By Klaus Rohrich
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams has recently been chided by the national media for claiming that Newfoundlanders are "masters of [their] own house", while continuing to harangue Ottawa for bigger handouts. In a recent editorial the National Post sniffed, "Either they're rugged individualists, proud of their identity and self-reliance. Or they're professional welfare cases, endlessly harassing the rest of us for more handouts. You can't have it both ways".
Au contraire. This is Canada and in Canada you can have it both ways. Just take a look at Quebec with its endless quest for separation, while continuing to suckle at the breast of Canada. It's gone so far that a Conservative prime minister has actually declared Quebec a separate nation within a united Canada. It's gone so far as to gain Quebec representation at the UN, as the province... er, nation, has a delegate apart from the one representing the rest of Canada at the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
All the while that Quebec is holding forth about being "autonomous", which is the new buzzword to replace the S-word, the Conservative government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper is shoveling mountains of money into Quebec in hopes of making political inroads.
If Quebec isn't enough of an example of having it two or three ways, then what about Canadian aboriginals? Currently the federal government is pumping on the order of $8,000 per year for every aboriginal man, woman and child into so-called First Nation coffers. The idea is that Canadian Indians have been wronged in the past and as a result they are considered separate nations unto themselves and must be taken care of by the Canadian taxpayers so long as the river shall flow.
To aboriginals, most Canadian laws do not apply. They do not have to pay taxes, they get free education, free health and free dental care. What's more, the First Nations do not have to account for any of the nearly $10 billion the government lavishes unto them nor are they required to maintain infrastructures on their reservations. If the water supply becomes contaminated, the government merely relocates aboriginals to another location-end of story.
Unlike all other Canadians, the First Nations are not required to comply with court-ordered injunctions, due to the possibility of a breakout of violence, should police attempt to enforce a court order, as they did not do in Caledonia or on the CN tracks recently being blocked by natives at Tyendinaga. What's more natives can hunt and fish to their hearts' content in or out of season, while all other Canadians have their automobiles, guns, fishing gear and other property confiscated should they attempt to do so.
Another group in Canada that has it both ways are women, as most divorces end with men being the ones who are forced to pay support. While there is intrinsically nothing wrong with support payments per se, they often end up being more than a man actually earns, as the taxes on those payments are mandated to be paid by the payor, rather than the recipient. Many men wind up being in arrears of support payments, as the formulae being used to assess those payments are often arbitrary and bear no relation to the financial reality of the payor.
These are just three examples of different groups within Canada having it two or more ways. It makes perfect sense for Premier Danny Williams to want his province to have it two ways as well. After all, what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
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