Opinion

Belgium's Lesson for Canadian Unity

Separatism never dies, and will rear its ugly head.

By Rafe Mair, 5 Nov 2007, TheTyee.ca

Belgium

A flag of warning?

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Who-da-thunk-it? Belgium splitting into two, perhaps three separate countries? Wasn't this the country that proved that people of different cultures could live together in peace and harmony? That's certainly how most people saw it.

There are remarkable similarities between Belgium and Canada. Belgium, like Canada, came together not as a love match but to avoid being something else -- in our case the United States, in their case the Netherlands to the North, France to the South. Belgium and Canada started about the same time -- Canada's union of Upper and Lower Canada coming in 1841, while Belgium united into one country in 1831.

Both countries have two official languages; in Belgium it's French and Dutch with a small group having German as its main language.

The Belgians have done what Brian Mulroney wanted to do in Canada -- build an asymmetrical federation meaning that our federation would no longer be made up of provinces equal before the law but one where one province was special.

Belgium's mosaic of cultures

Belgium's two largest regions are Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north, with 58 per cent of the population, and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia, inhabited by 32 per cent. The Brussels-Capital Region is an officially bilingual enclave with 10 per cent of the population. A small German-speaking community exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political and cultural conflicts are reflected in the political history and a complex system of government, which is geared to give the minority French speaking Walloons equality with the Dutch speaking Flemish. Sound familiar?

In Canada Quebec is now, politically, a special place where less than 25 per cent of the overall population can veto any constitutional changes and whose citizens, being more likely to be bilingual, have favoured treatment in the federal civil service and the armed forces. It's now politically obligatory for a prime minister to be bilingual.

Canada's main problem isn't with what was done in 1867 at the time of Confederation but how that "constitution" (The British North America Act of 1867) has been interpreted by politicians since.

'Two Founding Nations'

Canada was not a union of "Two Founding Nations." Indeed, the Quebec force behind Confederation, Sir George (he used the English spelling) Etienne Cartier spoke in eloquent terms about the new Canadian citizenship. The notion of "two founding nations" is a political notion, not a historical fact and, as has happened in Belgium, this attempt to give special status to a minority largely living in one region has been a prescription for disaster, however long it is postponed.

Canada parts company with the Belgian scenario on the overall makeup of its peoples. While Belgium is French and Dutch with a small German area, Canada has as many types of people as can be provided by the world. These minorities, some of them very large, are, naturally, becoming influences on their own and demonstrate both the agony and ecstasy of Canada; agony because immigrant communities raise so many other issues than French and English and ecstasy to Quebec who sees the importation of French speaking people as a way to make up for their falling birth rate.

It is, however, the phony "two founding nations" notion that's brought us to the point where a break-up -- in due course -- seems inevitable. I say "in due course" because Quebec separatism, like poison ivy, is a recurring phenomenon.

Belgium's lessons

What should we learn from the Belgian experience?

  1. Ethnicity and accompanying separatism never dies and will rear its ugly head more often as time passes.

  2. Attempts to make two unequal populations equal in political and governmental functions are doomed to fail. Whatever is done will always be too much for the majority and not nearly enough for the minority.

  3. While it's uncertain just how a country tries to deal with this problem, clearly muddling through and hoping for the best is not a winning strategy.

  4. When you have a constitution of vetoes, planning for change is nearly impossible. In Canada five regions have, in effect, a veto over constitutional change which works dramatically for those who resist change (Ontario and Quebec) and is, it hardly needs saying, anathema to provinces like British Columbia who want change – for one example in the makeup of the Senate.

What the Belgian situation ought to be is a wake-up call for Canadians who want the great Canadian experiment to work. When component parts of a federation have a veto there is no incentive to talk about change. Why waste one's breath talking about that which can never happen?

Pierre Trudeau was right both with the Meech Lake constitutional proposals and those in the Charlottetown Accord. It was his view that to give Quebec extra political powers would mean that Canada would go out not with a bang but a whimper.

What should we do?

