It has come to my attention that many people beyond the New Brunswick/Quebec border have an extremely limited understanding of what it means to have the leader of this country and his cronies decide to unilaterally tear up a signed, sealed and delivered contract and replace it with something else...anything else, as long as it doesn't have the heading, "Atlantic Accord".
Imagine my dismay to read some of the comments offered by so many of the uninformed in upper Canada to the question, 'Is the Harper government breaking a contract and gleefully putting the screws to Atlantic Canada in regards to the 2007 federal budget and the Atlantic Accord?' or something like that....
Before I get to some of the more naive comments let me try to explain to you people in upper Canada what exactly has transpired. Actually I think I'll let Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald explain it to you. He was a teacher in his previous life and shows a remarkable understanding of the science behind explaining a topic to those among us with particularly impenetrable skulls. Without further ado, the following explanation was written by Premier MacDonald a few days ago and published in a local Halifax daily:
"Suppose you are an employee in a company and you achieve a bonus from your boss. You take that bonus and put all of it against your mortgage. Two years later, the company is doing better so the boss gives everyone a raise. But he gives you a choice between your old salary with the bonus you got two years ago or the raise. But the catch is that if you take the raise you have to pay back the bonus you got. Is that fair?
"That's what the federal government is doing to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. They gave us the accord two years ago and we put it on our debt. Now they are clawing it back if you choose the richer Equalization formula. In effect, to get the full value of the Equalization formula they are asking Nova Scotia to go further into debt. It makes you wonder if Nova Scotia and Newfoundland are part of Canada."
Now do you understand? Does that make it any clearer? How about you, Pat in Newfoundland? Do you see the error of your words when you write how ashamed you are of being from Newfoundland because you are under the false impression that NL is now a "have" province that still demands more money from the other "have" provinces? Silly Pat. Newfoundland wants to be a have-province, they're working hard towards being a have-province but they aren't there yet. The Accord would have been quite helpful in their endeavours.
How about Gary from somewhere in Canada but I seriously doubt it's anywhere in the Atlantic region? Do you understand now? Do you get it? Because it's not reflected in your little flash of uninformed perspective. How did you put it? Atlantic Canadians "still want to be on welfare as well as working...talk about double dipping"? Apparently Gary is under the impression that until very recently no one in Atlantic Canada actually worked for a living and now everyone is magically independently wealthy. Gary has to be from Ontario.
This next one just depressed me. Because this person didn't sign with a real name I'll refer to him or her as "Bubba". Bubba, like Pat is an Atlantic Canadian and downright ashamed of that fact. Oops sorry, Bubba is embarrassed, not ashamed. I'd be embarrassed too Bubba if I thought like you do about this being a simple issue and all. And really, if I was as embarrassed as you (and Pat for that matter) I'd be slinking out of the Maritimes under darkness of night and taking up residence somewhere in upper Canada where I'm sure you'd fit right in.
Danny dear you actually have it half right and you don't even realize it! You say with an air of authority that the east coast cannot have it both ways. That's true and furthermore we don't want it both ways. Then you declare that once offshore revenue equals or exceeds equalization payments then those payments should be halted. BINGO! Give a gold star to Danny because that is the position we in Atlantic Canada have always maintained. Wonder why Danny states that he sides with Harper on this issue...? Funny that.
And then there was Deidra. Poor pitiful Deidra is sick and tired. Sick and tired of whining Atlantic Canadians who would rather work just long enough to be eligible for EI cheques (we call them pogey cheques, eh) and why shouldn't Atlantic Canada share our offshore revenue "wealth" with the rest of Canada anyway?? And what's with those lazy Maritimers who don't want to work to the extent that certain companies have to hire from outside Canada altogether?? Diedra your entire diatribe was "just wrong"!
Sam, it never ceases to amaze me how little of an understanding the rest of Canada has about life beyond Quebec. Sam is so good at the stereotyping I'm going to let him speak for himself: "Grow up, get to work, and perhaps, just perhaps one day, you might actually contribute to Confederation like the few of us that actually do." Sam makes me so proud to be a Canadian that I'm getting all teary-eyed.
So Canada, you see the general consensus from the samplings above. If Pat and Gary and Danny and Diedra and that irascible scamp Sam can actually post their opinions on a national message board believing wholeheartedly that they have a deep and astute understanding of the Atlantic Accord and what it means not only to Atlantic Canada but to all of Canada, if they can write such uninformed, stereotypical, bigoted garbage about their fellow Canadians, what does that say about Canada?
All I can do is shake my head in disgust at the absolute ignorance the rest of Canada has when it involves anything beyond Quebec. It's like I'm reading racist comments about a group of uneducated bums in a distant Third World country. Look at the words and phrases my fellow Canadians are directing toward the good people of Atlantic Canada:
Bellyaching
On the dole
Whiners
Tiresome
EI bums
Culture of defeat
Jerks
Welfare recipients
Double-dipping bums
And that's just from ONE message board.
There's talk of Alberta separating or at least building a firewall around itself...Quebec continues to threaten separation insisting they can and want to go it alone...people in the west call people in the east, "eastern bastards"....people in the east call people in Ontario "uppity Canadians"....others refer to Canada from coast to coast as "BC to Quebec"...what the hell happened to this country? What happened that created the hate and ignorance and animosity and vituperation?
Atlantic Canada doesn't want something for nothing, we don't want our cake and eat too, we don't want it both ways and we definitely don't want anything to do with "double-dipping". We are not a "have" region but we want a fair chance to become one someday. Our offshore is still in the baby stages. If the Atlantic Accord is taken from us, this region will NEVER have a chance at being a have-province. We will continue to be "on the dole" to the feds. We want to be self-sustaining and once we are self-sustaining, we will not require any more assistance from the rest of Canada. That should make you very happy.
I invite...no I implore you to please enlighten yourselves about the real meaning and the wording of the Atlantic Accord and what it will mean for the Atlantic provinces and all of Canada. Once you've developed a better understanding of our position, take a good long look at what Harper and Flaherty want to do with this Accord. Learn what Harper and Flaherty want to do to Atlantic Canada, discover what Harper thinks of Atlantic Canada. Oddly enough, Stephen Harper feels the same way Diedra, Danny, Pat and Gary feel....and I've already established how ignorant, uninformed and hateful those sentiments are.
Do this country a favour, become informed and stop the negative long-standing stereotypes. If not, ask yourselves what the alternatives will be.
And finally, how do celebrate Canada Day in Ontario and Alberta and Manitoba? Do you wave tiny maple leaf flags at your local Canada Day parade? Do you attend open concerts and stand proudly joining thousands of other voices as you all belt out a sincere rendidtion of 'Oh Canada'? Do you on that day display open patriotism for this great country?
So do we here in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland/Labrador. See? We're not so different afterall..
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