Sounds like a history book with humour. Humour helps with some of the history. However we're still grappling with some painful parts of our past, both distant and recent that humour won't heal. I'll try not to go there. But I'll give you some back story to your Northern Ontario jab; in recent decades the Ontario provincial government has been seen to be spending disproportionate tax revenues on Southern Ont. leaving many Northern Ont. residents disgruntled. A group passed around the notion of separation, the North becoming a separate province, or perhaps joining Manitoba. That may sound funny to some but this is where we wander into the unfunny past of provincial referendums and near brushes with separation. Every once in awhile when a region of Canada is unhappy with the central-federal vs regional-provincial political and socioeconomic power structure there's talk of separation. I don't know if there's any constitutional way a region could actually achieve separation, but there are mechanisms in place for provinces. In fact one province has not ratified our constitution. The unhappiness belays the divisions within our country. And these are no laughing matter. The struggling resource sectors here, particularly in the north, have real reasons to be unhappy. Shrinking world markets, soaring electricity costs, protectionist trade barriers, and the lack of government bailouts or investments...If you foolishly read some comments under news items in our online newspapers you can see haters and trolls all bashing governments, corporations, unions ,workers...and each other, with very little humour.
I don't know what populist divisions there are in the States but here they exist between some regions and provinces, and to a certain degree one exists between Ontario south and north. Maybe it's been blown all out of proportion by a very small minority, or maybe it's the slow burn to a bigger problem. I don't know.
One evening I saw a young man looking befuddled on a street corner. I was stopped at the traffic light, so I lowered my car window and asked "Are you okay?" He looked startled and answered "I'm lost. I'm trying to find my way to the Mac University Engineering Department." (McMaster University, Hamilton Ontario) I told him I'd only just dropped off my son there, so it would be easier if I just drove him the few blocks there rather than describe the directions. On our way we talked about engineering projects like third world small scale village water pumps and stuff like that. Finally when I dropped him off he stood there looking confused again. I repeated my directions "Right through there. You can't miss the big doors." He said he was from Saskatchewan. I said "Cool! I've always wanted to travel there." He asked me where I was from and I told him "Right here. Hamilton Ontario. (Southern Ontario). He said "Thanks so much for the ride, but Geeze! Nobody's gonna believe me when I get home! My folks, and all my friends I've met from other parts of Canada all thought that you were all pricks in Ontario, especially Toronto?? Are you sure you're from around here?" I just had to laugh.
I guess I'm fighting division and discrimination, one car ride at a time.
