jbg Posted March 2, 2020 Report Posted March 2, 2020 (edited) I'm on page 480 of 574 of The Impossible Railway, by Pierre Berton. I am almost finished reading this book. What can I say? This book is overlooked epic of the building of a great country as much as the building of a great railroad and a great nation. I'll start with the shortcomings of the country highlighted in the book. Quebec demonstrated its ability to dominate Parliament out of proportion to its numbers, And also, in a mixed socialist-capitalist system, the potential for corruption. And the love/hate relationship with Americans and the U.S. Now for the greatness. It is obvious. A destitute country that was barely in existence (six years) when it embarked on a Herculean nation-building project. Think what you will about the Riel Rebellion but it demonstrated the need to be able to move across the country expeditiously. And Canada built the railroad successfully through some extremely hostile terrain. Frankly, it dwarfs my country's accomplishment in building its railroad. Edited March 2, 2020 by jbg Add space after period. Quote Free speech: "You can say what you want, but I don't have to lend you my megaphone." Always remember that when you are in the right you can afford to keep your temper, and when you are in the wrong you cannot afford to lose it. - J.J. Reynolds. Will the steps anyone is proposing to fight "climate change" reduce a single temperature, by a single degree, at a single location? The mantra of "world opinion" or the views of the "international community" betrays flabby and weak reasoning (link).
Michael Hardner Posted March 2, 2020 Report Posted March 2, 2020 Not overlooked just lost to history... Again 1 Quote Click to learn why Climate Change is caused by HUMANS Michael Hardner
Argus Posted March 2, 2020 Report Posted March 2, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, jbg said: I'll start with the shortcomings of the country highlighted in the book. Quebec demonstrated its ability to dominate Parliament out of proportion to its numbers, And also, in a mixed socialist-capitalist system, the potential for corruption. And the love/hate relationship with Americans and the U.S. Which both continue to this day. Quebec's insular attitude and tribal vote have given it considerably more power within confederation than Ontario, despite the latter's larger size and wealth. And Quebec has always been the most corrupt of our provinces. Quote Now for the greatness. It is obvious. A destitute country that was barely in existence (six years) when it embarked on a Herculean nation-building project. Think what you will about the Riel Rebellion but it demonstrated the need to be able to move across the country expeditiously. And Canada built the railroad successfully through some extremely hostile terrain. Frankly, it dwarfs my country's accomplishment in building its railroad This must be quite an old book. The Canadian chattering classes (artists, writers, academics, media) no longer talk about Canadian greatness. Instead the narrative is Canada is a horrifically awful country populated by the racist descendants of cruel, evil, exploitive, murderous, racist, homophobic butchers and barbarians. There is nothing good about Canada's past and if you try to say otherwise you're obviously immoral. Welcome back, btw. Edited March 2, 2020 by Argus 2 Quote "A liberal is someone who claims to be open to all points of view — and then is surprised and offended to find there are other points of view.” William F Buckley
jbg Posted March 2, 2020 Author Report Posted March 2, 2020 31 minutes ago, Argus said: Which both continue to this day. Quebec's insular attitude and tribal vote have given it considerably more power within confederation than Ontario, despite the latter's larger size and wealth. And Quebec has always been the most corrupt of our provinces. My general view as a history buff (and former college history major) is the more things change the more they stay the same. There are revolutionary developments such as the development of steam, electricity, telecommunications or the Internet. But they engraft themselves onto established cultural habits. Quote This must be quite an old book. The Canadian chattering classes (artists, writers, academics, media) no longer talk about Canadian greatness. Instead the narrative is Canada is a horrifically awful country populated by the racist descendants of cruel, evil, exploitive, murderous, racist, homophobic butchers and barbarians. There is nothing good about Canada's past and if you try to say otherwise you're obviously immoral. The book is 1972 copyright. There are many old-style aspects to the book. The book is not "ra-ra" pro-Canadian. But it is balanced and objective. The modern fixation on self-flagellation bothers me to now end. Quote Welcome back, btw. Thanks. I do pop in every now and then and spend time on the Canadian sections of other boards. Quote Free speech: "You can say what you want, but I don't have to lend you my megaphone." Always remember that when you are in the right you can afford to keep your temper, and when you are in the wrong you cannot afford to lose it. - J.J. Reynolds. Will the steps anyone is proposing to fight "climate change" reduce a single temperature, by a single degree, at a single location? The mantra of "world opinion" or the views of the "international community" betrays flabby and weak reasoning (link).
