciary that we have enjoyed so far.
We, the people of Canada, want a
truly Canadian government.
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Our Traditions and Our Heritage
Canadians, I would assert as a whole, want to ensure that our traditions, our heritage and our culture are protected. Under the beautiful Canadian mosaic, each and every person has the right to keep their own distinctive culture, while opting into something far greater than the sum of its parts: Canada.
Canadians want to ensure that our traditions and our heritage are protected. We want to ensure that we keep our ties to the Crown. Our incredible nation was created on the prerogative of the Crown, and it serves as a reminder of our unprecedented peaceful creation — as opposed to some other nations, who were forced to carve their shapes from the cloth of an Empire with a jagged and blood-soaked dagger.
While the Crown is an institution that we should endeavour to keep, Canadians also, in my opinion, want to ensure that we are not mistaken for the Dominion of a distant United Kingdom. Canadians want to ensure that, while protecting our history, we also protect the features and traditions of a modern Canada. Canadians want to continue to weave a rich tapestry of cultures and traditions, under a united Canada.
Canadians want to ensure that we foster a
truly Canadian identity.
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Our Role in the World
Canadians want to ensure that we continue to give the world a reason to consider us to be a nation of peacekeepers. Canadians want to ensure that we have a strong Canadian Armed Forces, to defend our nation when the need arises, and to defend us from the unpredictable and sometimes deadly will of Mother Nature.
We want to ensure that the Armed Forces are not pushed into some arbitrary battle against an obscure enemy; rather, the people of Canada want to defend the principles of justice, freedom and democracy, while reaching this end through peaceful means. We want the Canadian Armed Forces to be a powerful and respected institution — but we also desparately pray that the need for their dispatch never arise.
The people of Canada want to ensure that we are heard on the world stage as a voice of reason. We want to be heard above the often harsh and militant voices of others, as the soft but firm voice of a peacekeeper; a peacekeeper with a genuine interest not only in ourselves, but in the good of the world community.
Canadians want to play a
truly Canadian role on the world stage.
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A Sustainable Society and Environment
Canadians, in my opinion, want to ensure that our society can be sustained under the resources that we have at our disposal. We want to ensure that our children, our grandchildren, and
their grandchildren, will not be left with a broken nation.
We want to foster a safe and healthy environment. The people of Canada want an environment that has not been laced with the poison of a previous generation. Canadians want an environment with a strong population of animals; we want to protect those who would be driven toward extinction.
We, as Canadians, I would think, want to ensure that Canada plays an important role in prolonging the life of the planet. We want to be a leader in environmental improvement and protection, and a leader on the world stage in terms of these things.
Canadians want, simply put, a
truly Canadian environment.
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Conclusion
Canadians want to ensure that our best interests are in the minds of our Prime Minister and in our leaders, and that it is
Canadian interests, as opposed to the interests of beaurocracy, that are held dear to those who would represent us.
Canadians want to preserve their rich and exciting heritage, to proudly showcase our history, and to continue to sew as beautiful a mosaic as we can as we welcome new Canadians into the nation; we want to ensure that our
Canadian identity is promoted above all else.
Canadians want to ensure that our nation plays a leading role on the world stage, and that we are respected by our neighbours in that community. We want to play a
Canadian role; one of peacekeeping, one of reason, and one of democratic justice.
We want to ensure that our world is a clean place to live, so that future generations need not be posed with the problems that we now face; we want to ensure that the
Canadian environment remains as beautiful as it is now, and continues to grow to that end.
We want a
Canada that we can be proud of.
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P.S. I am exceedingly sorry for having submitted such a large post, but I had quite a bit that I wanted to say, and I wanted to be sure that I said it all right. Thanks to anyone who read through my entire stance on the topic.
