Canada Should Join the European Union

It's been just over a week since the people of the United Kingdom made what I believe was a terrible decision to leave the European Union.  In fact, as I mentioned in my previous blog post, May Brexit Spell the End of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the vote by the British to leave the EU may even lead to the breakup of their country.  Time will tell what Brexit will ultimately do to the U.K.  In any event, the EU has suffered a devastating blow at a time when it is still dealing with severe economic problems and an ongoing refugee crisis.  The political and economic bloc could really use a pick-me-up.  And this is where I think Canada can help.

Canada as it is now is a tiny economy compared to the giant juggernaut to the south that we call the United States of America.  Canada's economy is heavily dependent on what happens in the U.S., as is the defense of our country.  After all, there's no way Canada could fight potential future military aggression by Russia or China without American help.  We have very much in common with our American neighbours, yet we continually struggle to distinguish ourselves from them.  Indeed, I think there is even more that makes us distinct from Americans than makes us like them.  Things like universal health care and more tolerance for historically marginalized groups of people, such as visible minorities and members of the LGBTQ community.  To tell you the truth, I think we're a lot more similar to the folks in the European Union than we are to our southern neighbours, which is why I would recommend that Canada enter negotiations to join the EU.

Okay, I understand that Canada is not physically part of Europe, but as we should all know, much of this country's heritage is rooted in Europe.  Canada is of course a product of European colonialism, for better or for worse.  Most of our population also has European origins, although I understand that this is changing rapidly as most of our immigration hasn't come from Europe for a long time now. Nevertheless, Canada still has strong cultural ties to Europe.  We also have strong political ties to the continent as members of NATO and other Western-led organizations.  Furthermore, although the U.S. is by far Canada's largest trading partner, we still do billions of dollars in trade with several EU countries (including the U.K. while it is still part of the bloc).  In fact, now would be a great opportunity to negotiate with the EU about joining as we are currently in negotiating a free trade agreement with them.

Being members of the EU would have tremendous advantages for Canada.  First of all, our businesses would gain unfettered access to a market of over 400 million people, which is a bigger market than that of the U.S. with a population in excess of 300 million.  I should also mention that many European businesses may opt to relocate some of their operations here to take advantage of labour and production costs that are cheaper than in some EU states.  This could mean jobs for a lot of Canadians.  Furthermore, Canadians would also be allowed to live and work freely in any EU country, which would mean a lot more work opportunities for Canadians abroad, without the bother of passports or work permits.  

I know that there are plenty of folks out there who would argue that it makes more sense to integrate more closely with the U.S. because they are our largest trading partner and are physically much closer to us than Europe.  But the reality is that Canada's values are more in sync with Europe's when it comes to things like social justice, environmental policies and various other political and social issues.  Personally, I would prefer to be more closely integrated with people who also have universal health care systems, strong environmental protection policies and progressive tax systems, rather than get closer to a country that gives a person like Donald Trump respectability and legitimacy.  

Canada Must Endure as a Country of Values or Cease to Exist

Tomorrow is Canada Day.  Canada is a very dynamic country; a great country.  But it's just a country, not a nation.  The reason I say this is that the word "nation" for me means a group of people with a common language, ancestry and history.  But the people of Canada don't have any of these.  All Canadians, with the exception of the country's aboriginal population, are descended from people originating in different lands.  In other words, Canada is a country of immigrants - immigrants from every corner of the world.  Many would argue that it is Canada's multicultural make-up that is the country's ultimate strength.  Former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau thought so.  In fact, he practically made multiculturalism the country's state ideology.  But history has shown that multicultural countries, which I sometimes refer to as multinational empires, are usually unstable and can often become failed states, which is why countries whose borders were drawn up by colonial powers, like those of the Middle East and Africa, are home to so much violent conflict and instability. 

Canada is of course a country drawn up by colonial powers and built on the foundations of conquered aboriginal nations.  But unlike other multinational empires, most of Canada's people live in this country because either they or their descendants chose to be here.  In contrast, millions of people in today's multi-ethnic states didn't choose to become part of those states, but rather were forcibly included in the territories of such states.  For example, the Kurds of the Middle East never consented to being part of artificial creations like Iraq and Syria.  One could say the same thing about aboriginal populations in Canada, but aside from them, no one else in this country was forced to be part of it. This is one of the reasons why Canada has continued to exist and to prosper.

Another reason is that while Canadians come from many different backgrounds, the overwhelming majority of us share the same values - values like freedom of speech, freedom of religion, gender equality and so forth.  In fact, I would say that if a country does not have a homogeneous population that shares a common language, a common culture, a common history, etc., it must be a country of shared values, otherwise it will likely cease to exist.  Hence, if Canada wants to continue existing as a country, it must maintain a population whose overwhelming majority share what we would consider Canadian values.  My fear, however, is that because of certain policies brought on by successive governments in this country over the last half century, Canada may soon no longer have a population with shared values.

