What Don't You Like About Canada?

[china]

Lineman,

The fact that Canadians are so spoiled they've lost the meaning of sacrifice, honour, and the simple pride of a hard days work. We've forgotten what it took to make this country. Rarely does anyone stand up and say "I was wrong and I take full responsibility for my actions" We're mostly "victims" and/or we're owed something.

You got it Lineman .

 

[Trex]

Sometimes Canadians tend to navel gaze and haggle over the results like the entrails of a sacrificed lamb.

Americans this and Americans that.
Whatever.

I live in Canada because it is a really nice place to be.
I really can't find another place I would rather hang my hat,

Easy to criticize the place.

I guess we need to get out and walk more.
Meet the neighbors.

Failing that.
Read a book.
Sh*t like that.

Or Maybe thats just me.

Trex

 

[Colpy]

Let me say first there is nowhere else I would rather live......

The pros so outweigh the cons....

But here is what I don't like:

Government:
- A system that allows someone with less than 40% support to rule as dictator for 5 years. and gives a regional party with less than 10% support 50 seats.....
- Gov'ts that endlessly kiss Quebecois arse, dragging the entire country left......

Culture
-A feeling of entitlement by everyone, a right not to be poor, a right to an education, a right to arts funding, a right to child care, and on and on and on.....
-a general feeling of moral superiority over the world in general and the USA in particular.....especially when we don't hold up our end.....
-slavish devotion to the corrupt and hopeless United Nations

Law
-seat belt laws, helmet laws, no smoking laws.....nanny state laws
-laws against marijuana, which the LeDain Royal Commission advised we drop..........30 years ago
-Idiotic, expensive, ineffective, counter-productive gun control laws.
-mandatory sentencing
-anti-terror legislation

Geography
-Toronto

 

[tracy]

And that's exactly what irks me. The US should have nothing to do with who we are. Rise or fall, it should have no bearing on our own identity. We have our place in the world. The world has a distinct view of us. But we're so busy worrying about other things, worrying about how we compare and measure up to the US, that most of our citizenry will never understand where our place in the world is.

I get your point, but I think that anything else would be impossible. We know ourselves partly by how we are different from others. It isn't the only basis for answering who we are, but it's only natural for it to be a part of the definition.

 

[karrie]

I get your point, but I think that anything else would be impossible. We know ourselves partly by how we are different from others. It isn't the only basis for answering who we are, but it's only natural for it to be a part of the definition.

Part, yes. That's understandable. But, it's such a constant thing in the way Canadians discuss themselves. It's almost instant for Americans to come up. It's not just 'part' of the definition some days it seems.

 

[china]

Colpy

Government:
- A system that allows someone with less than 40% support to rule as dictator for 5 years. and gives a regional party with less than 10% support 50 seats.....
- Gov'ts that endlessly kiss Quebecois arse, dragging the entire country left......
Culture
-A feeling of entitlement by everyone, a right not to be poor, a right to an education, a right to arts funding, a right to child care, and on and on and on.....
-a general feeling of moral superiority over the world in general and the USA in particular.....especially when we don't hold up our end.....
-slavish devotion to the corrupt and hopeless United Nations
Law
-seat belt laws, helmet laws, no smoking laws.....nanny state laws
-laws against marijuana, which the LeDain Royal Commission advised we drop..........30 years ago
-Idiotic, expensive, ineffective, counter-productive gun control laws.
-mandatory sentencing
-anti-terror legislation
Geography
-Toronto

Things that you have mentioned make my blood boil.What should we do (beside voting for different MP's) to bring the situation back to sanity - (and we have to do something) ?

 

[darkbeaver]

I like the fact that my MP is a guy that was voted in by the people in my riding. He's accountable to the people here. He didn't get his seat because he is candidate no 12 on a slate allocated by proportional representation, he's the guy that got the most votes of the local people.

If I want help with a federal issue, I can call him (whether I voted for him or not). He's accountable to the people here, not to some percentage of the national vote. What's more democratic than voting for a specific person? His job is to look after his riding.