Damned if I know but surely Belgium tells us it's time to talk

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Rafe Mair writes a Monday column for The Tyee. Read previous columns by Rafe Mair. To register for free to hear Rafe Live, Mair's new webcast, visit www.rafelive.com.

24 Comments:

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  • Frank

    4 years ago

    Belgium and Canada

    Quote:
    Damned if I know but surely Belgium tells us it's time to talk

    Nah, it just gets worse whenever we talk. It wouldn't be any better now when neither side has anything new to tell the other.

    On the bright side there's not much to actually fight about right now so let's just muddle through and hope for the best.

  • Grumpy

    4 years ago

    Adios Canada

    I think that within the next 50 years, Canada will split asunder and Quebec maybe the last to go.

    BC is now has many ethnicities, all wanting special recognition, balkanizing the province. There is no true Canadian anymore, but hyphenated Canadians, many wanting to retain the customs, etc. of the old country.

    BC, Alberta will go their separate ways, but still being 'hewers of wood and drawer's of water' for the USA. Sask. and Manitoba, now with global warming, will find that more land can be devoted to farming and an all-year port at Churchill, will mean easy access to Europe. Ontario and Quebec will be separate countries, still self indulged in historical self importance. The maritime will form a country in that Eastern wasteland.

    Here is the kicker, new countries, means that old treaties with the first nations will become non existent. Even a hint of ethnic cleansing may happen.

    There is no remedy for the future breakup, unless our self absorbed and mostly corrupted politicians let the people have true democracy.

  • murdock

    4 years ago

    Take if for ourselves

    Democracy.

    Not oligarcy masquerading as democracy.

    Quote:
    There is no remedy for the future breakup, unless our self absorbed and mostly corrupted politicians let the people have true democracy.

    Why should we accept anyone 'letting' us have anything?

    Whom has the power? To whom is that power shifted to, so as to guide the 'ship of state'?

    I say that British Columbia was 'pencilled into' confederation and that the 'Ruperts Land' territory is still actually governed like a colony from the mandarins in Ottawa.

    Time for all of us to say,

    "We are mad as hell and we are not going to take it any more!"

    Like a bad date, its time to hail a cab and ditch the loser that is pretending to care about us.

  • ME2

    4 years ago

    fractionating

    As far as I've learned, as states have grown in order to provide strength and internal harmony for the betterment of the whole, they have suppressed cultural minorities, sometime brutally. This isn't because people cannot learn to live together despite differing beliefs and values.

    Problems arise simply because cultures exist only because they are "different' from each other. It then becomes possible for self-serving leadership to rag on and exploit these differences for political gain.

    I agree with Grumpy that the race-based special status being given the many so-called FN "nations" today will inevitably create an erupting boil that will have to be somehow lanced in an unpleasant future.

    And I fully support Murdoch's contention that BC is badly served within the Canadian union. But perhaps before we know it, Campbell and his heirs will have sold so much of BC it will be logical for us to become the 51st State anyway.

  • Jeffrey J.

    4 years ago

    Mulroney & Harper Can't Nation Build

    As most of the world has learned in the past 25 years, angry neo-conservative governments can't nation build. They don't understand the concept; they don't believe in it; and they'd rather give stuff away to the private sector. Thus, rather than seeing the Quiet Revolution for a chance to nation build, Mulroney and Harper took the easy way out: part out economic goodies to try and bribe the Quebec population. Not surprisingly, such short term steps backfired and only exacerbated the problem. Let's not forget that English Canada controlled 99% of Quebecs resources, while the Catholic Church agreed to control its population. Both interest groups, inherently anti-democratic and contemptuous of its residents, were roundly rejected by the majority of Quebecers in the 1960's. Thereafter, English Canadian industry left in a big hissy fit and have been sulking ever since. Quebec could have been accepted into the wider Canadian society if only someone had bothered to listen. One day we may return to the task of nation building. Until then, we'll just have to try and survive the greed and impatience of the Harpers of the world and just hope they don't do too much damage.

  • alive

    4 years ago

    new system needed!

    A Country is much like an old-boys club!
    Restricted membership and local rules and ceremonies to make them "special"!