One of these policies is the official multiculturalism that Pierre Trudeau introduced during his tenure as prime minister.  As part of this new state ideology, Canada's immigration controls were relaxed to allow more people from places like Asia and Africa to come live in the country and become Canadian citizens.  Up until the Trudeau era, most immigrants to Canada came from Europe as immigration from other parts of the world was severely restricted and those non-Europeans who managed to come and stay in Canada faced horrible discrimination.  I certainly don't have a problem with the fact that a person can immigrate to Canada and in time can become a Canadian citizen regardless of where he or she comes from.  If I did have a problem with this, I'd be a bigot, and the last time I checked, my name isn't Donald Trump.  In fact, I mentioned in my Canada Day blog post last year, What Makes Canada Great?, that one of the great things about this country is that anyone has the potential to be a Canadian regardless of where they come from.

What I'm worried about is that since Pierre Trudeau introduced multiculturalism as Canada's new state ideology, adherents of it have used it as a pretext to look the other way whenever certain folks come to this country, become citizens and then try to impose customs and practices that are out of sync with Canada's values.  In essence, multiculturalism has become the card that its proponents will always use to justify bringing people into this country who don't believe in things like democracy, freedom of religion or gender equality.  My fear is that if this continues, Canada as we know it may cease to exist.                 

Five Cents for a Plastic Bag!? This Canadian is Tired of Being Nickeled and Dimed!

Today, I went to Shoppers Drug Mart to buy a couple of things and was asked by the cashier if I wanted to "purchase" a bag.  I said no, because in my opinion, charging a five cent bag fee is just another way big corporations are squeezing more profits out of their customers.  To make matters worse, this is a practice that's been encouraged by some of our incompetent politicians.  The pandora's box of bag fees was opened in Toronto when then mayor David Miller and his band of leftist councillors decided to make all retailers in Toronto charge a five cent fee per plastic bag. But as if this wasn't bad enough for Joe the taxpayer, the new rule didn't require retailers to turn the money over to the city or use it for environmentally-friendly initiatives, despite the fact that the whole argument in favour of the bag fee revolved around reducing the use of plastics that harm the environment. Instead, retailers could keep the money from the bag fees, which is exactly what most of them did, even after the city cancelled the mandatory fee years later. Now just to be fair, some retailers do voluntarily donate some of the money from the bag fees to environmental causes.  But for the most part, the money from the five cents per bag that people in Toronto and elsewhere pay is going straight into the pockets of big retailers.  As if the big multi-billion dollar retail giants don't charge us enough for their goods already at a time where more and more people are having trouble making ends meet.  

Okay, I understand that this is an old issue and that many people have grown used to this ridiculous example of nickel and diming.  The truth is that most of us just shrug and accept it.  This is the unfortunate case with many other dumb charges that big companies use to gouge Canadians. Remember when you didn't have to pay fuel surcharges and baggage fees at the airport?  How about when the airlines used to feed us for free on short-haul flights?  Or when you didn't have to pay to receive paper bills?  And please don't get me started on all those banking and credit card fees!  I think the real question here is, why do we let this happen?  Why do Canadians allow big corporations to levy such ludicrous charges so that they can squeeze more profits out of us?  The simple answer is that we don't complain loud enough about it to the point where our politicians can hear us and make laws to stop big business from nickel and diming us to death.  Unfortunately, the word is out that Canadians will pay more for everything.     

End Partisan Government Advertising!

Have you seen the self-serving, totally partisan ads that Ontario's Liberal government has been putting on TV lately?  The ones advertising some of the government's most controversial policies, like the proposed Ontario pension plan, the revised provincial sex ed curriculum and the government's clean energy policies.  One of the latest ads features a bunch of small children talking about the threats posed by climate change.  Up until recently, these kinds of ads were illegal in Ontario.  But then the government tweaked the law to allow them.  Now just to be fair, Kathleen Wynne's Liberals aren't the only ones guilty of showering voters with ads designed to make us feel good about their policies.  Other parties play the same game and play it just as well.

Does anyone remember those annoying TV ads by the Harper Conservatives?  The ads sang the praises of the so-called Economic Action Plan, much of which hadn't even been approved by parliament, hence the small and much less noticeable text in the commercials that read, "subject to parliamentary approval."  One of my favourite examples is from around twenty years ago during the days of the Mike Harris government in Ontario.  The then slash-and-burn premier talked a great deal about wasteful spending, but he had no problem spending our tax dollars on signs that proudly proclaimed, "Your Ontario Tax Dollars at Work."  

The fact of the matter is that governments of all stripes engage in self-serving partisan advertising paid for by our tax dollars.  This is a practice that has to end and end now!  So whenever you see one of those pathetic commercials talking about how much of a great job our politicians are supposedly doing, keep telling yourself to remember our leaders' cynical use of our hard-earned money come voting day.  Better yet, forget about waiting until the next election.  Instead, shout out to our politicians over the phone, through the mail or on social media and tell them to stop wasting the taxpayer's money on partisan ads.  If politicians want to pat themselves on the back in the media, they should use their own parties' funds to do it, not ours!    