That's what I want, I like it that way.

Nothing is wrong with voteing for a specific person if you agree with them on the issues that concern you and the country, proportional representation would be a more equitable system and it would break the strangle hold of party politics giving us coalition governments with broader representation through increased participation in decision making, that would be more democratic than voteing for just the person. I don't see his job as just his riding Ten-Penny, I also see his job as representing the aspirations of the nation in total, nothing would ever get done if he/she only looked after the narrow interests of only one region.

 

[Kreskin]

There isn't much I don't like about Canada.

 

[darkbeaver]

The fact that Canadians are so spoiled they've lost the meaning of sacrifice, honour, and the simple pride of a hard days work. We've forgotten what it took to make this country. Rarely does anyone stand up and say "I was wrong and I take full responsibility for my actions" We're mostly "victims" and/or we're owed something.

These are not your own words Lineman, you are simply repeating the popular mantra of the right wing elite who'll gladly turf you and yours on the slag heap the first chance they get.
We are not spoiled except by the beauty and richness of this land and the commonwealth we share with each other. You belittle the hundreds of thousands nay millions of volunteers all accross this country who work tirelessly and with great love and respect for their fellow citizens to make up the shortfalls of those like you who have supported cut after cut to social programes which have made in many cases life a living hell for those in need for those ill and those elderly. What kind of people support the abuses of it's elderly and it's children and makes it's students debtors before they have left school? Honour? There is no honour in pinching the bread from the mouths of babes and grannies and there is no honour in a war against the rightfull inhabitants of any land in support of the fascist empire of the USA, not one bit of honour. Pride in a hard days work with less pay than you need to live that day or that week or that month that kind of pride will keep your children and mine in poverty all there lives.
Making this country is a job that's never finished. We are not mostly victims, but we are owed something, we owe ourselves a decent free education, we owe ourselves a decent job or bussiness, we owe ourselves our own industries and our own culture and we owe each other respect and kindness without regard to social standing or wealth, we owe these things and much more to each other, that's what being our brother and sisters keeper means. The right in this country know nothing about honour or sacrifice or pride, they only know the narrow selfish me only ethic they are for the most part the greediest lowest form of humanity imaginable, tight, mean angry and stupid to a fault, we need less of them, we need to see the end of them. Responsibility, what a hatefull decietful word that has become in the age of popular fascism. You don't sound Canadian to me.

 

[talloola]

We are not spoiled except by the beauty and richness of this land and the commonwealth we share with each other. You belittle the hundreds of thousands nay millions of volunteers all accross this country who work tirelessly and with great love and respect for their fellow citizens to make up the shortfalls of those like you who have supported cut after cut to social programes which have made in many cases life a living hell for those in need for those ill and those elderly. What kind of people support the abuses of it's elderly and it's children and makes it's students debtors before they have left school? Honour? There is no honour in pinching the bread from the mouths of babes and grannies and there is no honour in a war against the rightfull inhabitants of any land in support of the fascist empire of the USA, not one bit of honour. Pride in a hard days work with less pay than you need to live that day or that week or that month that kind of pride will keep your children and mine in poverty all there lives.
Making this country is a job that's never finished. We are not mostly victims, but we are owed something, we owe ourselves a decent free education, we owe ourselves a decent job or bussiness, we owe ourselves our own industries and our own culture and we owe each other respect and kindness without regard to social standing or wealth, we owe these things and much more to each other, that's what being our brother and sisters keeper means. The right in this country know nothing about honour or sacrifice or pride, they only know the narrow selfish me only ethic they are for the most part the greediest lowest form of humanity imaginable, tight, mean angry and stupid to a fault, we need less of them, we need to see the end of them.

Yes Beaver I agree with you 100%.

