Tim Belford

By Tim Belford

Local Journalism Initiative

Well the election is over and now the fun begins.

South of the border nothing is any different. Dithering Donald is still changing his mind and his policies at the drop of a tariff. As far as he’s concerned who’s now leading the potential ‘51st state’ is irrelevant. What matters is that the new man in charge comes to the realization that Canada becoming part of the United States is inevitable and a good thing.

We beg to differ; at least most of us. There are, however, some Canadians who would be perfectly happy to cast aside their citizenship and embrace lower taxes, a bigger army and the warmth of Donald’s smile. Just recently I heard an otherwise sensible acquaintance of mine ask, “Why not?” Well here’s why.

First off, it would play havoc with our educational system. All those children out there, and some adults too, would have to learn the names of fifty states and their capitals in a new geography class. Mastering ten provinces and three territories has proven difficult enough for most of us but this added burden would be a bit much.

We’d also no longer be a prosperous independent country. As a matter of fact we’d run second to California in both population and GDP as a mere state of the union.

Admittedly, we would probably pay less income tax than we do now but there’s a down side to that as well. Lower taxes would also mean no national health care system. It would be back to the days when childbirth or a major surgery could bankrupt you. Oh yes, there’s private insurance that you could buy with those extra tax dollars but try making more than one claim and see what happens. We’d also have to trade in our social insurance program for the much less satisfying U.S ‘social security’ system, one that The Donald says he would like to reduce. Child care? You’re on your own.

If we didn’t have the border to cross, yes, it would be easier to go to Disney World, Florida and Old Orchard. On the other hand, think of how many thousands of Customs and Immigration officers who would suddenly find themselves unemployed.  Trump would have to blame the fentanyl crisis on Greenland or perhaps Iceland.

In sports there would also be a major upheaval. Take football for instance. If the CFL disappeared, which it surely would, we’d be stuck with the NFL and its mamby, pamby four downs, tiny end zones, narrow fields and fair catches. Even worse, we’d lose the Grey Cup and its legendary parties and be stuck with the NFL Super Bore which is nothing more than a rock concert with a coin toss.

Being the 51^st state would mean dropping the Maple Leaf Flag from our back packs when travelling abroad and getting used to nobody liking us anymore. It wouldn’t even help if you explained how your granny was from Edinburgh or Cornwall. We’d still be Yanks.

Being bilingual, particularly French-English, would be of no value whatsoever in a country that acknowledges only one official language. Under the kindly hand of Washington, Quebec would become Louisiana North and the building housing the Office de la Langue Française nothing more than an historic site.

But the best and overwhelming reason for not become American, however, is that we’d have Donald Trump as our leader. If that doesn’t kindle the fires of Canadian nationalism, nothing will.

By Tim Belford

Local Journalism Initiative

Two days from now Canadians can stop holding their breath. The Liberal Party of Canada will have a new leader and the ‘natural governing party’ can get back to doing what it does best; studying the nation’s problems.

Justin Trudeau, for all intents and purposes, will be gone and there will be a new pilot at the helm. Who that will be is anybody’s guess, as of press time, but it looks to be either International businessman, banker and ex-pat, Mark Carney, or former finance minister and Trudeau nemesis, Chrystia Freeland.

No matter which of the two you support, or the reasons you favour them, it doesn’t really matter. If you believe that Carney has spent too much time out of the country and is just another millionaire businessman with no feel for the problems of the average Canadian, it’s irrelevant. As far as Freeland goes, if you think her long-time service in the Trudeau government makes her part of the problem and not the solution, don’t lose any sleep.

The thing is that over the past 152 years, starting with our first Liberal Prime Minister, Alexander Mackenzie, who ruled the parliamentary roost from 1873 to 1878, we’ve managed to survive whatever the party has thrown at us. Mackenzie had about as much political experience as the present Prime Minister Selfie when he started out. A stone mason by trade, he moved on to being a building contractor and finally an insurance executive. Just the same, his term in office managed to produce the Supreme Court, the Auditor General’s Office and the Elections Act that brought us the secret ballot.

Wilfrid Laurier, easily the most successful Liberal icon, spent his three separate terms in the office of Prime Minister defending French language rights. Without him French-speaking Canadians in Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario, Nova Scotia and every other province and territory wouldn’t even t have the limited rights they do now. As for Quebec? It would have been ‘Au revoir les gars!’ a long time ago.

On the other hand Laurier, unlike his arch rival John A. Macdonald, was big on reciprocity with the United States and free trade. If he’d had his way back then, we might actually already be the 51^st state and Trump could find somebody else to irritate. Laurier also had what has been referred to as an “ambiguous relationship” with a married woman and maybe even a child by her. Can you imagine what today’s social media would have done with that?

As a nation we even made it through nearly 22 years of William Lyon Mackenzie King as Prime Minister. No matter what you think of King’s accomplishments, most historians would suggest he was also the oddest P.M. of the Liberal lot.

King guided us through the depression and was responsible for a considerable amount of social legislation. He also managed to get us through WWII and help save the ‘mother country’ while at the same time sloughing off Britain’s traditional controlling attitude. He signed treaties, made boundary adjustment pacts, established an independent foreign service and put our military under Canadian control; all without British permission.

All this being said, the man who some historians rate as our best Prime Minister ever, was also one odd human being. Following his death, it was learned that King was fond of holding séances during which he spoke with both his dead mother and dog, asking advice on governing from the former. He didn’t earn the nickname, Weird Willy, without cause.

So take heart. No matter who wins the Liberal Leadership race and even if he or she goes on to become Prime Minister, no worries. We’ve seen it all before and survived to tell the tale.