    Like such societies countries too tries hard to stop infiltration of any "undesireables".

    You can live in a remote place and never be accepted, because you are "different".

    The old-boys clubs reluctantly admitted a token Jew and under protest females.

    Likewise countries have admitted foreigners, mainly because their own citizens felt too good to do a dirty job.

    Unfortunately, you cannot admit strangers in your midst and expect them to remain forever grateful that they are allowed in!

    There comes a time when they realise that they are the the people who make the country function, and as such demand their representation!

    Yes, there are countries and clubs that started with a strange mix, and in those cases the problems are occurring sooner and are more pronounced.

    With clubs the solution is that you do not have to belong to or approve of them, while with countries we have yet to see anyone manage to claim to be a citizen of the world, and get away with it!

    Anyone who claims to be for democracy should consider that we all are citizens of the world!

    How can it be democratic that some citizens of this world have to suck shit all their lives?

    Why do we have luxury homes sitting empty here while other world-citizens are living in a shantytown (or worse)?

    The solution is to start with a clean slate everywhere!

    There is no good reason why some shall be born with a silver spoon in their mouths!

    So it is more than a local revolution, but a world-wide upset, that is needed!

    For a start begin with the multi-nationals, then abolish the idea that anyone can "own" anything!

    We can all share, that is democracy!

  • village

    4 years ago

    Actually Rafe... as per the quote: '' There are remarkable simil

    * There are remarkable similarities between Belgium and Canada. Belgium, like Canada, came together not as a love match but to avoid being something else -- in our case the United States*

    Once again , You've got your History completely blurred , confused and when it comes right down to it, wrong Rafe.

    It wasn't Canada that came together to avoid being something else.., It was rather the British who chose to join CANADA in a North American strategy called the BNA act*.. ( remember)..,
    Let's see, oh yes , BRITISH NORTH AMERICA ACT*.. ( 1867). spells this out very clearly in the title of the act itself. An act that would keep England in the NORTH AMERICAN theatre of war, unfolding sequence of events as the AMERICAN manifest stated destiny was being executed.

    What actually happened was that Britain fully understood that the ''NEW ENGLAND'' was not in the cards, following what happened after the 1776 revolution of the 13 colonies , and gradually developed a NORTH AMERICAN strategy that culminated in an alliance with LE , LA and LES CANADIENS*..opting as they did - ENGLAND- to form an alliance with those that had rooted themselves in the land referred to as CANADA. In effect the BRITISH fully recognised the strategic importance to align themselves in and with these people..( les canadiens*) who in their own right, had formed deep and long lasting relationships with first nations and became - from a EUROPEAN perspective - founding peoples to the original idea and dream of CANADA.., A peoples - les canadiens - who carved out a dream and a land called CANADA*.., who to this day go unrecognised by this NATION*

    The BRITISH simply did the next best thing available to them - being practical as they have always been -and developed eventually PLAN B , which was to form an understanding and an ALLIANCE of sorts with an experiment that has been on going for some now close to 450 years.., and join CANADA..they did ! ( the one that was being lived by the earliest of settlers and by settlements to the north of the '' NEW ENGLAND '' dream. )

    This is the historical reality of our narrative Rafe, and the day you wake up from your sleep then , as did MERLIN , from having slept in a tree for some 1,000 years .. you will awaken to your ROOTS , my friend.

  • gaulois

    4 years ago

    Déjà-vu strikes again

    Oh boy, there goes Rafe again on his Quebec rants after too long a break I would gather. I notice that the comments are somewhat more enlightened than the article...broken record. Perhaps if Rafe spent as much time learning on the other side of the coin including the language and the culture, he would be more credible?

    Perhaps Rafe should also try living in Belgium before preaching once again on the part that fits his theories or rants on "Statehood". Perhaps Rafe can preach too about Switzerland, Singapore, the break up of Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union...

  • Percy

    4 years ago

    Catholics stay together

    Rafe fails to point out that Belgium has survived for 176 years because of the common Roman Catholic culture of its peoples. Maybe he should explore the implications of this.

