Monday, December 12, 2005
Toronto: Now Located on the Moon!
According to Stephen Harper, anyway.
During a speech in Victoria yesterday, he called the NDP 'elitist' and led by an 'out-of-touch Torontonian'. I'll leave aside his atrocious grasp of the NDP's populist history for the moment, and vent some bile on Harper's invocation of the Toronto bogeyman.
Seriously. Does anyone actually think someone in Toronto has quantifiably different interests than someone who lives in, say, Calgary? Both places are multicultural business centres, everyone pays the same taxes and presumably, share similar concerns about the quality of health care. It would be a bit more plausible to suggest that people in Toronto have different interests than someone in Hinton, AB. But that's a rural/urban divide issue, found in every city/town/hamlet/farm in every single country in the world.
This is precisely what drives me crazy about 'western alienation'. Its a myth, a chimera. It has been, and continues to be, a construction of unscrupulous politicians who care more about getting votes than the welfare of our country.
And this isn't just the opinion of another 'out-of-touch' Torontonian. I was born in BC and lived in Alberta for eight years. I never once felt alienated, and I suspect it was because I'm not inclined to listen to the vainglorious ramblings of western nationalists.
People of the west, I implore you: don't buy into the narcissism of minor difference. Don't believe that people in Toronto want to screw you over. And most of all, don't let Stephen Harper get away with cynical political parlour tricks. ¶ 2:19 p.m.
During a speech in Victoria yesterday, he called the NDP 'elitist' and led by an 'out-of-touch Torontonian'. I'll leave aside his atrocious grasp of the NDP's populist history for the moment, and vent some bile on Harper's invocation of the Toronto bogeyman.
Seriously. Does anyone actually think someone in Toronto has quantifiably different interests than someone who lives in, say, Calgary? Both places are multicultural business centres, everyone pays the same taxes and presumably, share similar concerns about the quality of health care. It would be a bit more plausible to suggest that people in Toronto have different interests than someone in Hinton, AB. But that's a rural/urban divide issue, found in every city/town/hamlet/farm in every single country in the world.
This is precisely what drives me crazy about 'western alienation'. Its a myth, a chimera. It has been, and continues to be, a construction of unscrupulous politicians who care more about getting votes than the welfare of our country.
And this isn't just the opinion of another 'out-of-touch' Torontonian. I was born in BC and lived in Alberta for eight years. I never once felt alienated, and I suspect it was because I'm not inclined to listen to the vainglorious ramblings of western nationalists.
People of the west, I implore you: don't buy into the narcissism of minor difference. Don't believe that people in Toronto want to screw you over. And most of all, don't let Stephen Harper get away with cynical political parlour tricks. ¶ 2:19 p.m.
Comments:
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Indeed! A little known harperism. But, he would no doubt argue, he renounced his elitist, urban ways when he moved to Calgary, worked in oil and gas, then got an MA from UofC.
No doubt, the irony is lost on him.
No doubt, the irony is lost on him.
This is a Republican talking point and that it is should been jammed down Harper's throat.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17982
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17982
# posted by 
: 9:37 p.m.
: 9:37 p.m.
All you have to do is sub in Layton for Kerry and Torontonian for Massachusetts Senator and bob’s your uncle. You have the makings of plan to appeal to the working class while all the way committing yourself to policies that hurt them. Thomas Frank, who wrote a book on the subject called what is the matter with Kansas.
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# posted by : 4:59 a.m.
: 4:59 a.m.<< Home