jacee Posted March 2, 2020 Report Posted March 2, 2020 6 hours ago, jbg said: I'm on page 480 of 574 of The Impossible Railway, by Pierre Berton. I am almost finished reading this book. What can I say? This book is overlooked epic of the building of a great country as much as the building of a great railroad and a great nation. I'll start with the shortcomings of the country highlighted in the book. Quebec demonstrated its ability to dominate Parliament out of proportion to its numbers, And also, in a mixed socialist-capitalist system, the potential for corruption. And the love/hate relationship with Americans and the U.S. Now for the greatness. It is obvious. A destitute country that was barely in existence (six years) when it embarked on a Herculean nation-building project. Think what you will about the Riel Rebellion but it demonstrated the need to be able to move across the country expeditiously. And Canada built the railroad successfully through some extremely hostile terrain. Frankly, it dwarfs my country's accomplishment in building its railroad. A great accomplishment balanced by a great disaster: Some win, some lose. http://activehistory.ca/2013/12/an-unsettling-prairie-history-a-review-of-james-daschuks-clearing-the-plains/ Quote
Michael Hardner Posted March 3, 2020 Report Posted March 3, 2020 1 hour ago, jacee said: A great accomplishment balanced by a great disaster: Some win, some lose. That's the way of the world. And we have institutionalized this by allowing trade to decimate industries, for the greater good, by playing off one win over another loss. Manufacturing goes down, other industries gain... if they have a competitive advantage etc. And now it's time for oil to die... I'm sad for those impacted but... Quote Click to learn why Climate Change is caused by HUMANS Michael Hardner
bush_cheney2004 Posted March 3, 2020 Report Posted March 3, 2020 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Michael Hardner said: ...Manufacturing goes down, other industries gain... if they have a competitive advantage etc. And now it's time for oil to die... I'm sad for those impacted but... ...except for the Canadian Miracle that is moving far more oil by rail: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/will-more-pipelines-stop-oil-trains-and-the-growing-risk-of-derailments Edited March 3, 2020 by bush_cheney2004 Quote Economics trumps Virtue.
Michael Hardner Posted March 3, 2020 Report Posted March 3, 2020 1 hour ago, bush_cheney2004 said: ...except for the Canadian Miracle that is moving far more oil by rail: Some win, some lose... Quote Click to learn why Climate Change is caused by HUMANS Michael Hardner
Dougie93 Posted March 3, 2020 Report Posted March 3, 2020 7 hours ago, bush_cheney2004 said: ...except for the Canadian Miracle that is moving far more oil by rail: Perhaps the Progressives will make the oil industry die in Canada, but oil is far from dead, as there is no replacement, not even close, and America is now producing over 10 million barrels a day, exceeding the previous all time high in 1970. Quote
jbg Posted March 3, 2020 Author Report Posted March 3, 2020 17 hours ago, jacee said: A great accomplishment balanced by a great disaster: Some win, some lose. http://activehistory.ca/2013/12/an-unsettling-prairie-history-a-review-of-james-daschuks-clearing-the-plains/ Generally in a confrontation between primitive and advanced societies the outcome is tragic for the more primitive ones. It's sad but true. Quote Free speech: "You can say what you want, but I don't have to lend you my megaphone." Always remember that when you are in the right you can afford to keep your temper, and when you are in the wrong you cannot afford to lose it. - J.J. Reynolds. Will the steps anyone is proposing to fight "climate change" reduce a single temperature, by a single degree, at a single location? The mantra of "world opinion" or the views of the "international community" betrays flabby and weak reasoning (link).