  • nightbloom

    4 years ago

    Good article, and very

    Good article, and very relevant analogy.

    One oversight: no mention here of the E.U. The creation of a supra-national entity changed the paradigm for several bi- and multi-national states in Europe like Belgium and the United Kingdom (whose constituent parts now have their own assemblies...an unthinkable proposition scant decades ago).

    Meech Lake and Charlottetown may have been swept into the dustbin, and there's still no Quebec signature on the constitution....BUT the federal government has been making bilateral deals with Quebec in a bewildering variety areas like there's no tomorrow. Quebec runs it, Canada pays for it. So regardless of the constitutional forms, we have de facto asymmetrical federalism.

    We're basically a form of Consociational Democracy in denial. We pay off key constituencies through preferential patronage, grants, contributions, and disproportionate representation, while leaving governance and decision-making to the elites of all sides. Actually, I guess that makes as a Consociational Oligarchy with democratic trappings, since all this stuff is extra-constitutional and not subject to public input or voter review.

  • nightbloom

    4 years ago

    Excellent point,

    Excellent point, Percy.

    Belgium was third in Mass attendance among European countries circa 1980. The decline since then has been precipitous: http://cara.georgetown.edu/bulletin/international.htm

    Decline of Catholicism in Belgium "troubling," Pope says
    http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=26128

  • village

    4 years ago

    To Murdock, Re: I say that British Columbia was 'pencilled into'

    QUOTE: *I say that British Columbia was 'pencilled into' confederation and that the 'Ruperts Land' territory is still actually governed like a colony from the mandarins in Ottawa.*

    What actually transpired was that for the second time in it's attempts at a ''BRITISH NEW ENGLAND'' .. ( BRITISH COLUMBIA ) was indeed thwarted by the Americans .
    In 1776 , it was the 13 Colonies revolution that put a damper on their initial dream. By the early 1800's it was the Oregon trail . And the early American settlers arriving over the mountains that was to eventually push the COLUMBIA Department of the Hudson Bay Co.., from what it was - ergo a vast territory taking in what is now called all of the state of Oregon and Washington , along with mainly all the neighboring states that made up the WATERSHED .. creating the COLUMBIA river itself.., and of course it also took in what we now call B.C... ..

    Hence reduced to a fraction of what we were..

    And by 1846 ( or thereabouts ) the dream of a BRITISH COLUMBIA on the Pacific shores of the ''NEW WORLD'' were in effect shrunk to a very small portion of that initial COLUMBIA DISTRICT. Thus the colonies remaining which eventually fused into what we now know as British Columbia. ( The very same that opted to join the 1867 version of CANADA..).. which in turn came from the earlier CANADA as imagined by LES CANADIENS*

    Can you imagine the frustration on the British side as per creating a footing in the ''NEW WORLD''..

    Thus by 1867 it became obvious to the British that .., an alliance with a peoples who had rooted themselves into these forbidden lands , was the way to go.

    AND the BNA ACT was in effect the resulting strategy and pact. (* Our ''constitution'' sitting in Westminster till Trudeau came along and repatriated it.

    What we are collectively experienced now is what to do with our having cut the umbilical chord of colonial dependence..

    TRANSLATED: '' what to do with our new found Independence? '' ( collectively speaking )

    Our true value now reflected in the money markets needs only a deeper understanding on our parts as to what our true road travelled has been.

  • Des Emery

    4 years ago

    Nation building

    Just a couple of comments from the cheap seats -- No 'nation' on this good earth is defined by its natural borders, frontiers continually being adjusted and re-adjusted by wars, famines, tragedies, etc. Attempting to hold unnatural borders is doomed to ultimate failure.

    People get kind of weird about things like religion, language, customs and the old childish "My Dad's better than your Dad!" attitude. But some truth emerges from such confrontations. Chinese is spoken by the majority of people in the world, but is far from adequate in communication. The same can be said for French, which jealously guards its nonsensical division of every thing into masculine or feminine; a table does not possess gender, which originally was used to separate what was truly male, like a bull, from what was truly female, like a cow.

