Hello All, 
 
On Tue, 16 May 1995, Roderick Hay (McMaster University) wrote: 
 
> As a Canadian I feel somewhat alien to this discussion. And I would  
> imagine that most people in other countries would feel the same.  
> Political discourse in the United States has become so rhetorical, so  
> motivated by unstated goals that the carefull distinctions outlined below  
> are ignored, denied, etc. for political purposes that have nothing to do  
> with reasonable intellectual discussion that it is probably best to  
> ignore it. 
 
Are we Canadians so superior to our lowly southern cousins that we are 
beyond notions of lisence and liberty?  Do we not observe the basis of 
polemic rhetoric in our political discourse?  Are we beyond a 
re-examination of the philisophical foundations of corporatized popular 
government?  Is coercion so absent from Canadian society that we are free 
of the politics of rent-seeking and cost-shifting?  Ask aborginals, 
children/minors, non-traditional persons or remote regions, if they 
perceive only ignorance in the Parliament and legislatures of Canada, and 
not a wicked whip thrashed beyond the perview of the common citizen?  
Ought we not question the foundations and merits of the wide use of 
sovereign immunity?  Of vague statutes granting enormous latitude to 
ministries to regulate behaviour (via administrative law)?  Are we 
Canadians beyond double entedre and disguised motives?  Are so honest as 
to jeopardize our preferences in political markets?  Have we never had 
such debates or conflicts in the past?  Are you so confident that we will 
not have them in the future.  
 
Perhaps living in Lotusland, with that great mountainous barrier and 
tremendous distance between B.C. and central Canada, many here have come 
to appreciate the political subtleties of American discourse, having 
learned to ignore the narrow and confining petty concerns of southern 
Ontario.  Perhaps, we have come to learn that there is much to be gained 
from *not* ignoring what goes on south of the international border, and 
seeking to understand, appreciate and learn from it in all its subtle  
complexity. 
 
richard m porter <[log in to unmask]>                      
forest economics and policy analysis              
university of british columbia                    tel: 604/228-8818 (h) 
RESECON admin <[log in to unmask]>        fax: 604/822-6970 (w) 
 
Accuse not nature, she hath done her part; do thou thine. - John Milton 
       Take Chances!  Make Mistakes!  Get Messy! - Miss Frizzle 
                Va, pensiero, sull'ali dorate! - Verdi 
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