Oooh... ok... I'll try to not be too long-winded on this.
The original seperation vote attempt: I was very upset that anyone could view Canada as something they wanted to leave. Every reigon in Canada has its issues with the Federal model of Canada, but regardless of those, we are stronger as a whole than as seperate units. There was a very strong current of anger through western canada against Quebec at this point over the feeling that ran along the lines of "what the hell are they complaining about? Ottawa bends over backwards to accomodate them, while ignoring us... and how do they think that they're going to survive on their own? Are they expecting us to accept their demands for priority trade, etc., while we don't get the benefit of having them part of the country?" I got the distinct impression that one of two things was happening... either a)this was a political bargaining ploy to strengthen their position with the rest of Canada - in which case it had a very distinct possibility of backfiring - or b)that it was led by a bunch of raving lunatics who had less understanding of political realities than my 6-year old brother and who were appealing directly to the sense of Quebecoise disaffectation, leading people to react solely with their emotions without thinking about the logisitics of it.
About the attempts to reanimate the Seperatist Cause after the No vote: Anger. Lots of anger towards the leaders of the Bloc for continuing to try and tear the country apart and thus adversely affecting all of Canada, including themselves.
About this current debacle about our possibly-soon-to-be-Governor-General: Sadness at the fact that how she voted is an issue... sadness if she DID vote for seperation... but also the feeling that it matters not at all at this point. People's ideas and understandings change over time, and if she is commited to Canada as a country, whole and undivided, - which I would like to assume she is, given that she accepted the appointment - then her Yes/No vote is irrelevant. Is there ANY choice out there that we can't find issue with? No. A lot of people were ticked with Adrienne Clarkson as a choice, some of them because they disliked her partner. If the choice today had been a different person, would we still be seeing something like this? Most likely. Let's focus on what she brings to the job, for crying out loud.
As for the citizenship thing... *rolls eyes*... I have dual citizenship Canadian/British, and I consider myself incredibly patriotic towards Canada, while also being proud of my roots. I personally feel that that is a defining factor for many Canadians... this isn't the American Melting Pot (a term becoming less and less relevant as time goes on and minorities are gaining greater representation and power and therefore fighting to keep their other culture and a pride in it), it's the Canadian Multicultural Mosaic.
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Date: 2005-08-13 03:29 pm (UTC)The original seperation vote attempt: I was very upset that anyone could view Canada as something they wanted to leave. Every reigon in Canada has its issues with the Federal model of Canada, but regardless of those, we are stronger as a whole than as seperate units. There was a very strong current of anger through western canada against Quebec at this point over the feeling that ran along the lines of "what the hell are they complaining about? Ottawa bends over backwards to accomodate them, while ignoring us... and how do they think that they're going to survive on their own? Are they expecting us to accept their demands for priority trade, etc., while we don't get the benefit of having them part of the country?" I got the distinct impression that one of two things was happening... either a)this was a political bargaining ploy to strengthen their position with the rest of Canada - in which case it had a very distinct possibility of backfiring - or b)that it was led by a bunch of raving lunatics who had less understanding of political realities than my 6-year old brother and who were appealing directly to the sense of Quebecoise disaffectation, leading people to react solely with their emotions without thinking about the logisitics of it.
About the attempts to reanimate the Seperatist Cause after the No vote: Anger. Lots of anger towards the leaders of the Bloc for continuing to try and tear the country apart and thus adversely affecting all of Canada, including themselves.
About this current debacle about our possibly-soon-to-be-Governor-General: Sadness at the fact that how she voted is an issue... sadness if she DID vote for seperation... but also the feeling that it matters not at all at this point. People's ideas and understandings change over time, and if she is commited to Canada as a country, whole and undivided, - which I would like to assume she is, given that she accepted the appointment - then her Yes/No vote is irrelevant. Is there ANY choice out there that we can't find issue with? No. A lot of people were ticked with Adrienne Clarkson as a choice, some of them because they disliked her partner. If the choice today had been a different person, would we still be seeing something like this? Most likely. Let's focus on what she brings to the job, for crying out loud.
As for the citizenship thing... *rolls eyes*... I have dual citizenship Canadian/British, and I consider myself incredibly patriotic towards Canada, while also being proud of my roots. I personally feel that that is a defining factor for many Canadians... this isn't the American Melting Pot (a term becoming less and less relevant as time goes on and minorities are gaining greater representation and power and therefore fighting to keep their other culture and a pride in it), it's the Canadian Multicultural Mosaic.
*pant pant pant* /rant