In direct contravention of my wife's explicit instructions, herewith I inaugurate my first blog. Long may it prosper.

For some reason, I think I have something to say to you. You think you have something to say to me? Email me at: gideonsblogger -at- yahoo -dot- com

 
An article in the WSJ on Canada's military makes me sad. Canada, after all, is the only country in the world to have beaten the United States twice in war. Canadians repulsed American invaders during the American War of Independence and again during the War of 1812. The Canadians have made major contributions to Britain's war effort in World War I and to the allied side in World War II, and to the American-led war in Korea. Whatever the current Liberal government may think, this is a country with a substantial martial history.

How to explain the Canadian central government's domination by Euro-oriented fools? There's a simple answer: Quebec. Since the politics of separatism came to dominate Ottawa, the rest of Canada has been held hostage to Quebec's addiction to a high-cost welfare state. While Ottawa has trended leftward, the dominant Anglo provinces have trended rightward. Ontario has been governed for years by a relatively right-wing Conservative who has cut taxes and restored competitiveness. British Columbia, while very liberal on environmental and social-lifestyle issues, is a future- and Pacific-oriented province increasingly impatient with Ottawa's and Quebec's domination of Canada's economic agenda. And we don't even have to talk about Alberta, heartland of the Alliance party. Canada is not a friendly environment for the kind of Southern-style religious conservatism that has made such an impact on the U.S. (Religious fundamentalist overtones have been an albatross around the neck of the Alliance from its inception.) But a patriotic, pro-market, future-oriented party could do quite well in Anglo Canada, and redress a lot of what the author of this piece laments about the current state of the Canadian national ethos.
posted by Noah at 10:49 AM