    Speaking English with a French accent is beautiful, while speaking French with an English accent sounds like dogs barking.

    English will become the linqua franca of the world because by its nature it is a bastard language, accepting any word in a different language for what it is.

    Until mankind can locate within himself total acceptance of everyone else's foibles, we will continue to coalesce and drift apart, over and over again. Too bad.

  • village

    4 years ago

    To sum up my thoughts : Along the way, along their travels.., th

    Along the way, along their travels.., they ( Les Canadiens) kept expanding their notion of that imagined freedom and independence . And they named it CANADA. Wherever they went. And travelled they did .., all over the continent. Carrying with them this dream of a CANADA. *(seemingly without borders... for it was the forest and trees and rivers themselves that offered the pathways to our inherited STATE OF MIND .)

    We as 21st Century CANADIANS have as an inheritance this dream and determination .

    Our Canada comes from theirs. and thus our inheritance , their legacy .

    We need now but to fully realize our journey . By joining the rivers and the streams ... of our individual and collective minds.

    True history and heritage binds.

    Village.

  • village

    4 years ago

    QUOTE: *Chinese is spoken by the majority of people in the world

    QUOTE: *Chinese is spoken by the majority of people in the world, but is far from adequate in communication. The same can be said for French, which jealously guards its nonsensical division of every thing into masculine or feminine; a table does not possess gender*

    As to determining if Chinese is far from adequate in communication ,my read on this specific observation is ... TO ASK FROM WHICH ''MIND CONSTRUCT'' DO YOU MAKE SUCH A STATEMENT?. ( obviously from your language reference and from your point of view )..

    Now as to the billion or so Chinese that exist on this planet earth , I suppose they would challenge such a statement.As to thinking that it was far from adequate in communications.

    Same goes for the French language and your inability to appreciate the poetry that comes with bringing a certain '' je ne sais quoi '' when it comes to naming things ''comme LA TABLE.. , une table , un arbre etc...''As with the chinese language , the French language and all other language groups have an individual dimention and character which can rarely be fully appreciated but by those who have experienced them..., from within.

    (As a communications inheritance , as a language and vehicle for individual cultures , there can be no better adventure then having the great opportunity to live amongs PEOPLE'S who have a different language then the one you were born with*. )

    And just to recap your thoughts at the very end of your observations , I would simply add a few words to your musings..

    QUOTE : *Until mankind can locate within himself total acceptance of everyone else's LANGUAGE AND CULTURE , we will continue to coalesce and drift apart, over and over again. Too bad.

    INDEED!

    Village.

  • nightbloom

    4 years ago

    Quote:Speaking English with

    Quote:
    Speaking English with a French accent is beautiful, while speaking French with an English accent sounds like dogs barking.

    Hehe - I've never heard it characterized so succinctly.

  • gaulois

    4 years ago

    English the linqua franca

    A 1000 words form of English called "globish" may very well become the linqua franca, simply because it is far more easier to represent in terms of character sets to do the most basic functions IMO. The language becomes then mainly utilitarian for interoperating amongst different languages: trading is the best example. Locutors of the language risk becoming desincarnated as consumers trading goods, services and skills. Isn't it swell?

    I must point out that Francophones have always metissed themselves far more than their anglo counterpart with our First Nations for example, learning their language&customs and interbreading. Also the amount of English language percolating into French is becoming frightening to many so that we can "trade goods and services".

    Back to the original topic, I will mention that Rafe failed to point out the issue of English becoming the "linqua franca" in the non francophone part of Belgium as one of important driver to the break up of Belgium. Déjà-vu allright. I would say instead that Belgium could learn from Canada experience. "Been there, done that and gotten the T-shirt", as they say!

  • village

    4 years ago

    The other side of the Coin* .. Putting a mirror up to one's

    THINKING.. in this case Rafe's thinking .

    *Ethnicity and accompanying separatism never dies and will rear its ugly head more often as time passes.*

    Another way to describe the above.. could go like this:

    When taking in the garden analogy and the diverse species of plants that are available one could think of ETHNICITY as a beautifull selection of human flowers that expresses and celebrates it's uniqueness and indeed rather then rearing it's ugly head - as Rafe suggest - displays the marvel and beauty of nature herself.. HUMAN NATURE!

