dbd33

I think the current Canada is directly a result of the Trudeau Liberals' immigration policies. If not for them we'd still be buying liquor in paper bags and staying home on Sundays.

dbd33

Incidentally there is a politician in Canada with "fame sparkle", she's called Belinda Stronach.

Souvenir

Eh? I don't quite follow the logic in that. Unless it was a reflection of the fact that Brits wouldn't move here if they couldn't get lagered-up seven days a week.

dbd33

When I arrived Toronto, Hogtown, was as conservative a place as I could imagine, much more conservative than, say, Salt Lake City is now. I suppose the rest of anglo Canada was even more conservative. Things changed because large numbers of people came from around the world, people who did things differently, curry became available (note that even now the BBQ Hut has that name because they didn't want to frighten off potential customers by using an India sounding name), shops opened on Sundays and people were allowed to see bottles of booze before buying them. I would say that Toronto is still one of the most legislated societies in the world but it's a lot more relaxed than it used to be. Trudeau opened the door for civilisation to enter Canada.

Harper would like to take the country back to the fifties. Not the fifties of Harold MacMillan but the fifties of Eugene McCarthy. I can't get past his creepy hair but, were I to take him more seriously, I'd find his homophobia, his antipathy to healthcare and his desire to keep suppress women's rights really rather frightening.

Souvenir

Ta for the explanation. Makes sense. It's akin to Idi Amin revolutionising life in the UK.

dbd33

Ha!

Amin's refugees didn't have to overcome the UEL. In Canada in the eighties, Mrs Thatcher would have been thought a libertine.

Souvenir

UEL? Pardon my ignorance.

flashman

Tony's strength is his style and presentation which is hollywood class and that's why he makes such a strong impression with the Mercans. Whether there's any substance is another question.

dbd33

United Empire Loyalists. http://www.uelac.org/

Sort of a facist fan club for the Queen Mum (yes, I know she's dead).

Souvenir

Well, he is a barrister.......

Souvenir

I went to her 100th birthday bash at Horseguards. I was seated behind the contingent from the Australian military liaison staff. At one point the MC (John Mills, I think) uttered something along the lines of: "..loved around the world..".

"Not in f*****g Australia, she isn't" muttered the colonel in front of me. Not too quietly, I would add.

AnyaT

Um, no, not quite. The Loyalists formed the basis of what would become Canada (outside Quebec). They arrived in huge numbers to sparsely populated settlements spread from modern-day NS to ON, inflating the numbers enough to form viable, self-sustaining cities instead of colonies dependent on the "homeland." They brought a standard of education and living that was not accessible to the settlements before their arrival. And I would venture to say, though it is not really measureable or prove-able, that they brought the will and initiative to improve things and move up in the world that belonged more to the "American" psyche than the "Canadian" one (quotes because the terms American and Canadian didn't really exist at the time).

For some reason, it is now not popular to discuss the Loyalists and/or pioneers who originally settled the land. If you haven't arrived within the last 10 years it seems no one wants to hear about it - in Toronto at any rate.

GlosMaple

Yes great, I can't wait to get the Liberals come knocking..........to challenge them on my 15 month no hear.........Citizenship application !!!!

Had I been a stripper I'm sure I would be Canadian now.............but with my my body ........noooooooooooo that would not be an option !!

dbd33

My comments were in reference the Empire Loyalist Clubs of today, not the role of the loyalists in the distant past. People who identify themselves as loyalists now are, in my view, the Afrikaaners of Ontario; an increasingly irrelevant group of reactionaries.

Rich_007

Harper et all hate the poor and disenfranchised too. Hate is inclusive too

NB Canada's child poverty rates are second only to the US in terms of the developed nations. and have been rising for 20 years. Aboriginals who happen to be poor (a lot I would guess) aren't included in 'official' Statistics Canada poverty disclosures.

The things one learns eh ?

Rich.