WhatFinger


Canada is a true super power

Super Canada Day



As we enjoy Canada Day at cottages, beaches, backyard barbecues and in various other activities, we could do worse than reflect for a minute or two the great country we are celebrating. In fact there are so many complaints about just about everything these days that we are apt to forget how well-fed, well-shod and well-housed we are compared to most of humanity.

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According to the doomsayers, we are being taxed to death in order to pamper the lazy louts who prefer to live on welfare, or even on the streets, to doing an honest day’s work. Certain politicians don’t make things any better with their constant bleating about how everything from our health-care system to national unity is teetering on the brink of chaos. In spite of the fact that the U.N. considers Canada the best country in the world, and that the lines of foreigners yearning to come here grow ever longer, too many of us still feel that things are bad and getting worse all the time. There are those who find it upsetting that Canada is usually ignored on the international scene. Well, here’s a flash, so are Australia, Switzerland, Norway and a few other lucky places where awful things aren’t happening every day. Considering that so many tribes in distant places have been slaughtering each other for years over slivers of land that you could lose in most Canadian provinces, that the Shiite and Sunni Muslims are warring over which side God is on, and that even economic giants like Germany and Japan have nowhere near the space and natural resources that we do, foreigners must find it incomprehensible that we keep on agonizing over the state of the nation. Admittedly, Canada’s Military has been neglected these many years, but now that it’s on combat service in Afghanistan as well as doing its usual great peacekeeping duties, the public is beginning to appreciate our military, which may be small compared to that of our allies, but in every other respect Canada is a true super power. Let’s take a serious look at the nation we keep complaining about. Canada, stretching 5,514 km from east to west. 4,634km from north to south and covering a mesmerizing 9,970,610 sq km, is the second largest country in the world after Russia. Compared to Russia, though, Canada’s economic and social problems hardly register on the misery chart. Canada is blessed with natural resources that most countries can only dream of: Fresh water, oil, gas, nickel, potash, gold and grain and livestock lands that are bigger than many countries. As for trade, even the mighty U.S. posts a massive deficit every year, while Canada has an annual surplus. With just over 32 million people, a 95% literacy rate, a life expectancy of 83.3 for females and 76.16 for males, and with a GNP exceeding a $trillion, it’s easy to see why we are one of the most envied countries in the world, and hard to see why we are so gloomy about national unity. And now that oil is becoming the number one commodity for the world’s economic well being, Canada, sitting on the world’s biggest oil reserves, is destined to move from last to first in the G8 club of the world’s richest nations. Canada is not perfect, by any means, and just because most of us are well fed is no reason to ignore those who are not. Depending on the kindness of strangers may have worked for Blanche Dubois, but food-banks are a shameful way for Canada to feed its poor. However, unless our pampered majority quits its eternal bitching about how hard-done-by they think they are, and realize that in the lottery of life on this planet they have won big time, we will surely fail to keep Canada a beacon of tolerance in a world that’s becoming increasingly polarized between the have-lots and have-nots. Anyway, all things considered, our new, improved military is showing the flag for the most agreeable country in the world. So, here’s a toast to us all on Canada Day. Even to the grouches among us.


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William Bedford -- Bio and Archives

CFP “Poet in Residence” William Bedford was born in Dublin, Ireland, but has lived in Toronto for most of his life.  His poems and articles have been published in many Canadian journals and in some American publications.


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