 

[Lineman]

Scratch, I respect you're opinions but why should we base our identity on failures in another country? Again we are looking outward to find something to make ourselves feel better. We have lots in Canada to make us proud without outside influences. Just look around, travel the land, speak to the people, get to know your neighbor, read your history books, dance a jig, milk a cow, sing a Bryan Adams song, curl, play road hockey, attend a social event, help a friend plow the back 40, sleep in an igloo, hike the Niagra Escarpment or the Gatineau Hills, drive the Cabot Trail, go whale watching, attend an Ann Murray concert, laugh at Don Cherry's suits, help a homeless person, visit the prairies. If you do a few of these things or any of a multitude of others you'll quickly find out where your identity lies.

Personally, there's not much I don't like about Canada, except perhaps the disparity between the different regions as Praxius pointed out.

I think I know what scratch is referring to. We've lived under the shadow of a very powerful neighbour. Now that the neighbour is in crisis and we're not so bad off we may be able to take the opportunity to get out from under the shadow and move ahead on economic, political and international relations with our own agendas. For the period where they're recovering we could progress. We've always been "the quiet confident polite neighbour, maybe its time to keep being polite and confident but drop the quiet act. We're in better shape than most countries for some reasons, time to "brag" about why! Just to be clear I in no way advocate trying to "punish" our neighbours, they're suffering more than we can imagine and need our support and sympathy, but there is the rest of the world we could sell our brand to.
Ahh too much babbling again, off to sleep...

 

[scratch]

I think I know what scratch is referring to. We've lived under the shadow of a very powerful neighbour. Now that the neighbour is in crisis and we're not so bad off we may be able to take the opportunity to get out from under the shadow and move ahead on economic, political and international relations with our own agendas. For the period where they're recovering we could progress. We've always been "the quiet confident polite neighbour, maybe its time to keep being polite and confident but drop the quiet act. We're in better shape than most countries for some reasons, time to "brag" about why! Just to be clear I in no way advocate trying to "punish" our neighbours, they're suffering more than we can imagine and need our support and sympathy, but there is the rest of the world we could sell our brand to.
Ahh too much babbling again, off to sleep...

I thank you for your support.

regs,
scratch

 

[Praxius]

And that's exactly what irks me. The US should have nothing to do with who we are. Rise or fall, it should have no bearing on our own identity. We have our place in the world. The world has a distinct view of us. But we're so busy worrying about other things, worrying about how we compare and measure up to the US, that most of our citizenry will never understand where our place in the world is.

In all honesty, the only time I ever hear Canadians talk about our identity or question it, is when some media report comes out saying we're questioning our identity..... or from people talking about said report and start up the conversation of our identity.

Then people start getting all frizzy about how we continually question our identity, when technically, based on everything I see, we don't.

Seriously, who all here actually questions the Canadian Identity or their own identity within the nation?

I know I don't.

Who compares our identity to other nations?

I know I don't.

It sounds to me that there isn't very many people here who actually do.

What about your friends, family and neighbors? Are they continually questioning what it is to be Canadian?

Nobody I know of.

So to me, it seems more like we already know what our identity as a nation is, but some are sensitive when it comes to someone going on about how many Canadians don't understand their identity.

Or maybe it has to do with other reports from people outside of the country trying to figure out our identity..... and if you even pay attention to those, then of course you're doing what Karrie was talking about..... you're seeking outward to get an answer inward..... which doesn't make much sense.

But the sense it does make is that we should sometimes listen to those around us, outside of our nation and hear what they have to say and what they think of us. I'm not saying we should suck on everything everybody says about us.... but take some of it into consideration.

Cuz plenty of people have plenty to say about the US and its actions..... they apparently seem to not care or ignore what people say about them outside of their nation and they continue along their way..... (I'm just using that as an example only because it's easier to explain this way)

Then again, one can not figure out their identity unless they figure out what makes them different from others.... ie: other nations and their identity.... so it's a tad impossible not to do this in most cases.

To me, a part of the Canadian Identity is that we actually listen and observe our surroundings, we learn and understand what is going on around the world..... we understand that in many different ways, we're all connected in one way or another...... I see Canadians as being collectively open-minded and not stone-headed in a way that we wouldn't change our positions or minds on any given situation..... we adapt.

