This year I feel differently about Canada. I feel embarrassed to be from a country that would sell out in the name of money and growth. I thought that was reserved for greedy corporations. I feel embarrassed to be from a country that cares more about foreign interests than its very own taxpaying populace. I feel embarrassed and enraged to be from a country that takes my tax dollars and gives them to bloated industry that rapes our environment. I feel embarrased that my tax dollars are being used to take down the very environmental law that made Canada a leader in conservation. I feel embarrassed to be from a country that destroys the homeland of native people in 3rd world countries, in order to extract their minerals, not for good, but for greed.
What does the future hold for Canada? Only time will tell. I know Canada Day doesn’t have the same significance it used to have for me. Canada Day reminds me we have much to hang our heads in shame over. Canada reminds me of how much we’ve lost and continue to lose.
It is nearly impossible to find goods made in Canada any longer. It is nearly impossible to fight for the environment in Canada. Huge environmental groups that used to signify what Canada was about are now vilified by our own government (again, foreign interests are way more important than what Canadians really want). Oil spills in Alberta are nearly a weekly occurrence, so frequent we don’t even hear about them in the media any longer. In fact, the media is monitored and controlled by our government, much like it would be in a communist country. The national broadcaster is under attack and slowly being shut down. Canadian’s voices have been shut down.
Good jobs, that’s what it’s all about. People think we need these ‘good jobs’ and have been sold this fabricated tale through glossy adverts and government propaganda. To me a good job is one that enables you to provide for your family, without doing harm to anyone or anything. You can’t call a job good if we’re creating a toxic environment that could take literally hundreds of years to recover from. You can’t call a job good if it’s contributing to our very demise. You can’t call this good when there are proven alternatives (albeit not as lucrative) that could meet our energy needs perfectly well.
But still, it’s Canada Day today, and across the country people will celebrate what they think we have here. My only hope is that one day, more than a few of us will wake up before it’s too late, before we’ve lost everything that made this country great.
Having a good lot of coin in your back pocket will only serve you well if you can breathe deep and know inside your heart you’ve left more here on earth than you took away. Canada can no longer say it’s contributing to anything other than the problems this world faces. Canada is a big part of the problem and driving fast away from anything that appears remotely like a solution.
Canada is not something I feel like celebrating today, but it is still worth fighting for. The problem is, it’s team environment against team greed, and in the history of the world, greed generally wins.