In 1911 our grandfather came west from Ontario on a "harvester's special". He got off at Fort Walsh, where he found work as a cook and cowboy. We've lived in and loved Alberta ever since. Jewel of the Canadian West is an occasionally updated blog about Southwestern Alberta's people and places. The best corner of the best province in the best country in the world, I like to say. Welcome to The Jewel of The Canadian West!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
If You Love It, Don't Change It, Part 2
Why do immigrants to Canada want to change Canada? Turbans in the RCMP was our first mistake. It turned a formerly secular national policeman into a policeman with a visible religious viewpoint. Now there's a push for "Shariah law" in Ontario, despite the fact that we've had a perfectly good legal system in this country for hundreds of years. This week we learned that people apparently don't have to show their faces when they go through airport security. (They already don't at polling stations when they vote.) Seems to me that Canadian society is being fundamentally altered in the name of religious freedom. We need some common sense here. We need to distinguish between the necessary progress of human rights, religious freedoms, etc., and those changes which fundamentally alter what made Canada so popular with immigrants in the first place. If non-conforming immigrants overwhelm our political structure either through sheer numbers or via birth rate, you can bet that we risk allowing Canada to degenerate into just the sort of place these folks wanted to escape from. All we're doing is setting the stage for future friction between different ethnic groups who bring their "old country" habits and hatreds with them. Immigrants can honour their culture all they want but must be Canadians first. This country is in the best financial and political shape in the modern world, and yet I fear for its future. I fear that the ethnic strife which is occurring in European nations as we speak is on the horizon in Canada. It's too late to adopt the "melting pot" strategy of the U.S. rather than the "cultural mosaic" crap of our past Liberal governments, but surely we can draw the line at changing our national institutions for the sake of everyone - especially newbies.
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Agreed with much of your post, which I commend for treading close to but not crossing the "racist" line - except for your comment that "This country is in the best ... and political shape in the modern world." Two slimy prorogations, numerous scandals, muzzling of dissenting voices within the Cons, manufactured crises, etc, all too numerous to mention. Many Parliamentary commentators and historians have said that Harpo has centralized and usurped power from other bodies to the danger of Canada's Parliamentary democracy. So, on balance, this "best ...political shape..." claim is very debateable. It remains to be seen how much damage Harpo has truly done, but his claim about not recognizing the country when he's done with it is sadly coming true, to our long term detriment.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, Loof. Point taken.
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