Often I ponder Canada and what it means, to quote our national anthem, to be “strong and free.” Of course, many will note that “strong and free” is in fact a marketing slogan for me and my services/products, and my main domain is ”strongandfree.ca.” I’m an entrepreneur and a patriot, that goes without saying. But I’m hardly among the 90% who would declare, as I heard on this morning’s TV broadcast, that “Canada is the best country in the world.”
Once upon a time when I was launching a clothing company and website portal, I brainstormed for marketing slogans and hit upon “strong and free.” I registered the aforementioned domain, printed the slogan up on some t-shirts and proceeded to spread the message – my clothing was “strong and free.” It’s catchy. And I held on to the trademark I registered for nearly a decade, before abandoning it because I had long abandoned the clothing line. (If you’re curious it’s at strongandfree.ca/sick).
These days I am knee deep in the same kind of pondering because I make part of my living as an English teacher, instructing ESL students including temporary visitors at “visa schools” and recent immigrants in “LINC schools.” I learned early on to be careful about debating the positives and negatives of any country, and that was senstive territory on those first few “warm up” days when everyone was getting to know each other and the topic of “how does my country differ from Canada” came up. I was always pretty even, tempering any praise with some strokes of cold, hard reality. If a student offered the observation that “Canada is a clean and natural country” I would recognize the point, and then offer the devil’s advocate view; Canada is also a world-leader in producing everything from household garabge (even outranking the U.S.) to contributing massively per capita to global warming. In short, yes the Rockies are incredibly beautiful, but the “tar sands” are lurking just downwind! In this area I suggest that we are highly deluded if we think that buying a hybrid Prius is really an “eco-friendly” act (among other innacurate terms). Canadians aren’t very green. In that regard we’d rate a “C” at best. We are red enough for my liking though.
Where I can get positive is about our social safety net and the overall inclination towards the basic tenents of socialism (exluding forays into super-right territory by Mike Harris and Stephen Harper Tories). We have a system that is presently producing more and more homeless and other “have nots” but is basically keeping most of us afloat (again I play devil’s advocate and dabble in the grey nuances). I’m happy about tolerance and pluralism. I might even believe that, especially in my neighbourhood and other progressive urban centres, that ”multiculturalism” isn’t just “once a week” to an ethnic restaurant or “once a summer” to the ____ festival or ____ parade. I think there’s a really strong multi-everything vibe that permeates most people and places in Canada. Especially in the young people. In this day and age, with satellite, broadband, TV and Internet linking everybody to the newest fashion, music, and lifestyle media, there’s an awareness of connectivity where “thinking globally” is deeply embedded in the DNA of the “digital natives” as some would call the Net Generation. On a political/social/cultural level I rate a (little generous) “A.”
Overall, Canada, in my eyes, rates a “B.” If I had to go further I’d even say a “B-.” We’re just hanging in though. Much of the rest of the world views Canada as a green, progressive, multicultural paradise. We’ve got a ways to go. With the continued support of the Tories after a century of more centre-left Liberal rule we are sliding toward a “C+.” If we don’t sign and then work to implement the “KyotoPlus” environmental protocol then we’ll be sliding faster and further into the oblivion of a solid “D.” We need to get into the trenches and lift up the poor, abandon our delusions that the “Prius” will really offset the “SUV” in the neigbours drive, and begin a fundamental movement toward strong cities with progressive policies on transit and recycling/composting/”really living green.” If we can do that then just maybe we’ll maintain that “B-” which, I’m proud to say, is still lots more generous than the mark I’d give 99% of the rest of the countries of the world.
Happy Canada Day!
