Wednesday, September 28, 2011

O Canada! Our flag and reputation

The Conservative government is introducing a bill that will make it illegal for someone to prevent you from flying the Canadian flag.

I didn't know this was an issue, but apparently it is.  That said, let's call this bill for what it's real purpose is... to stop some overzealous nationalist folks in Quebec to prevent you from flying the Maple Leaf in their neighbourhood.  There, I said it.

Patriotism is obviously great and all, but I wonder if it infringes on the freedom for private multi-unit residence boards to ensure a level of aesthetics to their choosing.   Many do not allow political signs,  signs of any kind, or certain tacky decor.

I guess the flag will be the exception, and only when it is displayed properly.  There are specific rules for that as well.  So what if you're displaying the flag improperly, can someone call you out on that and what will the government do then?

In my many travels in the U.S., I saw a larger percentage of home than in Canada that very proudly and properly displayed the American Stars and Stripes.  But meh, that's not our style and that's fine.

But speaking of Canada, apparently, we have the best overall reputation in the world.  Yay us!

The Reputation Institute study measures the trust, esteem, admiration and good feelings the public holds towards 50 countries, as well as perceptions of peoples' quality of life, safety and attention to the environment. Results from 42,000 respondents worldwide ranked Canada first, Sweden next, followed by Australia, Switzerland and New Zealand.


16 comments:

Unknown said...

I plan to fly the flag when my house is built. I like to know that some board or local councilor can't tell me what to do.

A street with flags flying from a few houses strikes me as a safe one for families.

A liberal might be put off though and thats fine with me too.

KURSK said...

All the countries listed are thought of as predominately white, Anglo Saxon and Christian nations by the world..what will our reputation be in 25 years as our population becomes replaced with the 'other'?..the world's view of Canada will change as the people who make it so respectable will have been replaced by those who do not share our values or heritage.

Anonymous said...

Kursk You are a rascist pig. Canada has been developed primarily by non anglo saxons.

john said...

anon, stfu you are a twit go away.

Dollops said...

Not only the right to show your nationalism is in question in post-Liberal Canada. The choice of colors and symbols, the removal of ROYAL, the political correction of our anthem (although just a highschool rally ditty), and the ubiquitous, until Sun News, leftist propaganda are finally being questioned and set right - we can hope.

Patrick Ross said...

I'm particularly enjoying how much the far-left resents this study.

I've been raged at by no less than two Twittertards -- and John Cross -- for daring to say the obvious: the "Stephen Harper is ruining Canada's reputaiton" narrative so beloved by the far-left is complete and utter bullshit. Fiction. Nothing more.

Anonymous said...

First of all, it's a private member's bill introduced by some overzealous rookie MP. Historically, very few private member's bills ever become law. Second, it never ceases to amaze me how many conservatives bitch about the liberal rebranding of the country yet scream blue murder when anyone insults/burns/bans Pearson's Liberal Leaf flag. That was only the opening gambit in their long and deliberate campaign to erase our history and identity and replace them with Liberal Party approved images. It wasn't long after the Liberals replaced the Red Ensign that they destroyed the RCN, RCAF and Cdn Army and gave us the Canadian Unarmed Farces, instituted multiculturalism, renamed the Royal Mail, and, of course, changed our national holiday from Dominion Day to Canada Day in a stunning feat of Liberal duplicity, to name just a few.

If that's your bag, fine, but that flag will never be anything for me other than the banner of the Liberal Party of Canada. I was not born under it and I'll be goddanmed if I'll die under it.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately that banner of the Liberal Party of Canada is becomming more and more like the Nazi flag of Hitler.

Unknown said...

Describe my Nation's flag like that to my face and I'll make you pay for it.

I don't care what you've done, who you are, or what happens to me after. You'll never say that again. I promise.

I'll have plenty of help.

I have no animosity for the Red Ensign, but you all watch your step. Plenty have fought and died bravely under the Canadian Flag.

What is the Red Ensign but a poor and forgettable progenitor of Ontario's provincial flag. I know Liberals instituted that flag based on the coat of arms of RMC among other things, but your hatred for Liberals eclipses your love of Canada.

Didn't the vile UN create Israel? Didn't cruel pagans create the cross of Christendom? Give your fool heads a shake!

