EDITORIAL – Celebrating a return to being proud of our country
(Image: Mel Rothenburger)
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
IT’S CANADA DAY. It feels good.
We’ve been so down on ourselves the past few Canada Days that our annual celebration didn’t feel quite the same. Some believed that instead of celebrating all the good things about our country, we should be ashamed.
Not anymore. This year, it’s all good. Much of it’s due, of course, to the Orange Man. Just a couple of days ago, he repeated his ridiculous, insulting notion that Canada should become his 51st state.
He awakened a patriotism in us that had slumbered for a long time. Suddenly, we realize how lucky we are to be Canadians, and not something else. We don’t live in a country of insanity, where there’s a new mass shooting every week, where firefighters answering a call of duty get shot to death by a sniper, where the language of politics is the insult, where bombs fall day after day, night after night.
Let’s hope our leaders don’t fail us in our love of country. There are signs some of the tough talk — some of the rallying cry — that prevailed immediately in the wake of the Trump tariffs may be fading, in hopes of pleasing him so we can get a trade deal.
The border was tightened at a cost of millions of extra spending on security, and it got us nothing. Prime Minister Carney has made nice with Trump on numerous occasions, attempting to cater to his ego. It has got us nothing.
Just yesterday, he axed the digital service tax on American platforms that make a profit, tax free, on the business they do in Canada. We thus gave away a bargaining chip in return for nothing other than getting Trump back to the bargaining table.
And, instead of gracious acceptance of the gesture, the White House says Canada “caved.”
Canadians aren’t interested in caving to Trump. They want our leaders to be strong, to tell him exactly where to put his insults.
Oh, well. Today shouldn’t be about him. It should be about having fun celebrating the fact we live in the best place there is. Happy Canada Day!
Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
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As sad as it seems, we in Canada will have to suck up to a U.S.A gone power mad a lot more than we would like. For 60 years or ĺmore we have allowed our armed forces to deteriorate and have relied on the U.S to do the major spending. It is time to grow up or we will be giving up a lot more than a tax on Zukerberg and the rest.
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the fireworks were awesome :)
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I have to agree with this assessment. I think there was little gained by agreeing to Trump’s ultimatum. Perhaps it would have been better to go ahead with the tax and see where things go from there. Without trying to get something back, Canada was left looking weak.
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As predicted, this recall of national pride was very temporary. The lame hockey tropes and elbows up, turned into elbows down with the loss of the Stanley Cup and the caving in to Trump on the digital services tax.
Canada in the last decade has developed serious problems. This was truly a lost decade.
Unabated disorder and dangerous chaos on the streets. Drug addicts everywhere. State sponsored drug supply. Health care crisis. Revolving door crime. Hyper lienient judges that set criminals out on the street as soon as they’re caught. Crown prosecutors who recommend incredibly lenient punishments. Housing prices in the stratosphere. An expanding refugee and societal welfare state. Far too high unskilled immigration. The curtailing of freedom of expression. A pervasive fear that one will be cancelled for stating objective facts. A complete laggard of an economy where housing takes the biggest share. A country still so woke, still so behind the curve that it still can’t see the problems its created, and can’t create solutions. Super high taxes. Woke governments, school boards, universities and municipal councils.
There isn’t much to be proud of. This is no longer the best place to be. It’s not even in the top 10.
I stand on guard for me now.
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