HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1993-01-27, Page 5International Scene
y Raymond Canon
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1993. PAGE 5.
L
Defining
Canadianism,
an obsessive
pastime
Canada is a private joke shared by all
Canadians, but we don't like other
people getting in on it. Of course it's a
nitwit country, of course there are too
few of us and we're racially prejudiced,
of course we bumble around and we're
always cold and we keep building
enormous monuments to a Canadian
culture that doesn't exist. Of course we
keep electing foolish people who make
us promises we don't believe they'll
deliver. But its our private joke — we'll
laugh at it, but nobody else had better.
— Sean Kelly
Ho hum. Yet another entry in the most
popular timewasting pursuit north of the
49th parallel — the ongoing, never-ending
party quiz game that asks you to answer the
question "What is a Canadian?"
Wake me when it's over. Defining
Canadianism is a pastime that's been
obsessing folks in these parts for years —
ever since that famous boozeup in
Fact from
fiction
You will note that there has not been one
word from me on the whole matter of the
imbroglio in which the British royal family
has found itself and there will not be any
either. I refuse to touch it with the proverbial
barge pole for the simple reason that I do not
think that it has been possible for some time
to separate fact from fiction; there is, in fact,
little but conjecture.
That does, however, serve as a lead-in for
this article in that it is extremely difficult to
analyze what is going on in many parts of
the world for the same reason; there is far
too much conjecture and too little fact.
Trying to get a handle on events in the
former Soviet Union is all but impossible.
The 30-60 second clips to be seen on
television are all but useless in that they tend
to be repetitious. We see someone shouting
at somebody else; Boris Yeltsin is saying
something in Russian which may or may not
be translated or else some little snippit of
Russian life which purports to demonstrate a
much bigger issue.
To help you along a bit, let's start with a
few facts. Russia is trying to introduce a
market economy and establish a democratic
government, both of which are extremely
difficult since nobody has much experience
at either one. To take the government, there
are not really any political parties in our
sense of the world, only a few self-interest
groups which are extremely changeable.
What you see now may be quiet different in
a year or so. It is because of this that Yeltsin
appears to be making progress one day and
taking retrograde steps the next. As for
Gorbachev, the man that most Canadians
associate with the whole transition, he has
all but disappeared.
Because there is no longer a centralized
government, what is happening economi-
cally in one part of the country may be
totally different in another. Privatization has
Charlottetown a century and a quarter ago,
when a gaggle of politicos in stovepipe hats
got together over a couple of cases of
whiskey to thumb tack and scotch tape this
country together. The Fathers of
Confederation did a fair job of cobbling
those early provinces, but they forgot to
whip up a world-class national identity for
us.
In the 125 years since, scholars and
soothsayers, proselytizers and pundits have
all had a go at nailing down exactly what it
is that makes Canadians neither American
nor British nor French. There have been
some dandy definitions, but none of them
are ever quite ... perfect.
The best definition I ever heard came from
Irving Layton. The Montreal poet decreed
that a Canadians is any person who goes
around asking 'What is a Canadian'.
I don't propose to try and answer the
question here today. Life is too short. But I
think it's my public duty to announce that
there's a whole new data base out there for
people who do want to make the attempt.
It's a book by Heather Brazier which I
found in the toe of my Christmas stocking.
It's called Which Do You Prefer: Chunky or
Smooth? The book is 268 pages detailing
progressed by leaps and bounds in one
province; in another it has yet to get off the
ground. Thus, to draw conclusions about the
whole country is a lesson in frustration. We
can only hope the phoenix that rises out of
the ashes of Communism can be something
the Russian people can live with and which
can improve their lot. They deserve it!
If there are confusing signals coming out
of Russia, they are even more confusing
from Yugoslavia. We hear a great deal about
"ethnic cleansing" and there is little doubt
that there are Serbians who are not only in
favour of it but are actively promoting it. Yet
a little noticed report indicated there were
people from all factions who were
considered to be guilty of atrocities and, as I
indicated in an earlier article, the strong likes
and dislikes (hatred might be a better word)
go back for centuries and are not easily
forgotten. Sometimes I think people in that
region make a determined effort not to forget
them. Thus, if there is one constant in the
flood of news coming out of the area, it is
that at any given time, any side is capable of
committing atrocities.
Now that the American election is over
and our friends to the south have a new
president, we can expect that Mr. Clinton
will go through the honeymoon stage. This
means that, regardless of the nature of the
news or the merits of any of his actions, the
press will be overly kind to him. Any
criticismS will tend to be muted and thus we
will not be able to get any real idea of the
pros and cons of his measures. However, at
some stage the honeymoon will be over and
the press will then weigh in with criticism
which make up for the lack of them at an
earlier stage. There will, however, be
exceptions to this two-phased procedure;
Saddam Hussein, for one, will continue to
criticize any American president, past or
present, and objectivity will not be one of his
long suits.
Most international organizations which do
economic forecasts expect economic growth
to be considerably better than that of 1992.
This may well be so but it will be small
consolation to the 1.5 million people out of
what Canadians eat, watch, read, buy and do
... on an average day.
The contents are enlightening — with
occasional excursions into incredible.