eyeball Posted March 3, 2020 Report Posted March 3, 2020 21 minutes ago, jbg said: Generally in a confrontation between primitive and advanced societies the outcome is tragic for the more primitive ones. It's sad but true. That might have been a foregone conclusion in the past but nowadays so-called primitive societies are figuring out how to use the legal systems of so-called advanced societies meaning the outcome is still a moving target. To everyone's betterment. The only way out for advanced societies is to go back to being primitive and doing things the olde-fashioned way. Tragic but true. Quote A government without public oversight is like a nuclear plant without lead shielding.
jbg Posted March 3, 2020 Author Report Posted March 3, 2020 1 hour ago, eyeball said: That might have been a foregone conclusion in the past but nowadays so-called primitive societies are figuring out how to use the legal systems of so-called advanced societies meaning the outcome is still a moving target. To everyone's betterment. The only way out for advanced societies is to go back to being primitive and doing things the olde-fashioned way. Tragic but true. The better approach would be for the non-primitive societies to be more self-confident and less self-destructive. There is no reason to let hijackers, for example, use an airplane they couldn't have built to destroy buildings they couldn't have built. 2 Quote Free speech: "You can say what you want, but I don't have to lend you my megaphone." Always remember that when you are in the right you can afford to keep your temper, and when you are in the wrong you cannot afford to lose it. - J.J. Reynolds. Will the steps anyone is proposing to fight "climate change" reduce a single temperature, by a single degree, at a single location? The mantra of "world opinion" or the views of the "international community" betrays flabby and weak reasoning (link).
eyeball Posted March 3, 2020 Report Posted March 3, 2020 22 minutes ago, jbg said: The better approach would be for the non-primitive societies to be more self-confident and less self-destructive. True enough. Quote There is no reason to let hijackers, for example, use an airplane they couldn't have built to destroy buildings they couldn't have built. Well....there was a reason for that and I guess a non-primitive society that persists acting primitively is taking it's chances in today's world. Quote A government without public oversight is like a nuclear plant without lead shielding.
jbg Posted March 3, 2020 Author Report Posted March 3, 2020 1 hour ago, eyeball said: Well....there was a reason for that and I guess a non-primitive society that persists acting primitively is taking it's chances in today's world. Echoing Chretien's views. And by the way I finished the book on the train riding into NYC today. Quote Free speech: "You can say what you want, but I don't have to lend you my megaphone." Always remember that when you are in the right you can afford to keep your temper, and when you are in the wrong you cannot afford to lose it. - J.J. Reynolds. Will the steps anyone is proposing to fight "climate change" reduce a single temperature, by a single degree, at a single location? The mantra of "world opinion" or the views of the "international community" betrays flabby and weak reasoning (link).
Argus Posted March 4, 2020 Report Posted March 4, 2020 (edited) On 3/2/2020 at 7:40 PM, Michael Hardner said: Manufacturing goes down, other industries gain... if they have a competitive advantage etc. And now it's time for oil to die... I'm sad for those impacted but... We have no replacement for fossil fuels either as an energy source or in the source for the petrochemical industry whose products are in 95% of the things we build, own and wear. Wind and solar make up less than 1% of world energy, and most of that is heavily subsidized. No one seems to want nuclear, despite it being a far 'cleaner' energy source, and hundreds and hundreds of coal plants are continuing to be built around the world. One presumes that eventually those plants will be replaced by oil or natural gas. The blithe predictions of the end of the need for oil are many decades in advance of any reality. Edited March 4, 2020 by Argus 1 Quote "A liberal is someone who claims to be open to all points of view — and then is surprised and offended to find there are other points of view.” William F Buckley
Argus Posted March 4, 2020 Report Posted March 4, 2020 6 hours ago, eyeball said: That might have been a foregone conclusion in the past but nowadays so-called primitive societies are figuring out how to use the legal systems of so-called advanced societies meaning the outcome is still a moving target. To everyone's betterment. The only way out for advanced societies is to go back to being primitive and doing things the olde-fashioned way. Tragic but true. Or we could just change the constitution to remove all special native rights. That'd be good too. Natives could then be just Canadians like the rest of us. 1 Quote "A liberal is someone who claims to be open to all points of view — and then is surprised and offended to find there are other points of view.” William F Buckley
eyeball Posted March 4, 2020 Report Posted March 4, 2020 29 minutes ago, Argus said: Or we could just change the constitution to remove all special native rights. That'd be good too. Natives could then be just Canadians like the rest of us. Ok. We'll have reached the end of the need for oil by then so...planet saved. Thanks. Quote A government without public oversight is like a nuclear plant without lead shielding.
