Are ya like me? Are you not a communist? That’s good. Because there seem to be fewer and fewer of us left in Canada, as the “progressives” continue to blur the line between the state and citizens and private business.
Canada Post is the government, de facto. Do we agree? Good. Because it is. I call the CBC “the state-run CBC” because it is. It is run by people (all liberals) appointed by liberals working for the government (who were themselves appointed by other liberals over the years). It is 100% owned by the state, and it totally relies on funding from the state for its “life” (unfortunate choice of words for something like the CBC). Yes, the government competes against its own citizens in business for profits (and as I always do, I have to ask what kind of a government competes against its own citizens in business for profits?)
Canada Post is the same as the CBC in that respect. It is not a private corporation by any definition or by even the most fanciful imagination. Even J.K. Rowling would agree, after the fact, that this puppy was conceived as a state-owned, state-run division of government, always has been, and always will be, unless it is sold to citizens or closed. Nobody can claim it’s a private “corporation” in anything like a normal capitalist model, with its own cash that it earned by competing in the normal, natural free market. To pretend otherwise is an outright lie. Good. We agree.
So why does the government and people who should know better lie to us? Why do they try to pass off Canada Post as a private corporation who is “stepping up to the plate” as it were, to, say, sponsor a kid in a spelling bee? The Scripts Spelling bee is a world famous American spelling bee, created and operated by The E.W. Scripps Company. That’s a private corporation.
(My bolding)
[My notes]
Canada Post covers new spelling tab
…For the second year in a row, Canada Post has given the program its stamp of approval, signing on as the official CanSpell presenting partner.
Canada Post will also cover the costs of the national finalists to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.
As host of the international competition, Scripps is implementing a new registration fee in 2008 for all participating schools from Canada and 10 other countries. Canada Post will cover this levy for all Canadian schools.
“No matter what the skill or sport, Canadians take great pride in watching the best from our country compete at the international level,” said David Asper, executive vice-president of CanWest Global Communications Corp. and chairman of the National Post.
“CanWest CanSpell continues to celebrate scholastic success, both at home and abroad, and we’re proud to watch these bright young students take the stage to showcase their word power and poise thanks to the ongoing support of Canada Post.”
[…]
“Our partnership with CanSpell demonstrates Canada Post’s continued commitment to supporting literacy and a lifetime of learning,” said Robert Waite, senior vice-president of stakeholder relations and brand
[Joel raises both eyebrows and says aloud, “WTF?!”]
.
So in Canada, the government is sponsoring our kids’ participation. Why? Is that in the Charter of Rights or something? I suppose COTLER or his Supremes division might have read something into it when I wasn’t looking, but I don’t think this is the responsibility of the state.
This is not even remotely a unique situation. Look at the end of any Canadian movie or TV show. Inevitably, you’ll see all manner of “sponsors”, nearly all of which are different government divisions using their own cute “logo”—national government departments, provincial governments and various departments, cities… all of them posers.
You see it all over the 2010 Olympics which is of course largely a government operation. The Royal Canadian Mint is a sponsor too, though, naturally in addition to the Government of Canada and the Government of BC and the governments of Vancouver and Whistler. The Mint is a totally government-owned, government-run operation.
You also see this sort of thing within the sponsorship pages of various supposedly non-government “private” organizations operating in Canada. Like the gay, lesbian, cross-dresser, and transgender-promotion outfit called “EGALE”. In addition to sponsors like IBM and other appeasers like nearly every public sector labor union including media unions and teacher unions, they also list the Government of Canada as a sponsor, and separately the Heritage and Multicultural ministry, and also list National Film Board (which incidentally is a totally state-owned, left-wing—perhaps Marxist—propaganda outfit, as most honest, sensible people see it); and also lists the so-called “Status of Women”, which is yet another totally state-owned (and again, a very left-wing, feminist outfit); and also the “Trillium Foundation”, which is a division of the liberals’ Ontario government. And others.
I see this every year in my home town, Vancouver, where what used to be known as the Benson and Hedges Symphony of Fire —a fireworks show which was nearly killed off because in 2000, the politically-correct liberals (both small and big L) forbade cigarette companies from spending their own cash as they saw fit, and forbade them from doing any good in the country like sponsoring things like this. This was part of the liberals’ ongoing War On Cigarettes—which is among the most important things to liberals, and which is ongoing and has no exit strategy. The government knows best. Vote liberal. Yadda.
I think it was also a war on capitalism. To make up for the sponsorship deficiency for what became a hugely popular event every summer, other sponsors had to step up, which nearly none did, possibly because it’s becoming harder and harder to compete against the state, which has more cash than you and me and our companies. (Trust me, I know. I compete against the state-run CBC and its massive multi-gazillion-dollar web site with its columnists, comments section, blogs, news, and so on, and frankly, it is painfully obvious I can’t compete).
Among a few private companies sponsoring the Vancouver fireworks festival created by Benson and Hedges, the sponsors are now, whadayaknow:
· B.C.Hydro—a totally state-owned, state-run GOVERNMENT monopoly.
· BC Lottery Corporation—a totally state-owned, state-run gambling monopoly.
· (Hilariously) “British Columbia”—the state itself, as if it’s different than the above (separately, they list two different divisions: both “Tourism British Columbia” and the “Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts”, which apparently aren’t “corporations” yet, for some odd reason, but let’s watch for that).
· YVR – the Vancouver Airport Authority—the airport is a totally state-owned behemoth.
· The City of Vancouver – I think you can figure this one out.
· …and more, all of whom have their fancy “corporate” logos on the sponsorship page along with the VERY few actual private companies.
I’ve long said that state-owned and state-run media should be banned in this country, largely because a state-owned media is an egregious breech of freedom and the state has no business reporting on or making up the news, creating comedies, producing documentaries, movies, talk-shows, and employing editorial columnists to propagandize the nation, etc., in addition to their inevitably competing against private citizens, which is hideous. It’s actually sort of Iranian-style. I think it should be banned, and that notion enshrined in our constitution.
But we should add to the list any government involvement in anything else that competes against its own citizens. And we should actually make it a personal rule to take the kind of responsibility that normal free people used to take, and not sit on our duffs and let governments and people in the appeasing liberal media lie to us as I’ve described above. We ought to call out the lies told by governments and people who know better. I did a little for my part today.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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