May Brexit Spell the End of the United Kingdom and the British Empire

Yesterday, the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union.  Many of the folks who voted in favour of leaving the EU believe that they are taking back their country, so to speak.  I think they'll soon find that they've done just the opposite.  In fact, I'm hoping that this decision to leave the EU will be the final nail in the coffin of the British Empire and the United Kingdom itself.

I've made it clear in previous posts that I am not a fan of multinational empires and the U.K. is one of those empires.  It is an empire dominated first and foremost by England, with Scotland as a junior partner and Wales and Ireland as subjugated countries, not to mention the countless millions around the world that fell under British rule over the centuries.  Now that this empire is all but gone, the next logical step is the dismantling of the United Kingdom itself.  Hence, I am very happy that pro-independence forces in Scotland are calling for another referendum to secede from the U.K. and that pro-republican leaders in Northern Ireland have begun to speak about the possibility of holding a vote there on merging with the Republic of Ireland and creating a united Ireland.  I look forward to the day that Scotland and Wales are independent members of the European Union, joined by a united Ireland and I hope eventually a wiser and more mature England.          

Israel Does NOT Belong to All Jews

Do all Jews, wherever they may live have a stake in the present and future of the State of Israel? Absolutely!  But does Israel belong to all Jewish people, regardless of whether or not they live there? Absolutely not!  I know I'm going against the grain here, because most Jews will probably tell you that Israel belongs to all of the Jewish people.  Heck, most of Israel's leaders, including our current prime minister, would say that Israel belongs to all Jews, regardless of where they live.  But as an ardent supporter of Israel and an Israeli citizen, I'm afraid I must disagree with the notion that Israel belongs to all Jews.  After all, Israel is a modern, democratic state; and a modern, democratic state belongs to its citizens and no one else.  In other words, Israel belongs to Israelis and no one else.

I look at it this way.  If an American who can trace his ancestry all the way back to the British colonization of North America insinuated that the U.K. belongs to him and all people of British descent, he would probably be laughed at.  Yet the notion that Israel belongs to all Jews is widely accepted among Jewish people around the world.  In fact, I'll be very surprised if some people reading this don't write back to me and tell me that I'm crazy or insult me in some other way.  The fact of the matter is that Israel does not belong to all Jewish people, anymore than the U.K. belongs to all people of British descent, France to all people of French descent, Ireland to all people of Irish descent and so forth.  I do understand that most people whose backgrounds come from places where they are not currently living have some sort of connection to the "old country" in terms of the their culture, beliefs or some other characteristics, but that doesn't mean that they consider whatever their "old country" is to belong to them, unless of course they were born in that country or are citizens of that country living abroad.

I also do not dispute the inherent right of all Jews to live in Israel.  Contrary to what some of Israel's critics want you to believe, it is common practice among many countries, not just Israel, to have some kind of law of return that allows a person whose origins lie in the country in question to come and live in that country.  Yes, all Jews have the right to live in Israel.  However, until Jews from the diaspora become Israeli citizens, they have no reasonable grounds to say that Israel belongs to them.       

  

Other Arabs Condemn Terrorism Against Israel, But Palestinians Continue to Support It

After four Israeli civilians were shot and killed by Palestinian terrorists this past week, leading Arab citizens in Israel quickly condemned the attack and called for peace (see: Israeli Arabs: Attackers 'don't deserve air to breathe').  Another call of condemnation came from a very unlikely source: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  In the minds of many, including myself, Saudi Arabia is the main breeding ground and primary source of Islamic fundamentalist-inspired terrorism in the world.  Yet, the Saudi media was actually talking about the attack in Tel Aviv as an act of terrorism.  WOW!  And the Saudis weren't alone.  A noted Egyptian journalist and former candidate for her country's presidency also decried the attack (see: Egyptian journalist condemns Tel Aviv Terror: 'What's heroic about shooting people?').  Maybe the folks in the Arab world are starting to wise up, eh?  Well, let's not get carried away with hope just yet.

The handful of people in the Arab world who condemned the terrorist attack in Tel Aviv were still drowned out by the masses who took to social media to praise and celebrate the attacks.  There was also no condemnation of the attacks on the Palestinian street.  Instead, the Palestinians reacted the same way they always have - by singing songs of praise for the terrorists and passing out candies to celebrate the murder of Israeli civilians (see: Palestinians celebrate terror attack in Tel Aviv, Saudis strongly condemn).  Yes, the Palestinians still don't get it and I don't understand why, because decades of terrorism have still not yielded the Palestinians the freedom they seek; it's just made their lives harder and more miserable.  Now, for instance, more than eighty thousand Palestinians have had their entry permits to Israel revoked in response to the attack in Tel Aviv.  That's more than eighty thousand Palestinians who won't be able to visit their families during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.  So can someone please tell me how terrorism makes things better for the Palestinians? Other Arabs are slowly starting to discover that terrorism against Israel doesn't pay.  It's a pity that the Palestinians can't do the same.