posting
09-10-2006, 03:02 PM
Canada, it's time to grow up
Christopher Humes Toronto Star September 7, 2006.
Coming back to Canada after a couple of weeks in Sweden is like returning to the dark ages.
This country, this province, this city have fallen so far behind the civilized world that it's no longer simply embarrassing, it's alarming.
>From waste disposal to public transit, foreign aid to municipal governance, Canada has been left behind.
Those among us who still believe in the image of the Great White North as the world's peacemaker and last outpost of civility should wake up and smell the emissions. Perhaps they've had their heads stuck in the tar sands for too long; we have become a nation of bumpkins, our survival dependent on our role as America's handmaiden.
In Swedish civic circles, Toronto is known as the city that still burns coal and exports its garbage to Michigan. The Swedes are a polite people, but the expression on their faces says everything; what happened to Canada, when did it become, in Homer Simpson's words, America Junior?
It's tempting to blame Prime Minister Stephen Harper, another national embarrassment, but as egregious as he may be, the problems go beyond one politician.
Yes, he reneged on the country's commitment to Kyoto, but it was already clear Canadians had no intention of living up to their legal obligations under the international agreement.
That's hardly surprising; we have carefully crafted a system of governance that empowers politicians who follow, not those who would lead. Even the well-intentioned - Toronto Mayor David Miller and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty among them - have little or nothing to show for their efforts.
We continue to fall farther and farther behind.
Like many European countries, Sweden started to get serious about its oil dependency around the time of the oil crisis of 1973. That was forgotten as quickly as possible in North America, which instead has become the worst polluter on the planet.
It's not that the Swedes are more virtuous than Canadians, but they are more mature; they deal with the issues and get on with it. They're just as concerned about standard of living and quality of life; but they understand that these are directly related to air quality, global warming and a healthy environment.
We prefer to remain a nation of children who threaten a temper tantrum when someone says no. Our environmental regulations are antiquated, our schools underfunded at every level, our daycare and pension systems inadequate and health care in decline, but Canadian politicians are fixated on tax cuts. Last year, the designated buffoon of Canadian politics, Alberta Premier Ralph Klein, like former Ontario Premier Mike Harris before him, attempted to bribe voters by handing out tax rebates.
True, the Swedes pay much more tax than we do; but they get much more in return, namely a society that deserves to be called civilized.
Among the first thing to strike a Canadian visitor wandering the streets of Stockholm, Malmo and Gothenburg, is the absence of beggars and vagrants.
In Toronto, and other Canadian urban centres, they have become omnipresent. When they started to appear on our streets, there was consternation; 10, 15, 20 years later they have become part of the landscape, like smog days in February, summer heat waves, SUVs and endless traffic jams.
None of this is necessary. Indeed, most can be avoided. But we have grown lazy and complacent and, besides, what else is new?
Maybe it's time to get real about what kind of a country and city we really are, not what we think we are. We need to start from scratch, and reinvent ourselves from top to bottom. As it currently exists, Canada - let alone Toronto - isn't sustainable. No amount of prevarication from the Stephen Harpers of this country can change that.
We have squandered time as well as resources. Canada has been known as a country without a past, now it's a country without a future.
Christopher Humes Toronto Star September 7, 2006.
Coming back to Canada after a couple of weeks in Sweden is like returning to the dark ages.
This country, this province, this city have fallen so far behind the civilized world that it's no longer simply embarrassing, it's alarming.
>From waste disposal to public transit, foreign aid to municipal governance, Canada has been left behind.
Those among us who still believe in the image of the Great White North as the world's peacemaker and last outpost of civility should wake up and smell the emissions. Perhaps they've had their heads stuck in the tar sands for too long; we have become a nation of bumpkins, our survival dependent on our role as America's handmaiden.
In Swedish civic circles, Toronto is known as the city that still burns coal and exports its garbage to Michigan. The Swedes are a polite people, but the expression on their faces says everything; what happened to Canada, when did it become, in Homer Simpson's words, America Junior?
It's tempting to blame Prime Minister Stephen Harper, another national embarrassment, but as egregious as he may be, the problems go beyond one politician.
Yes, he reneged on the country's commitment to Kyoto, but it was already clear Canadians had no intention of living up to their legal obligations under the international agreement.
That's hardly surprising; we have carefully crafted a system of governance that empowers politicians who follow, not those who would lead. Even the well-intentioned - Toronto Mayor David Miller and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty among them - have little or nothing to show for their efforts.
We continue to fall farther and farther behind.
Like many European countries, Sweden started to get serious about its oil dependency around the time of the oil crisis of 1973. That was forgotten as quickly as possible in North America, which instead has become the worst polluter on the planet.
It's not that the Swedes are more virtuous than Canadians, but they are more mature; they deal with the issues and get on with it. They're just as concerned about standard of living and quality of life; but they understand that these are directly related to air quality, global warming and a healthy environment.
We prefer to remain a nation of children who threaten a temper tantrum when someone says no. Our environmental regulations are antiquated, our schools underfunded at every level, our daycare and pension systems inadequate and health care in decline, but Canadian politicians are fixated on tax cuts. Last year, the designated buffoon of Canadian politics, Alberta Premier Ralph Klein, like former Ontario Premier Mike Harris before him, attempted to bribe voters by handing out tax rebates.
True, the Swedes pay much more tax than we do; but they get much more in return, namely a society that deserves to be called civilized.
Among the first thing to strike a Canadian visitor wandering the streets of Stockholm, Malmo and Gothenburg, is the absence of beggars and vagrants.
In Toronto, and other Canadian urban centres, they have become omnipresent. When they started to appear on our streets, there was consternation; 10, 15, 20 years later they have become part of the landscape, like smog days in February, summer heat waves, SUVs and endless traffic jams.
None of this is necessary. Indeed, most can be avoided. But we have grown lazy and complacent and, besides, what else is new?
Maybe it's time to get real about what kind of a country and city we really are, not what we think we are. We need to start from scratch, and reinvent ourselves from top to bottom. As it currently exists, Canada - let alone Toronto - isn't sustainable. No amount of prevarication from the Stephen Harpers of this country can change that.
We have squandered time as well as resources. Canada has been known as a country without a past, now it's a country without a future.