    In the Human garden variety , these unique species of humanity ( ethnic backgrounds and all) fully bring variety and beauty to our landscape AND MINDSCAPES*... bringing with them , language and culture as in Musical instruments and sounds that awaken the human soul . We are blessed with variety in our lives and need only to open up to the EXPERIENCE ... of differences!

    What you call seperatism , can also be defined as asserting one's difference ,could it not?

    Could it be what you choose to call ''rearing it's ugly head '' actually be simply an act of COMMUNICATION,and an act of seeking to be treated with respect?

    How's that for painting a different picture to your thoughts RAFE..?

  • village

    4 years ago

    As to your other comments RAFE..,

    QUOTE:

    QUOTE:

    *Attempts to make two unequal populations equal in political and governmental functions are doomed to fail. Whatever is done will always be too much for the majority and not nearly enough for the minority.*

    I'm a bit intrigued by your use of the words.. '' two unequal populations '' , as if there was really two, rather then three, four, five , six.. ect. within any given NATION*.. ( and what is very clear is that in today's Canada , there are more then two populations !)

    In our specific case and evolving CANADA experiment* , we are clearly a NATION's sampling of the human spectrum of humanity itself.

    What we have IN-HOUSE ,are many , many populations of ethnic groups who fundamentally in their aggregate make up the CANADA of today!

    I fail to understand why you would speak of two unequal populations in today's CANADA , as if they were only two categories of PEOPLE'S .. that sum up the reality of Canada.

    In our beginnings , from a European perspective and settlement reality ,YES, we were indeed of two main groups and the TWO POPULATIONS description would have been closer to describing the CANADA then, but today, we have many diverse groups of population that , once again in their aggregate make up our evolving NATION..*

    Our roots stem from a two founding nation ( EUROPEAN ) reality whether you like it or not.., and the 450 years of existence of an offshoot of one of those peoples ,LES CANADIENS*, with another THE BRITISH , who desperately needed to retain a footing in the ''New World'' .. is indeed , the construct and foundation of our country*..

    As to the CANADA of tomorrow.., clearly rather then two unequal populations , we are rather , a spectrum representation of humanity , and our future , .. is in realising that we are a works in progress, yes, made up , clearly , of more then two unequal populations, ....

    THE LAST PART OF THE ABOVE QUOTE REVEALS MANY ERRORS IN YOUR THINKING RAFE... ergo:*Whatever is done will always be too much for the majority and not nearly enough for the minority.*

    AS IF THERE IS ANY ONE MAJORITY IN CANADA?
    ( or for that matter as if there is only one minority ....?)

    WHAT WE HAVE , ARE A MULTIPLICITY OF MINORITIES AND MAJORITIES.. depending on how you frame your observations..

    In the house , I choose to call CANADA..it's inhabitants ,with a deeper understanding of the history of this LAND.. will eventually piece together a NARRATIVE that will fully explain the past and at the same time , celebrate the present and eventually build a future!

    Village,

  • gaulois

    4 years ago

    Now a lesson for Rafe

    Could the same exact story have been written by Barbara Yaffe at CanWest???

    Could someone explain where is the value added from the Tyee generally high quality stories? Allright I must be the one biased here. Hehe.

  • nightbloom

    4 years ago

    I guess the oversights in

    I guess the oversights in the article are adding up, upon second reading. In addition to the growing importance of supra-national bodies (like the E.U.) which tend to increase the centrifugal forces within multi-national states, and the decreasing importance of traditional unifying factors like Roman Catholicism (which can counter-act centrifugal forces in multi-ethnic states), there's also the sharp decline in the strategic importance of the lowlands to the powers that be. The violation of Belgian neutrality was the catalyst for British entry into World War I. British planners feared a "bolt from the grey" if the buffer state were ever lost to a major continental power. They would have to bring the fleet home and concetrate it in the Channel simply to guard against that eventuality. So there were external interests that were heavily invested in Belgium's continued existence. As I recall, the U.K. even exported a branch of its Royal Family to the continent simply to keep the Belgian throne in existence.

