Giving up on Canada

Who was that quote from?? any idea???? Can you find and post the link to that thread please??

You want to know what im sick of. Im sick of people from the west coast bitching and complaining. Im from Newfoundland and no province has been ignored and even slaped around by central Canada more then Newfoundland, but you dont see us bitching and complaining, and we are a lot worse off then you guys.

But AdamNF, you guys get ALL the great weather............. :wink:

I'm from BC and we have a strong love for our country. Yes the goverment has screwed us around and we have hard feelings against Quebec and Ontario, but who doesn't. I'm sad to hear those words "I give up on Canada", I couldn't be happier being a part of this great country. But comparing BC to Orgen or Washington, it doesn't go together! We don't have the same mind set and we are proud to be in Canada.

Im accualy a huge fan of our weather lol.

Regional "alienation" in this country is a sad state of affairs. Unfortunately, the media and the politicians have seen that driving wedges between people sells air time / newspapers and gains votes. Equally unfortunately, our political system encourages all of this. Look at the Bloc and the former Reform. Both parties were very successful in using these regional differences to their advantage.

We live in a democracy, with one citizen one vote. As a result, our parliament will, of course, be largely determined by the voters of Quebec and Ontario, who make up over 50% of this country's population. The Greater Toronto Area has more people than the province of Alberta, and almost as many as BC. Our parliament MUST reflect that, because of the nature of our democracy.

So, how do we work around it? I don't know myself. Senate reform is one option, but I don't think it has been fully evaluated and clearly articulated, even by the former Alliance party for whom it was such an important issue. Do we move away from the "first past the post" method of voting to a more proportional representation based model? That may actually make things worse.

Either way, I'm still proud to be Canadian and feel that, despite our differences, there is a Canadian identity (as hard as it is to describe) which defines us and brings us together.

Proportional representation has worked elsewhere, Othello. If we pick the right model, it can spread power more evenly amongst the provinces and regions by reducing the traditional strongholds of Ontario and Quebec. Most of all, it would force parties to work together instead of hollering at each other like children.

As long as the Liberals a hot for money, Conservitives are hot for bitching at the liberals and the NDP are hot to tree huging there will be no unity.

When I moved to BC it always struck me as odd that the very people who called us Easterners spoke with British accents. Those that didn't may have been there a generation or two. The only true left coasters are the natives and east-indian communities. The east-indians have been in BC for a couple of hundred years quietly growing mushrooms (the legal ones) and fishing.

But think of this. If you gave up on Canada, where would you go?

Denmark is nice this time of year.

One way I think of helping with Western Alienation would be to have a cross between representation-by-population, and representation-by-area. Saskatchewan probably has the lowest population density but they have an awful lot of farmland. Surly that's worth something. As for a BC'ers opinion: I'm poud to be Canadian. Yeah there are some things I'd like to see changed, but our (Canadians) ability to compromise is one thing that makes Canada a great nation.

Yeah agree with canuck.

When your asked where your from, on the internet or anything. Do you say im from Canada, or do you say your from Nova Scotia or Alberta or whatever province you from.