And since we adapt in that sort of way, we are continually changing.... socially and nationally evolving perhaps.... all be it in small steps...... but since we're continually developing.... since we're still kinda a young country, it doesn't suprise me that some outside of our nation feel we have very little of an identity, or they find it difficult to pin one on us..... cuz we're not like some other nations which are easy to classify.

We're just complex :twisted:

 

[scratch]

In all honesty, the only time I ever hear Canadians talk about our identity or question it, is when some media report comes out saying we're questioning our identity..... or from people talking about said report and start up the conversation of our identity.

Then people start getting all frizzy about how we continually question our identity, when technically, based on everything I see, we don't.

Seriously, who all here actually questions the Canadian Identity or their own identity within the nation?

I know I don't.

Who compares our identity to other nations?

I know I don't.

It sounds to me that there isn't very many people here who actually do.

What about your friends, family and neighbors? Are they continually questioning what it is to be Canadian?

Nobody I know of.

So to me, it seems more like we already know what our identity as a nation is, but some are sensitive when it comes to someone going on about how many Canadians don't understand their identity.

Or maybe it has to do with other reports from people outside of the country trying to figure out our identity..... and if you even pay attention to those, then of course you're doing what Karrie was talking about..... you're seeking outward to get an answer inward..... which doesn't make much sense.

But the sense it does make is that we should sometimes listen to those around us, outside of our nation and hear what they have to say and what they think of us. I'm not saying we should suck on everything everybody says about us.... but take some of it into consideration.

Cuz plenty of people have plenty to say about the US and its actions..... they apparently seem to not care or ignore what people say about them outside of their nation and they continue along their way..... (I'm just using that as an example only because it's easier to explain this way)

Then again, one can not figure out their identity unless they figure out what makes them different from others.... ie: other nations and their identity.... so it's a tad impossible not to do this in most cases.

To me, a part of the Canadian Identity is that we actually listen and observe our surroundings, we learn and understand what is going on around the world..... we understand that in many different ways, we're all connected in one way or another...... I see Canadians as being collectively open-minded and not stone-headed in a way that we wouldn't change our positions or minds on any given situation..... we adapt.

And since we adapt in that sort of way, we are continually changing.... socially and nationally evolving perhaps.... all be it in small steps...... but since we're continually developing.... since we're still kinda a young country, it doesn't suprise me that some outside of our nation feel we have very little of an identity, or they find it difficult to pin one on us..... cuz we're not like some other nations which are easy to classify.

We're just complex :twisted:

Complex is the `key word`

Aware we are though and evolving.

Good comment Prax.

regs,
scratch

 

[missile]

In 2 words; Celine Dion:smile:

 

[scratch]

In 2 words; Celine Dion:smile:

And you have been where for the last two decades?

 

[In Between Man]

It alwayz bugged me that we didn't form until 1867. America bought Alaska March 30th of that same year. A couple months before confederation. It's too bad. All that pristine wilderness. We could have had it!

There's other stuff that bothers me about Canada that I could post, but for one, a lot of it has already been posted by others. Plus I'm having motivational issues today.

 

[In Between Man]

I got another one: The 40 hour work week. Life's too short to work all the time....give me more money and let me work less hours.

Once a upon a time, I saw this party on my ballot called the "Work Less Party". I found out their whole platform is to establish the 32 hour work week. Alas, I haven't seen them on a ballot since.

lol - I tried calling their office, but no one answered!

 

[scratch]

I got another one: The 40 hour work week. Life's too short to work all the time....give me more money and let me work less hours.

Once a upon a time, I saw this party on my ballot called the "Work Less Party". I found out their whole platform is to establish the 32 hour work week. Alas, I haven't seen them on a ballot since.

lol - I tried calling their office, but no one answered!

I thought that these days 37.5 hrs/wk was the norm.

 

[In Between Man]

I thought that these days 37.5 hrs/wk was the norm.

Actually it's 37.56599941 hrs/wk. To be precise.