Canada is not "a melting pot in which the individuality of each element is destroyed in order to produce a new and totally different element. It is rather a garden into which have been transplanted the hardiest & brightest flowers from many lands" #JohnDiefenbaker PM 1957-'63
In 1963 Lester Pearson's Liberals defeated Diefenbaker. Liberals introduced official bilingualism & biculturalism. Diefenbaker strongly opposed the idea of Canadians melting into the English or French cultures. He preferred multiculturalism a term coined by Professor Paul Yuzk.
Yuzk's parents, Cdn pioneers, born in #Ukraine Yuzyk is claimed by 2 provinces #SK & #MB Winnipeg is where he authored "The Ukrainians in Manitoba: A Social History." Diefenbaker appointed him to the Senate & promoted Yuzyk's concept of #multicuturalismusask.ca/diefenbaker/bi…
Want to acknowledge @LarryUpdike who probably gets tired of me agreeing with him so frequently. One of my regrets in broadcasting is not sharing more mic time w Larry who reminded us tonight that #Diefenbaker was promoting multiculturalism long b4 #PierreTrudeau made it his own.
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#Alberta has an 8.2% unemployment rate. Massively uncomfortable question: What do you think the rate would be if #Alberta was a U-S state? The correct answer is full employment. Everyone knows how much I love Canada and #Alberta So it breaks my Cdn heart to think our federal
system is so incompetent,unflexible & ideologically biased that we should have to ask uncomfortable questions like this. Look at the low unemployment numbers in U-S states that have far fewer advantages and assets than #Alberta and you don't have to be a #Nobel prize winner in
Economics to know that #Alberta would be the superstar, the Connor McDavid of state economies if the government and courts weren't albatrosses around the necks of #Albertans I always want #Alberta to be part of Canada.But how I could blame #Albertans looking at 8.2% unemployment
There is something fundamentally wrong w much of today's political commentary. Almost no focus on creating a society where government provides services without asphyxiating taxpayers. Assumption is that people's dependence on gov't needs to be deepened evey single day.
Perhaps this doesn't bother millennials because they see this as the norm. For those of us who grew up in a far more independent Canada where people were spending 15-20% of income on housing & the same for food, it's hard to look at current picture & respect those who govern us.
It's equally hard to respect pols/academics/pundits who defend dependency, calling it progress and wanting more of the same. Social justice is defined as giving up our economic independence to our gov't masters who will "repair damage" done by previous generations.