Donaill

That's hitting the million dollar nail on the head, with an $80,000 hammer. All being said, the solution is not an easy one. How can we claim sovereignty or a say on the world stage if we have no way to back up our claims? A start would be more people.

Long past in Scotland but not so much in Ireland. That ideal was beaten out of them. Again we are arguing the superiority of one culture over another based upon the ideals of one culture. That was the same mind set that shocked us when we found out the treatment of POWs by the Japanese. Sometimes the bases of judgments aren't as drastic. The Irish were once viewed by the English as being inferior because the Irish had weekly baths, compared to maybe monthly. Many of the customs that came to be thought of as English were really Norman ideals. Such happens when you have intermingling of cultures. This is a natural occurance and usually occurs without force. The Normans settled in England but did not force French culture or language on the population. The language of the court was French, the language of the street was an older form of English, complete with Masculine and feminine words. The Vikings treated Dublin the same way. What happened outside of Dublin was the business of the Gaels. What happened in Dublin was theirs. At least until Brian Boru came along. History is always an easy topic to look at with hind sight. If we had been a Mohawk when the first Europeans showed up then I have no doubt that we would have been curious about many things, but mopst likely would not have viewed them as far superior. Afterall these people could barely hunt and knew nothing about the ways of the land or animals that lived on it.

Education is not a defining point since most European cultures had an education for the nobility type of attitude. Much of what Europeans learned was from their interactions with other cultures, such as Arabs and Asians. Natives, like the Celtic peoples, often viewed boarders as a shifting entity. Real ownership of land was some what foreign. Among the Celts land was often communal amongst the clan. The Chieftan was the guardian of that land. After interaction with foreigners the idea of ownership came into play. This is much as it was with the first nations.

The British system was anything but tolerant. Having outlawed many things Celtic, such as language. Forced Anglification of many cultures. What made Canada tolerant was not a foreign system but born out of necessity. It has taken us over a century to become who we are. We changed because people realise, in part, that those they once hated or in the least distrusted could be likeable and trusting people.

Canada was never a unicultural nation with one set of common values. Whether t it was the heavily Gaelic influenced East Coast, the Ukarainian influenced prairies, The French or ASians that settled here. Everone brough with them something to add to this country. There is no way that you can convince me that the Anglo-Saxon system of values reflected those of the Irish and Scots Gaels or Welsh that came here. That is where we settled in communities that reflected those values. Kitchener, founded by Germans, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia - Germans, Clare - Acadians, Vancouver - mostly Scots. Even small f Fenianism of Thomas Darcy M'Gee was added to the Canadian identity. So when you say that you don't liek what Canada is becoming, I see it being as it always was. A place that values could be added to. The key is to not infinge on the freedoms we have already gained.

It is easy to judge the past with current ethics and moraility. To say that the first nations were not as advanced as Europeans is some what incorrect. There is alot of evidence showing that there were vast trade networks and many large settlementsthrough out north america. By todays standards I would not call Europeans of that day any more advanced than the Natives. They went back on their word several times with a variety of tribes. Europeans were still having tribal warfare, engaging in slavery, and genocide. The ability to maker a better spear does not make someone superior to another. It just means that they make a better spear. The English used to argue that the Irish and Scots were inferior to the English. Yet the ancestors of the Irish and Scots were trading with China long before the English were even heard of. The Irish did not suffer the same hysteria during the middle ages. No mass book burnings and the witch hunt was unheard of. When the Europeans came to North America they had to re-learn many of the skills that their ancestors had known. They re-learned them from the first nations. Debt repayed by the extermination of the Beothuk, linguistic and cultural genocide.

You don't need to beat a dog to train it not to shite on the floor. So you do not need to scream and shout at a recruit to train one. If you want to just blame liberal minded people for the decline in our military than I would be led to believe that you are too young to remember that concervative minded people have done nothing in a great way to support the military either. This new found ultra-concervatism that has taken hold of the Canadian west is not the concervatism I grew up with. The money in the Canadian forces is not bad money. A fully trained electronics technician, Corporal or Leading Seaman makes over 50,000 a year. That is far better than any civilian company. Housing may be an issue but than again it was the decisions of past goverments and the Canadian voters. Housing costs money. The Canadian Forces is the highest educated military in the world and the second highest paid. Those that join only for money may not stay long. Those that join because it is what they believe in will be there for good times and bad.

