Oh Canada

 

In two days we celebrate our nation's birthday. Woo-hoo, Canada, good on ya. We have every reason to celebrate it, and every reason to keep on celebrating it. I don't have a specific gift for you, but I did pay my taxes on time, continued to stay out of jail, and voted every time I possibly could.

I even cheered for the Montreal Canadiens, the last-remaining Canadian team in the recent NHL finals.

My one-year teaching stint in El Salvador thirty-one years ago cured me of any whining or whimpering about this great country. And teaching Canadian history here and there over the years has likewise given me a great appreciation of how we have come together – revisionist history, notwithstanding.

And as a commoner out here in the West - a schmuck in the prairie trenches, if you will - I have a couple of suggestions to help this country journey on.

As I write this, I find it terribly ironic that there's crowd gathering in Los Angeles and another one in Toronto. The connection? you ask. The former speaks of what's right about this country: young guys from every town and hamlet across this country realizing their lifelong dream, namely, being chosen to play professional hockey, Canada's national winter sport. The latter is a good example of some leftist notion called "freedom of expression." (And let me quickly add that it is a small band of anarchists within the legitimate thousands who are creating the damage.)

The Los Angeles scene has brought together those with big bucks and big budgets that provide incomes for thousands of people. And the Toronto scene, well, it's doing the same, just in a different way. The difference is that the loud, raucous noise at the Staples Centre is, for the most part, peaceful, positive, and supportive; whereas the streets of Toronto are filled with vandals who are hell-bent on the destruction of property owned by the multinationals. And they don't even have the guts to take off their masks.

Technically, at this point, I would throw in a word that writers and speakers use to show how one event or experience is actually a word picture for another event or experience. The word, of course, is metaphor. So I suggest on that basis that the NHL draft is a metaphor for what is good about Canada and the protest by a cabal of doorknobs in Toronto is also a metaphor for what is bad about Canada.

A good sport Canada means a good Canada. We cheer and we jeer, we announce and we denounce, we have our winners and we have our losers. We do our best, play hard, then let the champions take home the hardware. There is hope for the player, spoils for the victor. This is what Canada is all about.

But a selfish Canada means a bad Canada. This version of Canada – or as in the case of the G20 anarchists, professional vandals from around the world – disallows true freedom of speech (unless it involves broken windows and burned police cars); this version of Canada takes some of the facts, sees only the small picture – then reacts in the most immature, harmful way possible.

It is unfortunate that honest protests can be marred by such behaviour.

Ironically, this column is a prime example of true freedom of speech: I express my opinion or conviction each Tuesday, and on occasion, people who also have the right to freedom of speech to disagree write a letter to the editor. No smashed windows, no damaged property, and no burned buildings.

So, listen up Canada, whoever and wherever you are – here's a birthday gift to you: Let the kids play hockey all across this country. The joy (for being selected) and honour (to their parents) that I have heard over the past twenty-four gives me much hope for our nation's future, at least in a little way. And if those imported morons have an urge to protest the millions of dollars that the billionaire corporations are pouring into this sports industry, I have a further suggestion:

Give them a penalty, befitting the game. Let's try an instigator penalty, or delay of game. But instead of two minutes in the penalty box, let's try two years in North Korea or Somalia. That would cure them of their lawlessness. It might even save a few windows on Bay Street.