[Persiana]

Alright, this is something that resulted from a topic rather unrelated to Canada, on another forum I visit. It came down to this question by an American:

$1:

Ok, what has Canada done recently that should be acknowledged?
Not being antagonistic, it's a nonjudgmental question.

Followed by this question also by another American

$1:

what does canada do? when is canada in the news when its not some canadian government official calling bush an idiot? canada pretty much ties with greenland for its lack of being in the news and having almost no presence on the international political stage.

I personally found both questions shocking & appalling. I understand they're Americans, (and that's not a slam against Americans) but surely Canada is in the media a BIT more than that???

A fellow Canadian backed me up on my indignation to the first question with this...

$1:

argh...you know I love you....but *thwap*

Dude, this is exactly what she means....you are sincerely asking this question...you have no idea because what Canada does is never acknowledged by the media or anyone else...

Did you know that 4 years ago when California suffered their black outs, BC redirected a large amount of our hydro to Cali?? Know why I'll never forget this??? Because MY HYDRO BILLS WERE RAISED BY 30% TO COMPENSATE AND HAVE NEVER GONE BACK DOWN. This isn't just a Canadian government 'sacrifice' thing...all BCers and Albertans are now paying more for their power because California is using more than their allotted amount...this is not a complaint, but a little acknowledgement would be nice.
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/...15/daily31.html

We have soldiers in Afghanistan helping to hold down the fort while US troops are in Iraq.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNe...s_name=&no_ads=

"Canadian special forces have maintained an almost-constant presence in Afghanistan since Ottawa first sent troops to the former terrorist haven in early 2002." - source: http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Na...221219-sun.html

We sent 4 ships to New Orleans full of emergency supplies and 1000 personnel, a 40 man military diving team and 2 air force helicopters
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=52744

And, did you know that Canada is the #1 supplier of oil to the US...ahead of the saudis?
http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/can-am...el050328-en.asp

These things may not seem 'huge' in proportion to things the US or the UK have to offer...but, they are none the less things that Canada can and does offer to our allies.

The american's response was this, and I think it's a good one.

$1:

If I looked at Canada not as a country, but as a business with a problem, I'd say, seriously, your problem is "marketing and promotion". You need a showman.

Look at America, we have people who tout everything. Trump for business. Paris Hilton for being a slut. Al Sharpton about racial inequality. Oprah for reading. Dr. Phil for interpersonal communication. Government and private people for America itself. Hell, you name it. (In fact, how can we even "hear" Canada over all these other people yelling?!)

Canada needs a booster, a cheerleader,

---------------
He's got a point. More & more youth choose "not to vote" each year it seems (so the reports say, I'd believe it) because they feel it won't make any kind of difference. Thinking back to the Military forum & how few Canadians support our troops -- Same issue. Very few Canadians seem to even be aware of just how much our troops do.

We could do SO much to improve the country, if we could stir up a lot more public interest & awareness in what exactly it is the government does, instead of being largely blissfully ignorant & taking things as they come.

Thoughts?

I'm aware this wouldn't fix all of our problems, but a great deal more public interest in what our government does, could be exactly the key they need to stop simply stating the problems, and actually doing something to fix them.

[Blue_Nose]

I don't think we need to be a showboat... maybe just change our tourism slogan to, "Canada: North America's Best Kept Secret"

[Persiana]

Haha..

No on the level that the US does it, we definitely don't need to be a showboat. For that matter, on any international scale we don't need to be a showboat either, but on a national scale, we do need to boost up the average Canadian citizen's interest in this country & its government. I've always found that people who aren't interested in something, (especially something like politics) generally aren't interested because they're pretty ignorant on the subject.

[American]

$1:

Did you know that 4 years ago when California suffered their black outs, BC redirected a large amount of our hydro to Cali?? Know why I'll never forget this??? Because MY HYDRO BILLS WERE RAISED BY 30% TO COMPENSATE AND HAVE NEVER GONE BACK DOWN. This isn't just a Canadian government 'sacrifice' thing...all BCers and Albertans are now paying more for their power because California is using more than their allotted amount...this is not a complaint, but a little acknowledgement would be nice.

Thanks for your help, but guess what? We can't build new electic power plants because of tree-hugging liberals like those that live in mass in Canada.

$1:

I don't think we need to be a showboat... maybe just change our tourism slogan to, "Canada: North America's Best Kept Secret"

Good, don't ever change. Humility is a virtue.

[xerxes]

$1:

Thanks for your help, but guess what? We can't build new electic power plants because of tree-hugging liberals like those that live in mass in Canada.

Oh yeah, because polluting the environment to death is of no concern because I might have to drive a smaller car!