OftenWrong Posted March 4, 2020 Report Posted March 4, 2020 3 hours ago, jbg said: I finished the book on the train riding into NYC today. I read his book, The Last Spike: The Great Railway many years ago. Back when I was still reading things... I don't recall much about it, but it was a good read. I do recall the references he makes to the connections between nation building, and the railway. Rails of steel united the provinces, allowing for the convenient trade of goods and the movement of people. In one sense the railway is the very backbone upon which this country was built. And that is also why, when Mohawk natives choose to block the rails they understand all to well the effect of what they are doing. Evidently a history lesson about trains we have forgotten, but they haven't. Quote
August1991 Posted March 4, 2020 Report Posted March 4, 2020 (edited) On 3/2/2020 at 12:03 PM, jbg said: I'm on page 480 of 574 of The Impossible Railway, by Pierre Berton.... The CBC made it into a TV series: The National Dream William Hutt was a good gin-drinking Macdonald. ==== PS. This series should be available for the world to see, without paywall. Heck, I paid for it years ago. Edited March 4, 2020 by August1991 Quote
jbg Posted March 4, 2020 Author Report Posted March 4, 2020 11 hours ago, August1991 said: The CBC made it into a TV series: The National Dream William Hutt was a good gin-drinking Macdonald. ==== PS. This series should be available for the world to see, without paywall. Heck, I paid for it years ago. One of my favorite songs, Canadian Railroad Trilogy, I believe was written for this show: 1 Quote Free speech: "You can say what you want, but I don't have to lend you my megaphone." Always remember that when you are in the right you can afford to keep your temper, and when you are in the wrong you cannot afford to lose it. - J.J. Reynolds. Will the steps anyone is proposing to fight "climate change" reduce a single temperature, by a single degree, at a single location? The mantra of "world opinion" or the views of the "international community" betrays flabby and weak reasoning (link).
August1991 Posted March 6, 2020 Report Posted March 6, 2020 Palm hit. Gordon Lightfoot did not write this song for a video. The CBC, once upon a time, created content. 1 Quote
Michael Hardner Posted March 6, 2020 Report Posted March 6, 2020 8 hours ago, August1991 said: The CBC, once upon a time, created content. They still do - Baroness Von Sketch is a good show and they currently create it. The problem with the CBC is that the executives have created a culture in which it's almost impossible to create a good show. Quote Click to learn why Climate Change is caused by HUMANS Michael Hardner
jbg Posted March 8, 2020 Author Report Posted March 8, 2020 On 3/5/2020 at 10:28 PM, August1991 said: Palm hit. Gordon Lightfoot did not write this song for a video. The CBC, once upon a time, created content. For what was Gordon Lightfoot commissioned to write this song? Quote Free speech: "You can say what you want, but I don't have to lend you my megaphone." Always remember that when you are in the right you can afford to keep your temper, and when you are in the wrong you cannot afford to lose it. - J.J. Reynolds. Will the steps anyone is proposing to fight "climate change" reduce a single temperature, by a single degree, at a single location? The mantra of "world opinion" or the views of the "international community" betrays flabby and weak reasoning (link).
August1991 Posted March 8, 2020 Report Posted March 8, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, jbg said: For what was Gordon Lightfoot commissioned to write this song? Uh, he wasn't commissioned. In Canada, in Quebec - indeed America - people write such songs because they are free to do this: Edited March 8, 2020 by August1991 Quote
PIK Posted March 10, 2020 Report Posted March 10, 2020 On 3/2/2020 at 7:40 PM, Michael Hardner said: That's the way of the world. And we have institutionalized this by allowing trade to decimate industries, for the greater good, by playing off one win over another loss. Manufacturing goes down, other industries gain... if they have a competitive advantage etc. And now it's time for oil to die... I'm sad for those impacted but... Oil is not dying. I hope the kids realize that if oil does goes, their new phones will be 20 grand each. lol Quote Toronto, like a roach motel in the middle of a pretty living room.
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