Better Neighbours

I’m not a particularly religious individual, never was. It’s not that I have anything against those whom take faith in a higher power: rather I imagine it would be a somewhat comforting pillar in an existence rife with the uncomfortable. Instead—I suppose—I tend to place my confidence, be that for better or worse, elsewhere. But while I’m not much an adherent myself, it seems amusing with what frequency I find that biblical verses so succinctly condense an idea or a thought or an argument. So when presented with this blog topic—after a moment or so of brainstorming—one of my first tangible ideas was that of Matthew 5:30 “And if your right hand subverts you, cut it off, cast it from you”. So now a nation sits in the flickering light of a fire, watching a blade glow red—thinking.

Now while to call Quebec—a province on the verge of another succession movement—the right hand of our country is likely a bit of a stretch, the subversion of the latter by the former is still very real. To view evidence of such—at least by a fiscal measure—one need not look farther than the nature and details of Canada’s equalization program. This concept, embedded in the most basic legislation of our nation—the Constitution Act of 1982— states

"Parliament and the government of Canada are committed to the principle of making equalization payments to ensure that provincial governments have sufficient revenues to provide reasonably comparable levels of public services at reasonably comparable levels of taxation.”

I should qualify my stance in saying I do not host objection to the idea of equalization payments in and of themselves. The ebb and flow of money at the direction of the federal government should in theory make for a stronger Canada, assisting provinces in temporary times of recession at the expense of those still standing strong. The unfortunate reality, however, is that for a give and take system to work, each province has to eventually give. It seems that Quebec missed that memo.

Since the introduction of equalization payments in 1957, Quebec has taken more than it has contributed every fiscal year. That has equated to a total net influx of 253 billion dollars—just 1.6% less than the payments to all other provinces combined. I suppose if water ever hits $100 a barrel things might even out, but if that becomes the case we’ll have bigger problems to solve.

I’d like to think that—if that was the only problem—I could look past it. Perhaps in some parallel universe Quebec has oil, we have lakes, and the fiscal sponge has shifted west. I cannot blame a province for a lack of natural resources. If that was their only offence, I think I’d understand. For many years, Newfoundland and Labrador leeched western dividends to compensate for collapsing fish stocks. What they didn’t do—and I don’t know how much I can stress this—is complain. They lived quietly, humbly and by modest means. When they couldn’t find work, many packed a duffle bag, bought a Greyhound ticket and took the long ride to Alberta. Here they provided straight edge labour in the patch, and were appreciative for the opportunity.

On the contrary, however, many of the people of Quebec seem perpetually dissatisfied with their cozy conditions. In 2012, large protests broke out among university students over tuition increases. These increases resulted in average undergraduate tuitions still less than half of what we pay in Alberta. Pardon my lack of sympathy.

If one expects federal welfare, one cannot concurrently demand that they pay less than their benefactors. Costs can be subsidized or income can be supplemented. It is unreasonable to expect both, and ludicrous to complain when that expectation is not met. If Quebec wishes to break free from our nation—be their motive cultural, political or otherwise—I avow we let them do so. It seems to me they’d make a better neighbour than a roommate: it is far cheaper to lend a cup of sugar than to pay the grocery bill. If the hand subverts the body, cut it off. If the same hand is willing to perform the amputation, how much simpler it all will be.

Perhaps I’ll Stay With the Mountains: Part II

Déjà vu is not inherently pleasant nor inherently repulsive, it simply reminds us that we’ve walked this way once before. That’s good, because—in this case—I would be leaning more towards the repulsive. It seems—or rather it feels—as if time has slipped backwards some four months, and collapsed into the waning autumn that was early November. With something less than fond recollection, my thoughts make course in that direction—though successful navigation is not always call for celebration. Truly though, I tell you, I think back to sitting at this very desk when I wrote this blog—the first time.

“I struggled greatly with this sixth and final blog entry,” I started. Whereas final may have proven untrue, the struggle is still very real. As a rule, I enjoy writing. But to write of music? It seems when tasked with such I’m suddenly rendered intellectually incompetent. Even now, I’m writing—not terribly, either—but not about the music. I skirt the peripheries of my subject with all the grace of a cougar that has trapped a beaver in its lodge: hosting the needed arsenal to dispatch my quarry, but none of the precision to extract it. And so I circle… 

When I last suggested that I was scarcely an authority of any music, Indian music perhaps least of all, that was clearly the product (and the product alone) of me not being privy to the existence of K-Pop. A relatively recent large-scale cultural export, it seems that Korean Pop Music or K-Pop has come to be a massive commercial success in North America. I must have missed that memo—maybe I was climbing.

After having spent half an hour or so browsing through the internet’s finest selection of synthesizers, Auto-Tune and a language I don’t understand, I can’t claim myself a convert. The only things that have changed in that time is the fact my Monster now sits half empty, and the gentle sweep of the clock’s minute hand has reversed its prior bearing. I do not see Psy displacing Mick Jagger in my iTunes library anytime soon, nor do I hold any contempt for those whose only knowledge of the latter revolves around Ke$ha’s preference in men. All loss is relative. So as this blog entry clings to life like a washed up actor’s career, I think I’ll do the merciful thing—the Liberals just voted in favour, too. I found a genre of which I was unaware, but—for my purposes—no lesser for that oversight. Having plucked its offerings and found no harbour for my interest, I set sail for calmer seas in more familiar waters. After weeks of midterms and papers, I leave on a hiking trip this Friday. That’s good: I need the break. For last time I pondered but now I state: K-Pop may do as it pleases, the mountains will do fine by me.