OK, everybody breathe. One of the two most important questions relative to the free world has been answered—and the other one is pending.
Obama is back.
On a personal note I am pleased. However, on a Canadian content level I admit to being slightly perplexed.
I have yet to figure out why Canadians are apparently so preoccupied with the U.S, election yet barely give a rat’s behind about our own political outcomes.
Perhaps it is the endless, non-stop Yankee hype for the better part of two years that fills our television screens which draws the attention. More than likely, though, it’s probably the sad realization that (whether we like it or not) Big Brother to the south dictates a whole lot of what happens around the rest of the world.
To many Canucks, having a fellow such as Obama back in the big chair is a heck of a lot more reassuring than someone else in charge perceived as a war monger or ‘hard-ass’.
I have always been somewhat taken back by the illogical association of some that anyone who is quiet and non-aggressive in nature is somehow weak or a pacifist.
President Obama simply sways towards the patient, non-confrontational demeanor rather than a swaggering, kill-them-all-let-God-sort-them-out mindset of some others.
That being said, the reigning White House champion strikes me as someone who I would not want to corner and then expect not to pay a price.
As a young boy my father warned me many a time to make sure and ‘watch out’ for the quiet guy in the corner.
Hopefully, that is a lesson that some aggressive nations around the globe will not have to learn during his next four-year term.
Now that our political focus can finally return to our own nation we can begrudgingly prepare for more rhetoric and hyperbole regarding our upcoming provincial election.
Clearly the schmoozing and BS is already in full stride with Premier Christy Clark’s announcement earlier this week of the return of a provincially supported tourism plan.
Destination B.C. (or whatever the new tag is) simply replaces the previous Tourism B.C. program the Liberal’s foolishly collapsed a few years back. (Can anyone say…“dumb as a brick”?)
Ironically, I was chatting with friend Silverado a couple of weeks ago and we were lamenting the demise of the old and effective slogans: “Beautiful B.C.,” and/or “Super Natural B.C.”
We had pondered whatever happened to those good, catchy promo hooks.
Of course, the same senseless elimination happened by supposedly wise marketing brains in Kelowna several years back when they dropped the “Four Season’s Playground” tag for Kelowna, and replaced it with, well, nothing.
Hopefully that appropriate tag will also soon be returned.
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The other earth-shattering question on the minds of most ‘good’ Canadians is will there actually be an NHL hockey season—and if so, when?
My answer remains yes to a salvaged season, and while I thought the boys would be back on their skates by now, I am confident they will be back to bashing each other around arenas in North America well before Christmas.
Like many puck pushers I am missing my Saturday sojourns to the TV, despite the fact it means having to occasionally listen to that racist bigot Don Cherry. (When will Hockey Night in Canada finally drop The Obnoxious One?)
Regardless, I digress yet again. The league will return to play sooner than later because the owners are finally going to realize that this time around the players will not knuckle like last time.
I hope it happens soon because, as pointed out by several others, many employees and small businesses that depend on hockey for their salary or income are seriously hurting. Many of those employees and small businesses are directly tied to the NHL arenas and owners.
I believe the current impasse is largely due to a select group of about eight hard-line team owners who are simply demanding more blood from the players and have cajoled the other owners into not budging.
This time, however, the players are not taking the bluff. I note my friend and strong community voice Wally Lightbody has crafted a letter to the editor in the Capital News (Nov. 6 edition) about the NHL lockout and wisely suggested what is needed is an appointed arbitrator to step in.
Grand idea, which I fully support. Unfortunately, such a move would likely need the consent of the team owners, the NHL itself, and the players’ association, and I’m not sure that will ever happen, Oh well, we can certainly hope.
Good idea Wally!
•••
A reminder to readers out there to please honour our past and present soldiers and military support personal on Remembrance Day this Sunday.
We are so blessed to live in such a wonderful country and continent filled with so many freedoms we sometimes take for granted.
In some countries I would not even be allowed to write this column to voice my views as such, and in some countries you would be at risk for reading them.
If not for those brave men and women who laid their lives on the line such freedoms would not be ours.
May they truly rest in peace.