You probably haven't heard of this, but right across the Canada/US border on the US side Washington State wants to build a brand new power plant. It will be 4x the size of the old and will produce 4x the pollution. A good majority of the pollution will end up in the Fraser Valley (where I live), a valley where after a few sunny days the pollution get almost unbearable already. Also, what the Americans don't realise is that the same mountains that trap the bad air for us will also trap it for them all the way down to Seattle.

So guess why a some people are opposed to gas and coal plants.

[BartSimpson]

xerxes xerxes:

$1:

Thanks for your help, but guess what? We can't build new electic power plants because of tree-hugging liberals like those that live in mass in Canada.

Oh yeah, because polluting the environment to death is of no concern because I might have to drive a smaller car!

You probably haven't heard of this, but right across the Canada/US border on the US side Washington State wants to build a brand new power plant. It will be 4x the size of the old and will produce 4x the pollution. A good majority of the pollution will end up in the Fraser Valley (where I live), a valley where after a few sunny days the pollution get almost unbearable already. Also, what the Americans don't realise is that the same mountains that trap the bad air for us will also trap it for them all the way down to Seattle.

So guess why a some people are opposed to gas and coal plants.

If it is a coal-fired plant the coal will likely come from nearby Canada and be delivered from the coaling dock at Tsawassen.

[BartSimpson]

And Canada does need a cheerleader or someone of note to make an impression on the world stage for Canada.

It's not a bad idea at all.

[BartSimpson]

lily lily:

The coal at my port comes from eastern B.C. We don't produce it, only transport it. Lots of it, too - big expansion going on.

And you would know. I flew into Victoria when I was last up in August and missed the ferry ride. The coaling station always impresses me when I have the car parked in the queue for the ferry - the volume of coal that gets moved around there is really quite impressive.

[American]

xerxes xerxes:

$1:

Thanks for your help, but guess what? We can't build new electic power plants because of tree-hugging liberals like those that live in mass in Canada.

Oh yeah, because polluting the environment to death is of no concern because I might have to drive a smaller car!

You probably haven't heard of this, but right across the Canada/US border on the US side Washington State wants to build a brand new power plant. It will be 4x the size of the old and will produce 4x the pollution. A good majority of the pollution will end up in the Fraser Valley (where I live), a valley where after a few sunny days the pollution get almost unbearable already. Also, what the Americans don't realise is that the same mountains that trap the bad air for us will also trap it for them all the way down to Seattle.

So guess why a some people are opposed to gas and coal plants.

Uh, those are the same people opposed to nuclear power plants. In other words, we are not allowed to make electicity at all for fear of pollution. Catch-22, so keep sending your power and paying your bills.

[American]

lily lily:

American - you need to read up on Sumas. If it were such a good idea and as clean as your side claims, why insist on building it right on the border?

The location is irrelevant. The problem is that the type of people that squash any building are the same kind of people that complain when their bills go up.

[BartSimpson]

lily lily:

American - you need to read up on Sumas. If it were such a good idea and as clean as your side claims, why insist on building it right on the border?

I would not see it as "insisting" but as simply doing something in the US without your input.

Just the same as Canada could build a nuclear power plant at White Rock and the people in Blaine would just have to deal with it.

Of course, there is a way where BC'ers would have the right to approve or deny projects in Washington State and that is to arrange to fly one of these from the Parliament building in Victoria...

[American]

lily lily:

No... the problem is that the people in the Fraser Valley would have seen all the pollution with none of the economic benefits.

Dirty up your own back yard.

You ignore my point completely again. I don't care where you want to put an electric power plant, someone will object on the grounds it pollutes, no matter what energy source it uses. Is that clearer now?

[BartSimpson]

lily lily:

Clear as clear can be.

Now how about you try to get my point - that if it's such a good idea, you build it in such a location that you get the energy... and the resulting pollution?

Can you keep silt from the Fraser River from fouling shellfish beds in the San Juan Islands?

Of course not.

At the same time you complain of pollution from the USA we complain of pollution coming in from Mexico.

We can't do anything about that other than bitch and complain.

It is just the way it is.

[RUEZ]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

At the same time you complain of pollution from the USA we complain of pollution coming in from Mexico.

We can't do anything about that other than bitch and complain.

It is just the way it is.

Ya there is, complain, protest, and get it stopped. If something is bad for the invironment there's no reason to just let it go. Or like Lily says, build it so it only pollutes your environment.

[BartSimpson]

International relations are a tad more complex that that.

Canadians can protest all they want about the power plant across the Straits and the people in Seattle who need the power will not hear a word of it.

Like I said, if Canada needed to build something the USA didn't like then we'd just have to deal with it.

Of course, you can always donate money to a US environmental group and ask them to cause trouble for you.