Monday digest II
- Michael Chong has resigned from Cabinet because he says can't reconcile the Prime Minister's nod to Quebec's ethnic nationalism with his position as a Cabinet Minister. I watched his news conference and his position was well explained: he's 100% against any notion of hyphenated Canadianism and instead, said that he sees Canada as more than just an arrangement of convenience for those individuals who happen to live here. (I'm paraphrasing.)
I can understand his point of view and I would endorse it but for the sad fact that preachiness about the superiority of the Canadian mosaic over the American melting pot is well into its second generation, buttressed by massive bureaucracies from Ottawa on down to the public school level where taxpayers' dollars are used to reinforce the virtue of putting the true north strong and free a distant second behind whatever far-off land your parents, grandparents or other ancestors came from, whether that be France, Lebanon, Jamaica or somewhere else.
Chong's point of view is made even more poignant by the fact that he's not of British or French background, but like the great John Diefenbaker, doesn't identify with either of the "two founding nations" and advocates a policy of "one Canada" instead, but to try and deny the power of years and years of Liberal indoctrination is an intellectual exercise at best.
What about those of us who don't belong to any kind of sub-nation? Who are we in this great mosaic called Canada? Where's our place? And politically, where does Chong's stance leave the rank-and-file from Western Canada on the Conservative backbench?
I still haven't come to a firm conclusion on this, but it's becoming increasingly clear that perhaps Stephen Harper should have considered saying "no" to the Bloc motion which claimed that the Quebecois are a nation, and just voted it down unamended.
- Have you ever wondered why a bitter, acerbic, unfunny creature like Ann Coulter has been able to gain such a foothold in Western political discourse? Look up.
- My boy Kid Rock has been dumped by Pam Anderson.
Again.
Fellas, let this be a lesson to all of you: if she breaks up with you once, don't ever, EVER take her back, because it's guaranteed to happen again.
posted by Road Hammer @ 7:18 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
I agree with Chong, but share your trouble with his “mosaic” pride. Has the mosaic not simply the created a collection of ethnic groups with a halfhearted connection to a single Canadian culture? And, if so, is the "Quebec nation" motion not consistent with this hyphenated approach to a national identity?
The advantage of a melting pot is that people identify singly with the nation rather than a notion of ethnicity. The mosaic’s danger is that citizens are torn between their ethnicity and the nation and, all too often, the ethnicity wins out. The result is a quest for secession by francophone Quebeckers and self-segregation by virtually every ethnic group in Canada’s cities. I’m constantly perplexed by my Italian-Canadian friends who proudly claim that they are Italian and that I am “Canadian”. Of course I am. Why aren’t you?
I guess us non-ethnics can consider ourselves to be the glue that holds the mosaic together.
We perform our function unnoticed and we won't catch your eye, but without us, the whole damn thing would have fallen apart long ago.
After watching Mike Chong's interview on tonight's The National, I don't think he really believes in a mosaic. He articulates the position of melting pot advocates.
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Yeah, I was a little confused by the first sentence in your post. It's not Chong's pride in the "mosaic" but that of high-and-mighty Canadian nationalists who use it as another stick by which to bash the US, and in so doing, foster an unhealthy mentality of group identification over the dignity of the individual.
I certainly agree with you re the mosiac. I have never understood the pride Liberals take in supporting a half-hearted Canadianism when they are the first to go to the barracades against American influence.
I can echo David's comments. My Italian friends also refer to me as a "Canadian" and themselves as Italians, even though they have never been to Italy or speak the language.
Re: Pam Anderson. I would let Pam Anderson break up with me, then get back together, as many times as she wants.
Word is that Kid called her a ho for her role in Borat and that was the last straw.
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