Canada Needs to Step Up
If we are ever gonna carve out a national identity
I knew Canada was heading in the wrong direction when a majority of parliament gave the performative applause for Charlie Kirk on September 15th . Yes his killing was terrible yet to sanitize him in death is an approval to his ideas in a way. However I believe Canada should not be in lock step with the United States. Currently Canada hasn't labelled Antifa and trans people as terrorists yet, so maybe we still have time. So how can Canada step up?
Provide Amnesty to Talk Show Hosts
With the recent taking down of Jimmy Kimmel (just reinstated) and Stephen Colbert, and various other comedians being targeted globally by their governments. Maybe it's time Canada starts taking on a role to help protect a global freedom of expression. This is an opportunity for Canada to stand on its own as a place for everyone. We as a nation can extend citizenship to these hosts and their families and possibly give them a budget and Canadian co-host. Broadcasting your beliefs to the world has been a way for countries to forge the identity for a long time. This content should be made available publicly since it required public fund to make.
Transforming the CBC
There was an article published by The Tyee a few years back saying that the CBC should launch its own Mastodon Instance, and I whole heartily agree with that. We have let the CBC weaken itself to external corporate control too much. If it ran a neutral non-profit social media network that wasn't heavily reliant on algorithms to introduce content. Any news agency should be allowed to post to this platform. For the sake of transparency (almost along the lines of Ground News) the owner of any publication is placed the publications name. This will allow the rising amount of independent journalists equal exposure on the platform creating proper competition. Speaking of competition.
Canada needs to do something about Big Media
Many of Canada's news sources such as the wholly foreign owned Post Media and other large media conglomerates, continue to buy out other media companies while the competition Bureau of Canada gazes at its own puckering asshole. This has resulted in a decline of local coverage in the news and increase the use of extreme political rhetoric to get attention. Not surprisingly, this also has allowed for the rise of copaganda, since many news rooms are stretched for staff and they get neat packages from police PR teams. Canada needs to break up these media conglomerates into many regional news media.
Galvanize the Charter
This will be difficult in our country but not impossible. Provinces love the non-withstanding clause of our charter and have weaponized it to violate the charter rights of marginalized people or labour groups. It requires many provinces (with a combined population of more than 50% of the national population) to agree to the change the charter. Despite Brian Mulorony being disastrous for Canadian Economic sovereignty, he was right in his description of the not withstanding clause.
"Mulroney famously argued that Section 33 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms made the charter "not worth the paper it's written on." He also called the clause a "fatal flaw" of the Constitution." - HuffPost author Ryan Maloney
And even though I am cautious of the Angus Reid Institute results on anything even their numbers say Canadians are not a fan of the charter, specifically recent uses of it. Let's face it however, as long and the "Not Withstanding Clause" exists in our Charter, the charter will only be there to pass anti-trans and anti-worker legislation or used one of these questionable word salad law firms to push their own agenda.
I still have a bit of hope
Though I don't think we will see any of these changes under our current government or the sad alternative option. I hope recent events has gotten people to be more alert to these issues and in the future we will be a bit wiser.
Bismuth Out