Don't Play With Guns

Telling the Americans not to play with guns is like telling the Canadians not to play hockey or the Chinese not to eat Chinese food. Good luck !!!

New Government In Canada

Just finished watching the swearing-in ceremony of Canada's 23rd Prime Minister.

The cabinet chosen by Justin Trudeau, our new Prime Minister, consists of ministers with different backgrounds and attributes: 50 / 50 of men and women, young and old, natives  and minorities, able bodied and physically challenged, experienced and new parliamentarians, Canadians and Canadians. No more Stephen Harper's one-man band ! 

Go Canada Go !  

Sino-British Golden Age

Chinese President Xi Jinping is visiting the U.K. China and the U.K. are entering a Golden Age of bilateral ties. I felt hopeful in watching and listening to President Xi addressing the British Parliament.These days, when it comes to economic growth, peace and development, which country would you think of first? It's got to be China.

Being a Canadian who grew up in Hong Kong, I am very interested in seeing a good China-U.K. relation. Being a Pacifist, I would like to see the world stop fighting and killing one another.

Stephen Harper's Canada

First and foremost, I don't belong to any political party in Canada or anywhere. I don't blindly take side with one political party against another political party. I look at the issues and concerns rationally, and see how our leaders deal with them. Basically, I am a pacifist. I am pro-peace and anti-war. I am pro-diplomacy and anti-destruction. I am pro-negotiation and anti-nuke. I am pro-freedom and anti-fear. 

I am a Canadian. I love Canada, even the whole world. I am very concerned about the Harper Government's domestic and foreign policies. To put it bluntly, I don't like them. But do I still respect Stephen Harper? Yes, he is our prime minister. He is not all bad. Is he a good politician? Yes, he is. Is he a great statesman? No. 

Today's Canada is not the Canada that I used to know. Sad to see that Stephen Harper has joined the U.S. led Fighting and Killing Club.It is my opinion that Canada must not go into Syria to strike ISIS. However bad you think Syria is, it is a sovereign country. Call it a dictatorship, evil empire, or whatever, it is a sovereign country. Without the support of the Syrian Government,  it just doesn't make any legal and diplomatic sense, to go into Syria to fight ISIS or do whatever. Does Syria post a direct threat to Canada? No. Even if it does, the Canadian Parliament must first approve a declaration of war against Syria, before Canada should go into Syria. Have we learned anything at all from 911 and the illegal U.S. invasion of Iraq? Had there not been an Iraq War, there would not even have been ISIS. Do international law and the U.N.Charter mean anything at all ?    

Canada used to stand for Peace and Peace Keeping. What is Canada now becoming ? Now that oil price has dropped drastically, Harper and his gang can no longer boast that Canada is a super oil power. Alberta is moaning. Sorry, no more easy oil money! I feel very sad that Harper is turning Canada into a militarized and war-oriented country. 

I despise politicians who use moral justification in their military actions, to order the fighting of evil with evil, and killing of other human beings, including the innocent, all in the name of god and religion. Adding religion to politics only makes it stink even more.To me, war is the worst kind of organized crime. There is no true honor in killing innocent people, whether they are your enemies or your own countrymen. Can you tell me any war which was not messy, in which there was absolutely no injury or death of the civilians? You can't. Want to talk about moral high ground ? How about Thou Shalt Not Kill ? How about Love your neighbor ? How about Love your enemy ? So many religious and political hypocrites !!! 

Regarding fighting ISIS, I do not favor the military involvement of Canada. I support any humanitarian work, such as helping the refugees and displaced people, which Canada is very good at. I would like to see Canada return to its old peaceful way. Improving homeland security should focus on home soil, not by fighting and killing in foreign lands far away. Again, have we learned from 911 and the U.S. illegal invasion of Iraq? Don't tell me that you don't understand the difference between Defense and Invasion. To defend your country, you must focus on your homeland and its border, not by invading another country or engaging in fighting and killing people far away from home. 

In the past, if you held a Canadian passport, you would be welcome everywhere in the world. After 911, some American travelers pretended to be Canadians, to avoid being targets of the terrorists. Today, the terrorists treat Canadians the same as Americans. Why? Please do some thinking yourself and you will find the answer.

I love Canada, but not Harper's Canada. As said earlier, I don't belong to any political party, but I am hoping that Stephen Harper will not be re-elected in the upcoming election. But there is a good chance that I will be disappointed. He may win again!     
 

Economic Freedom

In the news, the U.S. ranks 12 in a report of Economic Freedom by the Heritage Foundation. These are the top five with the most Economic Freedom: (1) Hong Kong, (2) Singapore, (3) New Zealand, (4) Australia, (5) Switzerland.

Canada is (6), which is not bad. The falling of Oil Price and the value of Loonie is good news to some, but bad news to others. There is no perfect country on Earth. On the whole, Canada is still a great country to live in. What do you think ?