Did you know that on an average day
Canadians spend $9,589,041 on lottery
tickets? That 214 of us get divorced? That
223 Canadians give up booze? That 13,699
of us say 'Chuck it' approximately, and take
the day off to go fishing?
On an average day Prime Minister
Mulroney receives 274 letters (It doesn't say
what percentage of them is X-rated); we
drink 55,575,000 cups of coffee and at least
one of us gets caught smoking in the
washroom on a Canadian airplane.
We might be able to identify Canadians by
checking their mouths. There's definitely a
sweet tooth in there. Canadians chomp their
way through 274,888 kilograms of chocolate
daily.
Which may explain why 28,493 of us start
a new diet or weight loss program ... on the
same average day.
As to the question posed by the title: it's
smooth. Canadians prefer smooth to chunky
peanut butter by a three to one margin.
Well, we do have a reputation for being
somewhat bland ... Which Do You Prefer:
Chunky or Smooth? by Heather Brazier,
published by Harper Collins.
work in Canada, not to mention the many
millions in other industrialized countries. As
it stands right now, Canada expects to be in
about the middle of the pack when this year's
figures are added up and we should move up
to third or fourth in 1993 with about double
our increase in output. Japan in spite of its
problems, still ranks first while the Italians
are at the bottom with the Spaniards
replacing them next year in that unenviable
spot. Sometime during 1993 I will probably
write another article telling you that most of
which I outlined above was wrong. There is,
after all, still validity to the old story that
economists spend half of their time telling
you what is going to happen and the other
half of the time explaining why it didn't turn
out as predicted.
Looking back
Continued from page 4
Gay Lea Food Co-operative Limited.
Blyth Universal Broomball team won the
local tournament.
Morris Township began its recycling
program.
12 YEARS AGO
January 28, 1981
John Boneschanker was the new Brussels
Agricultural Society president.
There was discussion about moving the
annual fair to the arena grounds from the fair
grounds.
A letter from an Ottawa resident stated
how pleased and proud he was to see on the
front page of the sport section of The Ottawa
Citizen that Carol Wheeler, a young lady
from his home town of Brussels and and her
skating partner Michael Kashilka, had been
awarded the Silver Medal for Junior Pair at
the Eastern Divisional Championships in
Ottawa.
86 YEARS AGO
January 31, 1907
At S.H. Gidley in Blyth made to order
fancy worsted suits were being sold for $13
to $18. Ready to wear boys' knickers cost 35
to 60 cents.
John T. Currie was elected reeve of East
Wawanosh.
Five Roses flour sold at Blyth Flour Mills
for $2.60 per 98 pound bag.
The
Short
of it
By Bonnie Gropp
Gone too soon
Earlier this week the community once
again lost some of its treasures/. In a brief
wintry moment, the lives of two beautiful
young women were ended, and the carefree
existence of the many others who knew and
loved them has now been tainted forever by
this tragic memory.
Daily, people lose their lives in car
accidents, but when the lives lost are ones so
young, so full of promise this grim aspect of
life tears at the hearts of everyone. Parents,
children and the community are all
aggrieved, yet know they could never share
the pain. They extend what help they can,
knowing that nothing will ever assuage the
grief.
The two girls, who in a single moment
were lost to us all, were girls I had the
pleasure to have known in their all too short
time with us. One of them I was privileged
to have known very well, the other casually.
As a close friend of my daughter's, Stacey
spent a good deal of time at our home and I
know I will miss her ready laugh and zest for
life. I am still trying to absorb that I will no
longer hear her silly stories while she's
sitting in my kitchen, or be able to see her
spirit and enjoy her humour. Like many
others, I feel I too have lost a dear friend.
While I did not know Stephanie quite as
well, I did know her to be a lovely, friendly
young woman, a gifted musician and a
typical teen who went on dates and enjoyed
life. Her beauty and gentleness will too be
missed.
As an adult I am to have developed a
thicker skin; I am supposed to have learned
how to, if not understand these tragedies,
then at least have learned to cope with them.
I guess I should have gained experience.
During my teens too many friends and
acquaintances lost their lives in tragic
accidents. But, yet, I still find it
incomprehensible to reconcile myself to the
loss of vital young people and the emptiness
their loss means.
That they have another purpose is
something that may bring comfort to some
and for them, that helps to make the leaving
easier. But, even so, for the families who
love them and the friends who will forever
miss them, that is often small consolation in
the beginning. Those of us who want to help
can do little but offer what consolation and
support we can.
For this we often feel helpless. We are
afraid of doing too much, yet equally afraid
of doing not enough. We will often become
lost in uncertainty as we try to understand
the injustices of life and death.
As I sat here trying to come to terms on
my own with what has happened, while at
the same time, being thrown into the middle
of it because of my job, I realized that it is
not something I am ever going to
understand, because it is not meant for us to
understand. It is for us to accept, as difficult
as that may be.
Over the course of these trying days, the
bereaved families and friends will find the
hand of kindness extended to them many
times by acquaintances and strangers alike,
because when the loss is of one so precious
as a child the burden of grief is carried by
many.
The hearts and thoughts of many are with
the Hunter and Henry families. There are no
words that can ease the pain, but may there
be strength in knowing that so many others
cared for your girls as well.
That they were gone too soon is true. That
they will be in your hearts forever is a
certainty.
Arthur Black