Canada has much to be proud of, here are some of things we can be proud of:
- CN Tower name one of the ‘Seven Wonders of the Modern World’ by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
- Discovery of insulin for the treatment of diabetes by Frederick Banting and Charles Best of Toronto, 1922. Awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1923.
- Development of Pablum in 1930: three doctors from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, developed the infant food as a way to prevent and treat rickets in children.
- Safer Stem Cells: researcher, Andras Nagy, found a way to safely generate stem cells from adult human skill cells, opening the possibility in the future of using a patients own cells to reverse damage caused by disease, injury, aging or genetics and cure diseases whose treatment costs the Canadian health-care system billions of dollars a year.
- Universal health care.
- Gay marriage.
- Home to some of the most-successful musicians of all-time such as; Celine Dion, Justin Bieber, Avril Lavigne, Joni Mitchell, Alanis Morissette, Shania Twain, Rush, Drake. Shania Twain has the most successful (and best-selling) album by a female artist of all-time.
- Dr. Roberta Bondar, Canada’s first woman in space and first neurologist in space.
- Terry Fox – Marathon of Hope.
- Rocky Mountains and other beautiful and natural landscapes.
With so much to be proud of – how can Canada recently rank last in environmental protection? A recent Globe and Mail article, written by Paul Waldie and citing the Washington-based Center for Global Development, indicated the following:
The Washington-based Center for Global Development assesses 27 wealthy nations annually on their commitment to seven areas that impact the world’s poor. Canada came 13th in this year’s survey. Denmark led the list, followed by Sweden and Norway, with Japan and South Korea at the bottom.
Canada dropped from 12th place last year and did far worse in the environmental protection category, where it ranked 27th. Every other country made progress in this area except Canada, the centre said in a report on the rankings.
Here is a link to the complete Globe and Mail article http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/canada-dead-last-in-oecd-ranking-for-environmental-protection/article15484134/ and link to the survey that the Center for Global Development completed http://www.cgdev.org/initiative/commitment-development-index/index
What can we expect from a country who withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol, the world’s only treaty governing the emissions of heat-trapping gasses. Could this be because our Prime Minister is a big supporter of BIG OIL, the Keystone Pipeline and the horrible environmental ‘eyesore’ that is the Alberta Tar Sands? Quite possibly, after all the tar sands is located in his home province of Alberta.
I was under the impression that world governments worked for the people, the greater good of their country and the planet. When I hear of studies indicating that – Canada, as a wealthy nation is moving backwards, it completely deflated any respect and hope I have for our democratic system. Why is our government not listening to the countless scientists that are saying we are at a very critical stage in the planets history. Is it because our government(s) are trying to silence the scientific community? Judge for yourself:
http://sciencewriters.ca/initiatives/muzzling_canadian_federal_scientists/
http://www.frankejames.com/canadian-government-tries-to-silence-franke-james/
The above links is clear evidence that our government does not have the best interests of its citizens but the interests of big corporations and big oil. If people do not become engaged or involved in government policies – then they can expect more of their civil liberties and freedoms to be taken away from them. What can you do? Talk to your friends and inform and educate yourself as to what is happening. Write to your Member of Parliament and insist that you will not vote for them should they continue to disregard what the people want. Write, blog, share information that is sent to you about the lack of action that our/any government has on the important issues, such as; the environment, automation of jobs, lack of jobs, health care and education. The government should not be in business to ensure their laws protect those who are breaking laws, polluting our planet and making profits on the backs of the poor and middle-class.
When the Center for Global Development publishes their report next year – will we have improved? Probably not. Why – because our government will continue to support BIG CORPORATIONS and DIRTY OIL. We need new faces in politics – people who are not motivated by power, money or greed but motivated by their convictions to reach positive resolutions for the planet and its inhabitants. If we elected people who are motivated by their convictions for positive change, we could make a dent in climate change, CO2 emissions, unemployment, human rights issues, poverty, starvation, crime, financial inequality and violence perpetuated by war.
COALITION OF POSITIVE ENERGY 