David Suzuki's Canada ...

... As expressed in his Canada Day message [plus by my comments]:

... Canada, ... to me meant Tommy Douglas and Medicare, Quebec, the National Film Board and CBC. [Who'd a thunk? But 'Quebec'? What about BC, Manitoba, PEI ...?]


... an inclusive and caring society, where education, public health, social programs and enlightened laws provide numerous opportunities. [Perhaps not realizing that it takes great wealth to afford all these things.]

... Canada is nature. And nature is life. [Well, not quite. Canadians may appreciate nature (from a safe distance in most cases), but Canada is really a nation of  free, wealthy, healthy people who got that way by taming nature, building towns and cities, developing resources, building roads, railways and pipelines, drilling oil wells, fracking,  mining minerals ...]

 But there's always a 'but') ...

... our leaders are rushing to scar the landscape with mines, roads and pipelines to sell our resources as quickly as possible to global markets. From tar sands expansion to fracking, federal and provincial governments are blindly proceeding with little thought about long-term consequences. [And David Suzuki, funded by foreigners (including Vladimir Putin?), is doing everything he can to halt Canadian resource development, the long term consequences of which will be to destroy Canadian jobs and wealth.]

...  [Stephen Harper is evil] ... our prime minister called climate change "perhaps the greatest threat to the future of humanity." Now he says, "No matter what they say, no country is going to take actions that are going to deliberately destroy jobs and growth in their country." [a realistic message recently echoed by India] ...  we can't hope for abundant jobs and a thriving economy on a planet suffering the ever-worsening consequences of global warming. [Except that, to the chagrin (or denial) of alarmists, the evidence all shows that the globe has not warmed in the last two decades] 

Now, the big question ...

What kind of Canada do you want? Do you treasure our spectacular natural landscapes, clean water and air and abundant natural resources? Do you value our commitment to fairness, enlightened social programs, education and public health? Do you believe we should do all we can to protect the things that make this country great?

[That's easy.  Yes to all of the above.  Plus the development of all those "abundant natural resources" so that we can continue to afford all the other good things. We can have it all.  But if we chose not to develop those resources, we'll have less of the other good things, much less.  What will Suzuki's beloved Quebec do without those massive transfers from Alberta, for example?]

Happy Canada Day!