Work with me on this………….just for a bit……

Imagine you are driving in the back-country and pass some old homesteading-type residence as you bounce by on the bumpy, irregular dirt road in front.  Maybe the owner’s old dog is a-howlin’ and a-nippin’ at your squeaking and rattling car as you go by.  You glance sideways to take in the ‘curb-appeal’ of the place and note with mild disgust the two old pick-up trucks in the front yard that clearly haven’t moved for decades.  Your discerning eye also notes an old tractor buried deep in the nearest clump of bushes and an old fiberglass boat lying not far from it in a state that suggests floating again is completely out of the question.

The house itself is no beauty either.  It could use a coat of paint, some minor repairs and the doorless appliances left rusting on the porch are definitely an offending touch.  “Man, oh man, where do these people come from?”    

Got that image in your mind?  Clear and vibrant, is it?  Ya know what I am talkin’ about here, do ya?  Ya got it?

OK.  Good.  Now imagine this: you are in a similar state of mind and on a similar journey.  Only on a larger scale.  You are in a vehicle of sorts that can cover more ground more quickly.  And you are sightseeing in a nationalistic kind of way.

You zoom by a large Government of Canada site and see a huge building looking kinda ugly and in need of a bit of repair.  It doesn’t look good.  Beside it are the aging and abandoned hulks of Sea King helicopters none of which can fly anymore.  The doors have been removed and they are clearly not capable of seeking anything again.  Your practiced eye also notes a half dozen old British submaries that are also high and dry and not in any position to float or sink.  Ever.  Resting is the position and rusting is the colour.

You instinctively look for a porch. It’s a habit from the old days.  Much to your surprise you see what passes for a large hangar.  In that hangar are parked a couple of dozen shiny new fighter jets.  But you look more closely and notice that they are all covered in a layer of dust.  And there are gaping holes in the planes.  And then you remember, Canada bought those jets for between 35 and 70 billion dollars from the United States a few years ago but the engines weren’t included.  You are looking at a hangar of useless hulks in the making.

A security guard dog comes out of the shadows and snarls in your direction.

Disgusted, you zip over to the coast to get a breath of fresh air.  Your vehicle passes by the tar sands.  “Man it is a good thing I don’t have to see that eye-sore everyday.  I might get depressed!” 

Your companion at the time says, “Well, it is ugly and it is pollutin’ and all but at least we are making big bucks, eh?” 

“Yep!  Big bucks.  I think we may have made enough to pay for those jet-fighters by now.  By the time the USA gets all that oil, I bet we can afford engines for them!”

“Yeah, in a funny way, we kinda did like the indians did when they traded the island of Manhattan for some beads, eh?  We traded northern Alberta and the coastline of BC for a hangar full of shiny trinkets…unh….I mean fighter planes.  Much cooler than beads, eh?

By now your vehicle is hovering over Vancouver and things are looking much better.  You look to land somewhere near downtown.  North Vancouver will do.  You pass by the old fast Ferries.  None of them going anywhere fast.

“Damn!  Forgot about the fast ferries littering up our front yard.  Them puppies don’t run and they don’t belong to us either.  Some ‘merican owns them.  Paid ten cents on the dollar.  Oh well, we’ll find a nice porch for them somewhere, I’m sure.  Let’s go over to Nanaimo and see how those two new German-made ferries are doing.  Government took possession of those boats years ago and have never used them.  Seems they burn too much fuel.” 

“Wonder if we can buy some of our fuel back from the Americans?”

You glance down to look at the water as you head over to Nanaimo.  The water has a thick black sheen to it.  “Hell, I guess we can just scoop up some of that oil that Enbridge spilled, eh?  Maybe we can burn that?   

“You know what, ol’ buddy?  We really are spoiled rotten in this country.  We should get off our duffs and go see the world as it really is.  Let’s go to a third world country where the governments are corrupt and criminal, where the people are impoverished and where the despots buy themselves big shiny toys by exploiting natural resources while polluting their own backyard.  C’mon, waddya say?  Let’s go see the stupid guys!”