  • village

    4 years ago

    And now as always..., as we look into what became of

    LES ACCOMMODATIONS RÉSONABLES..( Translated : meaning how to best find a way to get along . ) .. within a reasonable compromise. THERE IS MUCH LESSONS TO LEARN IN-HOUSE.. ( why always look to the outside..,let's get busy becoming aware of our very unique situation here.!

    What is happening in one region of this country ,- as all actions of the descendents of LES CANADIENS have proven themselves to be..,- is a deep interest in their fate,and a renewed search for IDENTITY.. these days.., deeply committed to the LAND..,( hence as ''HABS..''
    (les habitants for short) , attached to the land.., and what is ironic is that within that territory we now call Quebec., resided the majority of those that called CANADA their homeland.. ( and what a homeland it was...as it reached the furthest reaches of this CONTINENT.)

    Mark my words , a rediscovery of this historical fact is due within the inhabitants of that particular province.

    INDEED ,what is fascinating with the above debate going on in that particular ''room'' of our house, is the fact that when it is distilled , it's all about ROOTS and REMEMBERING .. ( Je me souviens indeed .)

    And as with those that are at times referred to as the R.O.C. * ( rest of Canada) .. there is in the musings of late, from a population which inhabits that particular room* , a strong pull happening in that particular province.., as to rediscovering their roots*.. ergo:( celle des CANADIENS*..)

    In various programs coming out of RADIO CANADA .., ( CBC French language services ).., PROGRAMS SUCH AS.. Serge Bouchard's '' Les Remarquables Oubliés '' are obvious quest for identity . And we would be wise to become aware of that awakening .. within that particular Room of the HOUSE I call Canada..*

    Oh , but to have these two languages meet in a COMMUNICATIONS HIGH GROUND..., what a difference all of these discussions would make !. A clear challenge for change, - as to the way we explore our journey..., ( individually and collectivelly speaking )..

    ( continued )

  • village

    4 years ago

    As to the CANADIANS - as aggregate builders of tomorrow.. -

    finding and losing ourselves at times in our inherited HISTORY*.., we will eventually reach the kind of consensus that displays a common ground ( OUR LAND )as the basis for our discussions.. and the history of our settlements will provide for the NARRATIVES.. of the NATION ....ergo
    HOUSE OF CANADA ..by any other name.., which invariably inhabits our minds.., even when we do not individually or collectively inhabit it's ''state of mind'' , ''mind of state''..

    What I'm interested in is the PEOPLE-SCAPE *..

    Our understanding- or rather lack of understanding - of our governance mechanism being a perfect example of our
    growing disconnect can get back on track by getting to know one's collective ROAD TRAVELLED.., Our history will provide for the narratives that will re-unite us in an aggregate energy building effort..

    And as to PEOPLE PEOPLE energy resulting from such an undertaking .., indeed connectivity , transcendence , and eventual harmony.. comes about when we all reach for a higher ground of COMMUNICATIONS..*

    Let's talk to each other. Starting from your neighbourhood ground.. ( of what was the earliest of settlements within your closest and immediate environment )...

    The history of Human Settlements within any given territory , always reveals a narrative and a story worth sharing.. ( and inevitably reaches to the larger community. ) of CITIES , PROVINCES , COUNTRIES/NATIONS.. etc..

    Story telling now , needed to fill the vaccuum of our individual and collective lives..*.., ( stories ,yes, from our own voices , from our very own perches )...

    TO EACH HIS ZONE.. TO EACH HIS OWN. ( STORY , THAT IS ).

    Village.

  • slim

    4 years ago

    To BC: Be pro-active

    Get your Single Transferable Vote system passed. That will help create a political culture of consensus in the province.

    Demand some form of constitutional change such as either reforming or abolishing the Senate. If Quebec wants to veto it (if it can) then inform Quebec and the rest of Canada that BC will separate.

    Separate but ask the other provinces if they wish to form some kind perfect union.

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