Is Canada a country without a purpose?

Absolutely! I was being very serious. Canadians are much nicer and more friendly. It can therefore be reasonably argued that Ted Cruz belongs in the USA rather than Canada.

 

My apologies, then, for often being the exception that makes the rule.

 

Well now...supposing someone starts an internet rumor that Ted Cruz's Canadian birth certificate was faked to show his parents are U.S. citizens while in reality they came from Belarus. Obviously true. I've seen that alleged birth certificate and I can tell you it looks like a photoshop forgery to ME!

You HAVE to take him back NOW Johann!

 

"Hello, Justin? About this Ted Cruz thing....yes, I know how Nosborne gets... OK, thanks!"

The HELL I have to!!!

 

Okay, okay. You takeTed Cruz and we will offer asylum to Justin. How's that?

 

Which famous Canadian Justin are we talking about now?

 

Well, not THAT one in the pic. He's in the US and doesn't need asylum. He and his wife paid $28.5 million for their Beverly Hills home in 2019. It doesn't get any less asylum-like than that. He's a former neighbour of Kim Kardashian - in Calabasas CA. Sold that house for 7.2 million, to Kim's sister, Khloe Kardashian. Seems he made a modest profit. IIRC he paid $6.5 million.

The other Justin - he, his wife Sophie and their kids live in pretty impressive digs at 24 Sussex Dr. Ottawa. That's our version of No. 10 Downing Street - The Prime Minister's official residence. And you can always borrow a cup of - whatever - from the Governor General down the street at #12. I don't think Justin Trudeau would take an asylum offer. He appears to like his job. He sends old Canadians (75+) lots of extra money - I picked up $500 today. Stephen Harper never did things like that. No, nosborne48, you can't have him!

Here's some info on the Biebers and the places they hang their hats these days. https://www.velvetropes.com/backstage/where-does-justin-bieber-live

 

Twist: The prime minister's residence at 24 Sussex fell into disrepair and has been vacant for years pending very extensive renovations. Justin T. since he took office has lived in Rideau Cottage, a smaller house on the grounds of Rideau Hall at 1 Sussex Drive.

 

Thanks, Jonathan. I stand corrected. Quick! Somebody call Mike Holmes! https://makeitright.ca/
Rideau Cottage is pretty nice, though. Finished just in time for Confederation (1867). Pic here: https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_fhbro_eng.aspx?id=2716

 

One of the saddest trends in my life these past two decades has been the hardening of the U.S./Canada border. I grew up south of Detroit in Monroe County, MI. From the eastern tip of the county, I could look across a slice of Canada and see the Renaissance Center. As a child, we watched Canadian TV, listened to Canadian radio stations and visited Point Pelee, the Bruce Peninsula, Niagara Falls and Toronto. I think that the purpose of Canada is to help its people trade, travel, communicate, fall in love and just, generally, live the best lives possible. I think that this is the basic purpose of the United States as well.

However, when I look at the passenger car border crossing statistics for Detroit, I see something terrible. There were 24 million passenger car crossings in 1996 and almost 21 million in 2000. In 2002, that number was only 12 million. In 2009, the number was 7 million and it was about 7.5 million in 2019. The number then crashed to under 2 million during the past two or three years.

There have been lots of reasons for this, of course. I remember my first crossing after the Sept. 11th attacks and seeing machine gun-toting soldiers at the Sault Ste. Marie crossing and thinking how weird that was. And now you need a passport to cross and what working family can go through all of that silliness? And, of course, we had Covid.

The end result of all of this is that people on both sides of the border who might have traded with each other, fallen in love or chatted about the world with each other never got the chance. And that has made the already pretty isolated centers of each country that much more isolated. It is a tragedy that two supposedly "free" countries with "free" peoples built a big fence between each other. I even think that the lost productivity and interaction has been a bigger blow to each nation than any potential resulting terrorist attack or Covid spread.

 

https://www.bts.gov/browse-statistical-products-and-data/border-crossing-data/border-crossingentry-data

 

It's a huge blow. I'm Canadian. I lived close to the border and was a frequent crosser years ago. 2001 clinched it. Passport? No. Not doing it. Offends me hugely that I need one, just to do what I always did. Like George W. Bush telling me my cheque is no good - or my credit card stinks. Or Donald Trump saying I look like a terrorist, or a "bad hombre."

So, now? I don't like the isolation but I like Covid and Terrorists even less. (I'm 79) Covid or terrorists can kill me. Isolation might make me miserable once in a long while -- I'm almost used to it. But at least I'll live through that.

 

Well...you DO have a beard and a fierce scowl, Johann. Easy mistake to make.

As to the "hardening" of the Canadian Border...'bout time, iffin' y' ask ME. Them "frostbacks" is allus cummin' t' take OUR...um...sumpthin'. Not sure wut, 'xactly. But SUMPTHIN' Sunshine, mebbee.

Even more shocking to me is the extreme "hardening" of the U.S. Mexico border. When I first moved here, you strolled across in each direction on your oral say-so. Now there's a freakin' WALL with barbed wire and armed guards. And you know how many terrorists came here from Mexico? None. Zero. Zip. Nada. The thing is a giant insult to Mexico and Mexicans and it makes me sick.

 

My father's father lived in Seattle but undertook building in Western Canada. No problem.

 

True - IIRC this pic of me, on DI (taken in 1983) may be from a very early "No Fly" list! Either that or a Mexican list - posted in my favorite bar in Zacatecas - that said "Buscados por la policía." I forget, exactly, but I DO remember leaving town rather quickly!

 

Can a country have more then one purpose, does it have to have a purpose?
I know little about Canada. But seems like it main purpose in my humble view is well fulfilled.
What is ones understanding of countries purpose may not be same as another persons.

 

Interesting questions, Lerner. Every successful country has a "founding myth" that may conform to actual history or may not. The U.S. believes that we are "dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." But of course that was nonsense from the very beginning and was still nonsense when Lincoln used the phrase at Gettysburg. We have never achieved anything like that equality and when we stray too close someone comes along to capitalize on the resulting resentment and fear.

Canada did have a carefully inculcated founding myth I think. It was the moral superiority that loyalty to the British Crown gave Canada. This was never really true and the myth has frayed somewhat but ultimately THAT is the fundamental difference between the two nations. It is a non-trivial difference, too, because nothing in English society even contemplated equality of the U.S. sort. The mere existence of a Queen shows that.

As time goes on, the differences between the U.S. and Canada grow ever slighter. The closest European parallel I can think of is Germany and Austria. There's not a schilling's worth of difference between them anymore that I, as an outsider, can see.

 

If all people were considered to be "created equal" and were permitted to vote in an uninhibited manner, and they were represented fairly and proportionately, this country would look a whole lot different.

 

Ummm -

https://www.german-way.com/austria-and-germany-worlds-apart/
https://www.actilingua.com/en/al-magazine/austria-vs-germany-ultimate-country-comparison/
https://russianvagabond.com/living-in-germany-vs-austria-guide/
https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/austria,germany,switzerland/

Some differences are rooted in size, population and landlocked vs. sea. Others aren't.
Lots more, same subject. Differences.

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