Meanwhile in Canada we are going through more discussion on where we are and where we are going. The Commons is expected to vote yes on this proposal tomorrow. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has proposed that the House of Commons "recognize that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada." His motion and its discussion in Parliament leaves unanswered the question of what Canada is: Are the Québécois a "nation" within the "nation" of Canada, or is Canada not a nation? Canada, more than perhaps any other western nation-state, knows that its continued existence is a daily plebiscite on the value of living together. The Canadian nation-state must accommodate the competing demands of French, English, aboriginal, and the many other groups that make Canada among the most diverse and interesting of modern democracies. The affirmation of the value of that living together makes Canada unique. There is no reason why Quebec cannot and should not be a nation within Canada.
________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Karen Watters Cole Sent: Sun 11/26/2006 11:49 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [Futurework] FW -- New governance required Keith, I was surprised at the numbers in the poll (59% and 68%). I can't help but wonder if there isn't more than tribal comfort levels involved and the interplay of cultural identity. I wonder about the burden of size, as you suggested, but also about the tendency of older nations to resent having too many dependents still hanging around, like older people if they are not allowed to rest and let the next generation take up the family burden. In this case, a tax burden strained by social services with too many new members in a limited land space. You know, we are just ending a holiday weekend over here that superficially is a celebration of history and time to be grateful for blessings, the Hallmark version. Another aspect is how far individuals are willing (forced?) to travel to be with their family members at least once a year, like an annual pilgrimage to a mecca of food consumption and rebonding with family members. These simple holiday reenactments are now being supplanted by Wall Street-inspired acts of feasting and spending, much as feasts in the early centuries did for weeks at a time, and in some cultures, culminated in a live sacrifice. Many find mates or leave theirs in this pilgrimage, reinforcing again that we are not so different from other migrating animals. Thanks to the retailization of America, Thanksgiving, the third Thursday in November, now kicks off the holiday season of parties, food and gifts culminating in the New Year. Thanks to a moderate climate and modern transportation, relative wealth and comfort, we hold these annual feasts for six weeks. No wonder there is a post-holiday adjustment of fatigue and spent resources, a resentment by those who can't participate and the displaced. Arthur commented from an item in the Casey Reports, how interesting it is that the purchase of take-out holiday food is rising, and my thoughts after more than a decade of preparing meals and cleaning afterwards for my local family that now with boyfriends and girlfriends varies from 14-20 is that I could handle a year or two of that. Not everyone is a "foodie". But as long as the younger ones bring something and do the clean up afterwards, the tradition will survive. Wouldn't this ICM poll in Great Britain indicate that citizens feel relatively safe and don't need the burden of forged alliances to survive, as they felt before? In the face of the global war on terrorism, one assumes that the English, Scots and Welsh would still share the British Army and Navy. And tea. Maybe I'm just a middle aged grump today, tired from deboning two turkeys, freezing the extra meat and making broth, caring for my elderly, ill, parents and my young grandson. A fish taco for lunch sounds wonderful but more likely it will be a shepherd's pie to make use of the leftover mashed potatoes. Or more likely, I can't imagine cultural differences here in the States progressing from the wish stage of a poll to actual regional settlements because our American history is less of a simmering melting pot and more like a blender, tribes and groups arriving at different times in various amounts, blended and tossed across an expansive landscape, each batch a different result. The British experience reflects its island geography, as does Japan's. By comparison, the North American experience is still in mid-development. But now that the US population is 300 million, I am wondering if our Canadian neighbors are less comfortable about that long, open border we share. And that's the point where the history of Europe and the emerging history of North America gets interesting in this technologically-open borders global economy. Bon apetit.
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