The Vanishing Country

This is not meant to be insulting, but I always give a little giggle, when someone else becomes informed. It isn\'t really funny it\'s just that the reaction is so predictable, I was exactly the same way after reading Mel\'s book, felt the same when I read the Betrayal of Canada, another of Mel Hurtig\'s books, but the sad part is after you get over the initial shock, you really don\'t know who to yell at first and then ....what can I do keeps going over and over in your head. It is amazing and sad. Who can we discuss it with, thank goodness for this forum, as most of the people you meet on the street or at work or even in our families, don\'t want to know, won\'t believe and won\'t even consider the info. This makes it very difficult, especially when you start to really uncover the depth of deciet and corruption, it\'s everywhere! So although I remain optimistic, I am less invigorated than I was, I write letters constantly, get very few responses, I continue to discuss whenever possible what is happening to this country. But until the masses become aware, until we can really get people thinking and hopefully before the next election, we are going to be finished. I don\'t like to think that, I really believe we could fix the situation, but I can\'t see enough Canadians standing up, speaking out and risking critisism to do it. It is hard to go against the norm, I think it\'s worth it but sheeet it is difficult! So welcome to the other side,it ain\'t pretty but it\'s true.

Ordinary Mom: I\'m just an ordinary mom who just thinks in terms of, I don\'t want to someday be holding my grandchildren and watching something horrible happen & feel like I didn\'t do anything. I mean, it\'s obvious what you\'re doing & my question is, on a practical level where do you see the most practical place to put your energy? I mean, tonight I feel in overwhelm, like it\'s too big, it\'s too much to even make a dent in.

Chomsky: The way things change is because lots of people are working all the time. They\'re working in their communities & their workplace & wherever they happen to be & they\'re building up the basis of popular movements which are going to make changes. That\'s the way everything has ever happened in history, whether it was the end of slavery, whether it was the democratic revolutions, anything you want, you name it; that\'s the way it worked. You get a very false picture of this from the history books. In the history books there are a couple of leaders, George Washington, Martin Luther King, whatever. I don\'t want to say that those people are unimportant, Martin Luther King was certainly important, but he was not the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King can appear in the history books because lots of people whose names you will never know & whose name are all forgotten & who may have been killed & so on were working down in the south.

[comment: & isn\'t it good to know that that there are other out there who think the same things you do? PetroCanada was created by the exact process that Chomsky mentioned. People wanted a Canadian oil company to get in on the Canadian oil business so they eventually got it. Same with women getting the right to vote, the environmental movement, etc.]


---
"So many right-wing Christians, so few lions." - t-shirt I saw @ school

<p>I hear you, and I share your feelings of frustration. I'm currently exploring the possibility of making a documentary that will cover key points mentioned in "The Vanishing Country". My obstacles are experience, funding and equipment. With these obstacles I'm not going to give up. I will continue to explore this, and hopefully the resources will come up.</p> <p>I've also thought of doing the documentary regarding "Child Poverty in Canada". This again I'm faced with obstacles.</p> Take Care,<br><br> Kevin Gagnon<br> <a href="http://www.kevingagnon.ca">My Home Page</a>

I think of it kind of like the Canadian Matrix--when we find out who actually controls everything--American elites with the full cooperation of Canadian elites in business and government.

It drove me nuts when I started cluing in too and that\'s why I had to start this site.

- Susan

There\'s probably 10 to 50 people that own Everything if the truth were known.

How can you sleep at night ?

Since I started reading Paul Hellyer\'s and Mel Hurtig\'s books, I am just flaming Angry, but everyone in my orbit couldn\'t care less.

As Paul Hellyer put it, once you start talking money or politics, their eyes just glaze over.

Are we all in this forum, over-reacting ? I don\'t think so, but it\'s driving me nuts.

The media is out to lunch, and I have sent more emails to the MP\'s and the Ontario MPP\'s they will soon just stop reading them.

We Need A Voice.

Who could that be ??



---
"Arrogance in Politics is unacceptable"
Jim Callaghan
Minden, Ontario
705-286-1860
www.misterc.ca

good analogy.

I agree with the above, notice though the madder we get the less of an audience we have; people think you are the nutcase, whenever you start quoting facts instead of fiction, it\'s that \'please don\'t talk politics\'look or, I don\'t understand it so go away! Politics was always considered a dirty word when I was growing up, nobody was allowed to talk politics or religion in \'polite\' society. So where were you suppose to get the info? There must have been some dirty little dives that people who were in the know, went to discuss the state of affairs in the country, but the majority weren\'t invited. So now it\'s hard to find people who will even listen or dare to venture their own opinion. Heck if you even mention that Superman isn\'t American but actually created in Canada by a Canadian, you are totally off the wall; and that is a fictional character, so what to do with truth? We aren\'t just talking politics, we are talking about the future of our country but for so many- it\'s going to be taken care of by someone else, so why worry? Yes indeed this is the most frustrating period of my life, I thought raising teenagers was suppose to be difficult, I consider that a breeze compared to life in 2004!

I think that the comment about Tim Horton's would be a grand place to start. For years "Timmy's" has been trying to sell the "Canadian identity" to us (along with cup after cup of super-caffeinated coffee), so doesn't it seem fitting that American interests should want to control it? How about Molson? It comes down to the seeming fact that as Canadians we are apparently much more comfortable being told who we are by corporations rather than figuring out just what it means to be Canadian for ourselves. I once read in McLean's that, "Canadians aren't sure of what we are, but we are sure of what we're not: We're not Americans." Well, if that's the case, then why are so we content to let Americans tell us how to be patriotic Canadians? Going back to the Tim Horton's thing, I can give you an example: When I was living just south of Wetaskiwin, AB, I noticed a billboard that had been constructed along highway 2A. In the centre of the giant ad was a picture of a huge, steamin' cup o' Timmy's joe. The caption read, "True, Patriot Love." Now, all arguments about using the Canadian national anthem's lyrics to sell coffee aside, does it piss anyone off that this is corporate America feeding off the very Canadian identity its rapidly destroying? It sure as hell pissed me off, but only because I knew that Tim Horton's--that all-too Canadian institution--was really Canadian no more. Few people know that, few people will know that. I'll tell you, it really has taken all of my willpower not to travel the countryside scouring for "True, Patriot Love" billboards to burn. Peace.

---
"There is no substitute for militant freedom." --US President Calvin Coolidge

I noticed that too & I was pissed off that ANYONE would want to cash in on Canadian patriotism.

---
"So many right-wing Christians, so few lions." - t-shirt I saw @ school