Nope, on the contrary, thanks to one Kim Campbell, politicians in Canada
have learned what happens when you make fun of an opponent's physical
features. (Jean Chretien has, I can't remember the exact term for it, but
when he speaks, it looks like he is only speaking out of one side of his
mouth. Anyhow, Campbell, during the election in which the Progressive
Conservatives got whumped, as Evan mentioned, she poked fun at this. When
it was revealed that this was due to a medical condition, there was a huge
amount of neg. publicity.)
>Anyway what i am wondering is .. I still dont have a clear picture of
>Canada, or a simplistic one.
>
>For example: Italy: The North: industrial, rich, hates the south. The
>South: poor, no industry, no jobs, hates the north.
>
>What's the wrap-up for Canada ?
Well, like everything in this country, that's not the easiest question to
answer. In terms of the referendum, it's very much set up as a
Quebec/Rest-of-Canada sort of thing, as you've probably noticed just from
the posts on the list. Beyond that distinction, it can generally be broken
down into the Maritimes, Quebec, Ontario, the western provinces, and BC -
although some lump BC into the general category of 'the west' - (and then
Yukon and the NorthWest Territories). Economically, I wouldn't even know
where to begin, since it seems to me that the regional economies are all
rather diverse. In terms of "haves" (provinces that pay more to the federal
gov't in taxes than they get in transfer payments) and "have-nots"
(provinces that get more in transfer payments than they pay), Ontario,
Alberta, and British Columbia are haves, and the rest are the have-nots,
which may sound strange - i.e. only 3 provinces out of 10 being on the good
side of the equation. And while it certainly isn't the best of all possible
worlds, I'm fairly certain that those 3 provinces account for over half of
the country's population (by my estimation).
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Darren Osadchuk dosadchu@sol.uvic.ca http://www.xtc.net/~osadchuk/
If it should turn out to be true that knowledge (in the modern sense of
know-how) and thought have parted company for good, then we would indeed be-
come the helpless slaves, not so much of our machines as of our know-how,
thoughtless creatures at the mercy of every gadget which is technically
possible, no matter how murderous it is.
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