I was a young girl living in Ontario when Pierre Trudeau shoved the NEP down our throats. To say that it really only affected Western Canada is naive and patently false in my view. The NEP did more to divide this nation than any other policy before it. It brought on a hatred of the ‘east’ (by that I mean Quebec and Ontario) and a resentment that this nation has yet to heal from. Bill C-18 allows the current PM to further ‘stick it’ to Albertans and grassroots Canadians in general by muting their voices. As a former broadcast journalist with CBC National TV News, I am heartsick and ashamed of the tactics of our federal government and big news media. The government couldn’t pull this off without the ‘Big Media’ journos in its back pocket.
Sir, in your third paragraph you conclude with, "... what may turn out to be one of the grandest public policy failures in the nation’s history. (If you can think of a worse one, please share in Comments.)" This is, of course, your description of Bill C-18.
According to my computer I received your column nine hours ago and this appears to be the first comment on your column. I conclude that one of a) no one reads your material (which I reject), b) no one has anything on their mind that would add / detract from your commentary and which they wish to share with the world; or c) everyone agrees with your characterization of C-18.
Personally, I suspect that there are greater policy errors but, having said that, I actually cannot enumerate any. That means, I suppose, that I am left with your assessment as being definitive.
I recall that prior to the passage of C-18 I many times commented in various fora that, rather than Facebook et al profiting at the expense of the Canadian news industry, to me it was clear that the news industry was profiting at the expense of Facebook et al and if any compensation was (at least ethically) owed, it was owed by the news industry to FB et al. Of course, our famous government idiots got it backwards and here we are, with more dead and dying media.
Sir, I also was initially thinking about the NEP. You and I both lived through it so it has to be something that we consider.
Now, having said that, the NEP was and is something that primarily and obviously affected only this part of the country (although it truly non-obviously really affected the whole country). Given the "bottom of mind" position of the NEP for most Canadians "of an age," let alone the young'uns, let alone our "new Canadians," I deliberately discarded that atrocious relic of T1 in my brief "analysis."
Sir, I also was initially thinking about the NEP. You and I both lived through it so it has to be something that we consider.
Now, having said that, the NEP was and is something that primarily and obviously affected only this part of the country (although it truly non-obviously really affected the whole country). Given the "bottom of mind" position of the NEP for most Canadians "of an age," let alone the young'uns, let alone our "new Canadians," I deliberately discarded that atrocious relic of T1 in my brief "analysis."
I was a young girl living in Ontario when Pierre Trudeau shoved the NEP down our throats. To say that it really only affected Western Canada is naive and patently false in my view. The NEP did more to divide this nation than any other policy before it. It brought on a hatred of the ‘east’ (by that I mean Quebec and Ontario) and a resentment that this nation has yet to heal from. Bill C-18 allows the current PM to further ‘stick it’ to Albertans and grassroots Canadians in general by muting their voices. As a former broadcast journalist with CBC National TV News, I am heartsick and ashamed of the tactics of our federal government and big news media. The government couldn’t pull this off without the ‘Big Media’ journos in its back pocket.
Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy ....
Sir, in your third paragraph you conclude with, "... what may turn out to be one of the grandest public policy failures in the nation’s history. (If you can think of a worse one, please share in Comments.)" This is, of course, your description of Bill C-18.
According to my computer I received your column nine hours ago and this appears to be the first comment on your column. I conclude that one of a) no one reads your material (which I reject), b) no one has anything on their mind that would add / detract from your commentary and which they wish to share with the world; or c) everyone agrees with your characterization of C-18.
Personally, I suspect that there are greater policy errors but, having said that, I actually cannot enumerate any. That means, I suppose, that I am left with your assessment as being definitive.
I recall that prior to the passage of C-18 I many times commented in various fora that, rather than Facebook et al profiting at the expense of the Canadian news industry, to me it was clear that the news industry was profiting at the expense of Facebook et al and if any compensation was (at least ethically) owed, it was owed by the news industry to FB et al. Of course, our famous government idiots got it backwards and here we are, with more dead and dying media.
I was thinking someone might mention the National Energy Program but that dates me.
Sir, I also was initially thinking about the NEP. You and I both lived through it so it has to be something that we consider.
Now, having said that, the NEP was and is something that primarily and obviously affected only this part of the country (although it truly non-obviously really affected the whole country). Given the "bottom of mind" position of the NEP for most Canadians "of an age," let alone the young'uns, let alone our "new Canadians," I deliberately discarded that atrocious relic of T1 in my brief "analysis."
Sir, I also was initially thinking about the NEP. You and I both lived through it so it has to be something that we consider.
Now, having said that, the NEP was and is something that primarily and obviously affected only this part of the country (although it truly non-obviously really affected the whole country). Given the "bottom of mind" position of the NEP for most Canadians "of an age," let alone the young'uns, let alone our "new Canadians," I deliberately discarded that atrocious relic of T1 in my brief "analysis."