The Red Ensign is dead. Long dead. When you idiots talk like this it only makes me think you are also long past due to join it.

I can't make you love the flag, please don't insult it. You insult Canada and the millions who do love it.

Anonymous said...

You threaten people with physical violence for stating an opinion then end with polite pleading to not insult the flag? Are you Bi-polar?

First of all, your feelings for the flag mean jack-shit to me. Millions served and thousands died under the Red Ensign in Two World Wars and Korea to give me the right to state my opinion. They, too, were attached to a flag and lost it because it got in the way of Pearson’s self-serving dream of a Nobel peace prize and the Liberal party’s dream of a new Liberal approved Canadian identity. Your feelings in no way trump either theirs or mine.

Secondly, and this is going to stick in your craw, those fighting and dying under the current flag are doing so for my right to state that I don’t give a tinker’s cuss for Pearson’s flag or the Liberal rewriting of our history. That’s called democracy, boys and girls. Winston Churchill realised it when he got his ass turfed out in 1945 after shepherding Britain through most of the Second World War.

Thirdly, I’ll pick and choose what I like or dislike about the Liberals. Liberals before Pearson felt no need to screw with our national institutions. Do you know what happens when people plant a flag? They claim that territory as their own. For me it represents 40 plus years of Liberal policies and historical revisionism by the so-called national governing party. Explain to me how the hell I’m supposed to have an identity when every possible national symbol has changed in my lifetime. Oh, except the beaver and Tim Hortons. They’re okay because the beaver is totally devoid of any so-called colonial symbols and Tim Hortons was made in Canada.

Fourthly, conversations like this will become moot when I up stakes and leave for different shores. When that day happens you can attach Pearson’s flag to a hockey stick and wave it on St. Trudeau’s day or whatever the hell they happen to be calling July 1st because I won’t give a rat’s ass.

Unknown said...

When did I threaten you physically? I'll make you pay is what I said. Did it occur to you I could expose and embarrass your false patriotism? It will be pretty easy since you are your own punishment and my happy revenge continues even now.

As much as you hate Pearson and all Liberals, they are still Canadians and better citizens than you will ever be. Liberals too have given their lives for Canada under this and previous flags. Canada comes before politics. -especially decades old politics argued by dead men.

Your hate blinds you and you are an anonymous coward.

Good luck with your plan to get lost. I sincerely hope your corporeal pollution does not wind up interred in these fine lands. I hope you never see another July 1st ever again either. That would make us all happy.

Mike B. said...

Gentlemen, while I respect your right to state your views, threats or racial slurs are not my views. I strongly agree that Pearson and Trudeau changed Canada for the worse, and now, we are finally undoing many of those policies. The flag, on the other hand, likely won't be changed back, so there it stands, and remains, a symbol of great pride, for the majority of Canadians like myself who have lived under it their entire lives, while at the same time, respecting and acknowledging the past sacrifices. And Canada will become greater, not by being unwelcoming to those who make the journey here, but by being welcoming so that we can all share the same Canadian pride of our great history.

Unknown said...

I'm sorry. I like your blog and didn't mean sully it with high tempered comments.

Calling our flag a Nazi flag while pining for an inferior historical relic will appearently bring out the worst in me.

I will improve my tolerance for stupidity in the future.

Mike B. said...

I was surprise to see how quickly Godwin's Law was applied here as I never thought someone would compare the Canadian flag with Hitler or Nazism. That's gotta be a new record.

Anonymous said...

For the record, it was somebody else posting under anonymous who compared your flag with the swastika. It looks suspiciously like that old Liberal canard about what fascists the Conservatives are.

I will grant you that you seem to know how precious a sense of identity is. Pray that one day somebody doesn't sneak in, steal yours, and tell you to get over it because it's a useless relic of the past.

Unknown said...

I will. I should apologize to you too then. Sorry. The ill tempered threat was directed to that person.

If somebody said that to me in person I might control my fists, but they would get one heck of a tounge lashing. I'm pretty sure I'd end up using my fists in self defense anyway.

I'm also sorry you can't enjoy our flag. I put them side by side and there is no contest. None at all. I support this private members bill all the more now. For every Red Ensign lover, there has to be 20 more leftist anti-nationalism freaks out there just waiting for the oppoutunity to make me stop waving my flag.