So I'm pissed off. I'll admit it.
But, curiously, my anger has been focused thanks to a post yesterday from Marissa (who happens to be from Toronto).
In response to my suggestion that our current Liberal/NDP coalition running this country is really doing the bidding of the so-called "Greater" Toronto Area, there was a post from Marissa which crystallized EXACTLY why this Country is a mess that I for one no longer wish to be a part of.
In her haste to attack my own disappointment with the defeat of the bill seeking to scrap the gun registry, Marissa articulated a point which I think every citizen outside of Ontario and Quebec need to take to heart:
"There are more people in the GTA than in your entire province. Add the population of Montreal, and you've got almost a third of the country.Well.
You know the way this country works? It's called "representative democracy". That means that you do not get to dismiss the concerns of a fifth of the country because you're jealous because they're more important than the little hamlet that you hail from."
She put me in my place.
Silly me - they are clearly "more important". People in my "little hamlet" don't matter. And I guess the same holds true for little hamlets all over the rest of this faux-confederation, places like Prince George, Kamloops, Red Deer, Medicine Hat, Swift Current, Saskatoon, Brandon, Flin Flon.
We don't matter. Just ignorant little hamlets who don't measure up to the big boys in Montreal and Toronto.
And, sadly, she's exactly right.
And as much as the rest of us hate to admit it, this is exactly how this so-called "Confederation" works.
The resources of the rest of the country, whether it's oil from Alberta, hydro from Newfoundland, Coal from British Columbia - those resources really belong to Montreal and Toronto. We've been sending money east since I was born, and we've been getting effectively NOTHING in return.
And now we get to not only send our resource revenue to the bottomless sink-hole of tax dollars called Quebec, but we get to pay more tax because of a pointless gun registry that makes urban Canada (see Montreal and Toronto) sleep better.
Nice.
And get ready to pay yet more taxes as the new coalition pushes their agenda of having the government look after the children of all of the parents in Montreal and Toronto under the Liberal "Universal Daycare" program.
What are you going to do, citizens of Kelowna? Cry?
What are YOU doing to do, Regina? Complain to your MP?
The last time a group realized that they were getting unfairly taxed, without representation, I think they had a little get together they called a "Tea Party".
Anyone west of Kenora up for a spot of tea?
13 comments:
I think that comment should be spread far and wide!
Chief Blair 's manipulation of the truth sends the same message.
I could go on but what else is Marissa to think? She is a product of the nanny state. Many more to follow in her footsteps from Toronto.
I agree Fay.
I've posted the comment to many of the blogs I follow.. this is just so typical - though not often articulated as honestly - of the attitude in the "centre of the universe".
CBC put a map of the LGR vote and it demonstrates how the coalition does a number on our democracy.
Clearly the media concentration and bias is a problem. We need more media without the group think bias from Ottawa-Toronto-Montreal.
Voters need to take back Canada from the statists in Ottawa. Parliament works on behalf of Canadians and not over us. The coalition forces needs a reminder.
My husband and I are searching for a Tea Party movement in Canada - if anyone knows of one, please post it.
Marissa may be right, but it doesn't mean that we have to support them.
AG..
Great minds.
I just joined the Canadian Tea Party group on Facebook.
This is the problem with the fable of democracy, Might makes right it is nothing more then a system of thievery where 40% of the population can take away the rights, property and money of the other 60% of the population.
What makes it worse is that the 40% see it as their right, they won, you lose and screw everybody that doesn't agree with them. Gotta Love the nanana bobo attitude of that charmingly smug obviously empathetic toddler you quoted.
I agree, but the border can be much further east of Kenora. Look at a map of Ont. and notice a sea of blue west of Toronto. Only 3 ridings Guelph, London and Tamiskaming are held by Liberals, that means 1 rural riding left. True, N Ont. and some urban seats are NDP, but the Liberals have lost all resonance with rural Ont.
The map gives a distorted view because it is based on area, rather than population, but it is dramatic how Toronto dominates the province. For many rural Ontarians Toronto is another country.
Of course she is right. Two wolves and a sheep deciding about dinner IS democracy.
Its a strange thing. While we here in Next Year Country champion the ideals of democracy most, we also tend to have the lowest expectations of government.
It's a prairie thing.
A good year is one where the elephant forgets you are there and leaves you be and one good year in three is enough to rise again in the Spring.
Next year will be better...
She suffers from the entitlement disease.
Does Toronto-Montreal reflect Canada?
Toronto and Quebec are basket cases supported by taxpayers?
In 2014 a re-balancing of Parliament will take place.
The coalition is blocking the democratic reform to add seats outside the reach of the Liberal-Separatists.
While Marissa has opened the eyes of many with her comment, she must surely also think about 'Taxation Without Representation'. If any, even one, Lib or NDP MP went against the majority of their constiuents by voting against scrapping the long gun registry, they are causing 'taxation without representation' to occur. It doesn't matter if the majority of people in the GTA, Montreal, etc want to continue the registry and their MPs vote according. What DOES matter is if MPs from other regions find that their constituents do NOT want the gun registry, but vote for it instead. THAT is not representative govt, and does nothing to contribute to this so-called 'democracy'. They were not doing their jobs by going against their own constituents - how democratic is that? This was not a referendum, the MPs should go with their local voters' wishes, should they not?
The important people from Toronto can think whatever they like. They can pass whatever rules they like. As a human being with a mind of my own, I make my own choices to either follow or not follow those rules. Personally, I don't really care what they do, because I will do my own thing regardless.
In the case of the gun registry, I have simply chosen not to register any of my firearms. I've never registered them, and I don't intend to. Ever. And I even live in the GTA (though not actually in Toronto, thank God).
It's the same thing with McGuinty's pesticide ban. I have a stash of lawn chemicals that I soak my property with that will keep me weed free for decades. My neighbours and I have a system where we tell each other when we're going out of province so we can stock up on supplies.
We all choose the rules we wish to follow. If other's don't like it, that's too bad. There's really nothing they can do about it.
Even those important Toronto people ignore their own rules. They're the ones who imposed the cellphone ban in cars. I'm not sure anybody around the GTA follows that one!
Let the Toronto people think they have control. The sad reality for them is they can never have control, whether they realize it or not.
Dave.. I feel for you.
At least here in Alberta, we live in the midst of what is, for the most part, a conservative mindset.. where not every stupid new idea is jumped on to with the whimsy of the Dalton McGuinty's of this world.
If I had the misfortune to live in a see of mindless liberalism like the GTA, I think I would truly lose my mind.. though I suspect, that over time, the McGuinty's of this world will fail, just as Castro failed - to bring their version of Utopia to the masses..
Meanwhile, however, it strikes met that Western Canada is best left to consider other alternatives to belonging to a confederation where their own ideals are irrelevant.
At least the GTA is not all mindless Liberalism. I happen to live in one of the few islands of sanity surrounded by a sea of red. My riding of Newmarket-Aurora happens to have a Conservative MP and an MPP who is PC. Admittedly, the races here were closer than the election results in your part of the country, but the smart ones nevertheless prevailed.
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