Absurdity

I think one thing the short American ban from TikTok showed us was that we have a distinct lack of Canadian content in our online media. It used to be you had the CBC, CTV, local news channels, bunch of other Canadian channels, and they were required to have a certain percentage of Canadian content. Online that same rule doesn't apply and you end up consuming a lot more American content. Nowadays you go online and any social media platform just see mostly American content, it is dominating and pushing out Canadian content and a strong unique Canadian identity.

Lot of us bond over old things we saw on YTV, concerned children's advertisers segments, educational content. Log Driver's Waltz, Don't Put It In Your Mouth, that raccoon that wanted to eat an apple. Reboot. I will talk to co-workers and make references to old commercials and media that are uniquely Canadian. Our kids kind of miss out on this experience, all the content online is now all American, we don't have the same protections online as we do on cable and radio to ensure there is Canadian content to consume, which helps Canadians have a strong identity and help Canadian artists get their work out there instead of being drowned in American media.

America used to be a world leader. Pushing the edge with research, NASA, investing in new and developing technologies. But now they have chosen religion and ignorance over science and advancement. They are removing themselves from leadership roles in the world and losing influence in important organizations such as WHO. They are dumping science research and investment, abandoning public education. They are unstable and divided, swinging wildly each election. They are dismantling programs that take decades to build in months. It is easier to destroy than to build, and they are showing us that right now. A lot of what they get rid of will take decades and determination to re-build, and likely not to happen. We have seen that attitude here locally as well, when the school resource centre got closed with no replacement, it is a lot of work to rebuild something like that, securing a new building, staff, rebuilding the resources they had built up.

We may not always be the best, but I truly believe in us, don't let perfect get in the way of good. We can and will do better, making our current system disappear is not improving, it is not building up the next level of care for the next generation. Canada has a history of improving generation after generation, it will never be ideal, nothing is, but I want to see that trend continue. Just now we have worked towards dental and pharamacare, expanding essential health care services to be universal instead of taking them away. I hope the best for our two countries in the future and the next 100 years, but the US has chosen a path of dismantlement I pray we do not follow.

Canada must be careful not to follow and to take steps to avoid American influence and rhetoric. The only thing they lead in now is disinformation and hate. I like the idea of distancing ourselves from the States and becoming more aligned with the European Union, by comparison they are a lot more stable and have more progressive ideals. We don't have to worry about them overwhelming our culture as they work to preserve all the unique cultures in their union. We need to value intelligence, critical thinking, empathy, people. We need to keep moving Canada forward, not backwards.

Would love to see us join the EU! NAFTA/free trade with the states doesn't seem to get us anywhere, feels very unstable and less and less free. I feel they can no longer be a reliable partner and we need to look elsewhere. Half of them don't understand that them importing more than they export is a good thing because they import a lot of our resources and turn it into finished products to sell at a much higher price. When we had free trade I felt we were pretty even in terms of what each country gained.

Now they are getting rid of emission laws and regulations across the board. We don't need their cars if they are not going to built to Canadian standards. We don't need their milk that doesn't stand up to Canadian milk.

Canada has it's history and it's horrors, it has not always been great to all of it's citizens. I think of it is a reason to keep striving to do better and to do right by those who were wronged, not to abandon Canada to worse opportunities. We are not perfect but we are good and I am proud of that, and I would like to see us be better, not disappear.