Spring Shooting

In the news, 6 were killed in suburban Houston, Texas, including 4 children. Is this even news, or rather just the same old story? Mass shooting is nothing new in America. It happens frequently. Even the headline of the news article I read implies that it is something seasonal.

To be fair, the headline of 'Spring Shooting' is probably intended to mean that the tragedy is happening in Spring, but to me, it sounds like an expected seasonal event. Don't be surprised if you see this same old story happen yet again: summer shooting, fall shooting and winter shooting! It is like a popular movie, with continued sequels.

Unfortunately, such mass murders are not movies. Real people actually died. In terms of gun possession, U.S.A. is number one in the whole world. One recent report shows that there are 97 guns for every 100 U.S.residents. Whao, that means there are more than 300 million guns in America !

"Guns don't kill people.Only people kill people", so they say. I heard that in Texas, a man would propose to marry a woman by giving her not only a ring, but also a gun. Dear friends in Texas, is this true or not ? Don't know what to say really, in spite of the fact that mass shooting causing multiple deaths is a very serious problem.Why ? Because bearing arms is a constitutional right of the Americans.

Guns are very much part of the American culture. It is not easy to change a culture, unless both government and people come to an agreement. Politics and economics only make the gun issue even more difficult and complicated. It is a mission impossible, or is it ?, to tell the Americans to stop playing with guns, the Russians to stop drinking volka, or the Canadians to stop playing hockey ?!

O Canada

It is not the first time that Canadians take issue about their national anthem.I remember that Canada's men and women hockey teams both won gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Sidney Crosby's overtime winning score turned the whole country of Canada into a frenzy. It created some wonderful nationalistic feelings spontaneously. Everyone, even non-Canadians, got caught in the Canadian pride and excitement.Many joined in singing O Canada.
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Recently, O Canada became Ouch Canada again. The same old question resurfaced: should O Canada be changed to be gender-neutral ? A few prominent Canadian women, including Kim Campbell and Margaret Atwood said yes.
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There are 3 ouches in O Canada. The first ouch is that some women are upset about the line 'in all thy sons command'. This is sexist, they complain. Some suggest that it should revert to the old version of 'thou dost in us command'. Others suggest the change to 'in all of us command'. Yet some women say it is just fine to keep 'in all thy sons command' with no change.This is my opinion: 'thou dost in us command' is old English. It just doesn't sound right for our time.The words do not sound good for singing either. 'In all of us command' is O.K., but for singing, it doesn't sound as good as 'in all thy sons command'. My suggestion is this: change the words to 'in you and I command'.
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The second ouch is 'our home and native land'. What does the word 'native' mean? Often when we see the word 'native', we think of the native people of Canada. The native people are the aboriginal or indigenous people. But then the people who were born in Canada are also natives of the land. Furthermore, this land or country called Canada belongs to all Canadians, not just the natives or native-born.Canada also belongs to the many immigrants from different backgrounds who chose to become Canadians.So what are we going to do with 'our home and native land'? I have a suggestion: just change it to 'our home Canadian land'. The meaning is appropriate, and it sounds good for singing.     
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The third ouch is 'God keep our land, Glorious and Free'. Canada is a free country. People belong to different religions and faith groups. The problem is that people believe in different gods, so which god or gods keep our land? Besides, there are agnostics and atheists, too. Canada belongs to all Canadians, whether you believe in a god or not. I suggest to simply drop this line of 'God keep our land' and replace it with 'O Canada'. 'O Canada, Glorious and Free' sounds very good, do you agree ?
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Maybe the Government of Canada can hold a contest across the country, to come up with the best new version of O Canada, otherwise we have to keep living with the 3 existing ouches !






  

Politicians Came To Town

The politicians came to town yesterday. The Liberals, led by Justin Trudeau and Bob Rae, were here in Whitehorse. The NDP also came. Wonder if it was just a coincidence or an orchestrated appearance. Ah  Canadian Politics !

3 Attitudes in the Olympic Games

There are 3 interesting attitudes in the Olympic Games: American: it doesn't matter whether we've won or lost. We are always the best. Chinese: what, a Bronze ? Only a Silver ? Sorry, they don't count. Winning means GOLD only. Canadian: whao, we are so happy, we've won a Bronze. In my opinion, all Olympians are winners. The losers are those who cheated.

Welcome to Canada

Dear American friends: when USA was under the Bush administration, some Americans pretended to be Canadians when they travelled, yes, to avoid being shot at by the terrorists. Now Obama is having a hard time trying to put his "yes we can" to work: 14 million Americans are unemployed, over 4 trillions of dollars are owing in foreign debts, not to mention very expensive cost in health care.Do you want to come to Canada ? Mind you, we still have a Queen, if that doesn't bother you.