Thats true. Many people forget that our peace keepers were actually armed in places like the Golan Heights, Rwanda, Cyprus and elsewhere. Peace does not always come easy and in many cases comes at the cost of someone elses blood. I don't condone war but sometimes it is a necessary thing. War will always be around as long as there is greed, prejudice and racism. As I have asked some people, if your neighbor was being threatened, or harmed in some way would you try to help in some way or turn a blind eye? Helping other countries is part of being a good neighbour in this ever shrinking world.

People that are anti-union should check the history books to see just how many Canadians died at the hand of company thugs just for a working wage.

Part of ths problem is Canadians unwillingness to serve our country. With the educational benefits, health benefits and other benefits I would see it as an opportunity. The army not your thing? Try the Navey, or airforce. Yes teh Canadian Forces has been underfundedbut you can't put the blame completely on goverments when it is teh population that elects them. If enough pressure was placed on the goverment than more money would be spent. We have limited coffers. Our role in Nato, the UN and NORAD must be clear and concise. We are not the only country in the world with manning issues or equipment issues. Yes goverments have erred, re : helicopters, and AVRO being two issues. However they have also made a few great choices. The frigates were amongst the most advanced vessels when they were built. The system ob the Araura was the best system on the market. Ask the Ausies, having bought the American aircraft they scrapped the system and installed ours. People moan and graon about costs and then when it is almost too late they moan and groan about the state of what ever it is that the money was cut from. Examples are health care, education, and the military. Keeping a system up to date is expensive. Out ships are due for a midlife refit but I would bet a pay cheque that there will be complaints if there are cost over runs. Historically, Canada has always done more with less when it comes to the military. That is a testament to the training of our men and women in uniform and all the support personell. Ask any American ship commander what he thinks of Canada. If he has been in the scope of a Canadian sub during an exercise than he will speak with alot of respect. Canadians have often been the first in when it comes to keeping people from killing one another. Canadians often play down our roles in WW1and WW2. More the pitty because they were brave and succeeded at many tasks. They became feared by Germans, in both wars. They were so respected by the Boers in S.A. that they erected a monument to the Canadians that died there. The MacKenzie - Papineau proved themselves in the Spanish war preceeding WW2. signed a VERY proud Canadian.

That would explain why many of the aid groups were saying that they had yet to hear from any of the aid groups and that the Canadians supplied the first bit of aid.

Yes, the Americans were there days after the emergency. However I also know that the US told the Navy to leave because the help wasn't needed and in some cases was turned away in areas that really needed help. The reason being that their goverment was busy preparing to help but were still really weeks away from really aiding the people.

Canada is a land of risk takers. We just prefer to really examine the risks which we are taking part in. As for the autoindustry, there is a bit of history there. Back in the early days Canada had a booming home grown auto sector. We manufactured some of the best atos in North America. However, when the line came along, thanks to Fordx, we failed to keep with that new idea and most of our companies went under or were bought out. GM is actually the result of the amalgamation of an American and a Canadian company. Canadian risk takers have led to many breakthroughs in science, engineering, medicine and social well being. It was a near sighted Canadian that shut down the AVRO aircraft, only to have many of those engineering breakthroughs set the path for the American space program. Our issue isn't our fellow Canadians, as much as it is goverments that want to win US favour. Take for instance the energy agreement that was recently signed with the US. It gaurentees energy and water to the US regardless of our own needs. That is why many of us hope that Obama will open the Nafta agreement. Put those two on the table and then we will see who relies on whom. Personally I think it is a mutual thing. It is often forgotten by some Americans. Canadian contributions quite often get over looked. I believe that this is the reason for many Canadians anger to the US. Here is an example, when New Orleans was flooded out, Canada sent the navy down to help. The ships had highly trained personell that were ready, eager and willing to help. However they were restricted from doing so in many cases. Eventually they came home. They would have been able to help faster than the US teams because we were fast and prepared.