[Peace-discuss] Oh, Canada...

Wed Sep 16 21:02:54 CDT 2009

The history of political migration from the US to Canada is significant for both 
polities -- war opponents in the 1770s*, escaped slaves before the Civil War, 
the farmers you mention here, war opponents in the 1960s. There are undoubtedly 
others who noticed the contrast between theory and practice in the Land of the 
Free...
____
*Including relatives of mine: half the family went to Nova Scotia after the 
unpleasantness at Lexington and Concord (where the first man wounded in what 
came to be called the American Revolution was a member of my family, a slave 
called Prince Estabrook).

David Green wrote:
>  From /Main Currents/:
>  
> "Perhaps most disturbing of all to conventional wisdom is sthe fact that 
> between 1898 and 1914 about one million American residents, the vast 
> majority of whom had been previously in states with large agrarian 
> radical movements, moved to Canada, predominately the rich wheat-growing 
> provinces. Many had been Populists, and some outstanding former Populist 
> political leaders were among their ranks, and this constituency and its 
> inheritance became an important strand in the Canadian social democratic 
> movement. ..... but the fact that one of the reasons agrarian radicalism 
> disappears is due to departure from the United States entirely of a 
> significant portion of its adherents is a reality too important for all 
> but a few specialists to ignore."
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu>
> *To:* David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
> *Cc:* Peace Discuss <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, September 16, 2009 5:53:23 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [Peace-discuss] Oh, Canada...
> 
> I hadn't known that -- but I bet they do in Saskatchewan.
> 
> David Green wrote:
>  > I apologize for perseverating on Kolko, but one thing that jumped out 
> at me is his discussion of the (little recognized or remembered) mass 
> migration of farmers from the Plains states to Canada, especially 
> Saskatchewan, subsequent to the Populist revolt in this country and the 
> consolidation of agriculture that dispossessed many of them--this may 
> have contributed eventually to the success of socialism in that province.
>  >
>  > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  > *From:* C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu 
> <mailto:galliher at illinois.edu>>
>  > *To:* peace-discuss <peace-discuss at anti-war.net 
> <mailto:peace-discuss at anti-war.net>>
>  > *Sent:* Wednesday, September 16, 2009 4:02:19 PM
>  > *Subject:* [Peace-discuss] Oh, Canada...
>  >
>  > Canadian PM Stephen Harper has 42 minutes of face time with Barack 
> Obama in Washington today.  While Canadian institutions (notably 
> healthcare) are being compared favorably with those of the US, quite 
> rightly, here are some other things to remember:
>  >
>  >  1. On dozens of occasions since 1915 Canadian gunboats have been 
> deployed to the Caribbean and Central America.
>  >  2. Canada has been the 5th or 6th-largest contributor to the U.S. 
> war in Iraq.
>  >  3. Ottawa asked London for its Caribbean colonies after World War I.
>  >  4. Days after elected President Salvador Allende was overthrown, 
> Canada's ambassador to Chile called victims of dictator Augusto 
> Pinochet's repression the “riffraff of the Latin American Left.”
>  >  5. In a number of countries Canadian “aid” has been used to rewrite 
> mining codes to the benefit of Canadian mining companies.
>  >  6. Canada had between 250 and 450 nuclear-armed fighter jets based 
> in Europe in the 1960s.
>  >  7. Washington did not press Ottawa to break relations with 
> post-revolution Cuba because it wanted Canada to spy on the island.
>  >  8. Throughout Pierre Trudeau's time in office and before, Canadian 
> companies were heavily invested in apartheid South Africa.
>  >  9. Canada helped depose Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, 
> one of Africa's first independence leaders, who was then killed.
>  > 10. Many commentators ... consider Lester Pearson [PM 1963-8] a war 
> criminal.
>  >
>  > That's from Yves Engler, "The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy" 
> (Fernwood Books Ltd., Halifax).
>  >
>  > Still, there's something to be said for a country that was the real 
> land of freedom for slaves in the 19th century and refuge for war 
> resisters in the 20th (and in the 18th).
>  >
>  > In 2004 the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ran a television series 
> to determine who is considered to be the greatest Canadian of all time. 
> (The project was inspired by the BBC series Great Britons.) It included 
> a series of documentaries, with 10 Canadian celebrities acting as 
> advocates and presenting their cases for The Greatest Canadian.
>  >
>  > The winner by vote was not a military leader or PM, but the man 
> responsible for bringing Canada universal healthcare (i.e., the 
> equivalent of Medicare for all, not Obamacare), Tommy Douglas.  (A 
> Scottish-born Baptist minister, Douglas was Premier of Saskatchewan from 
> 1944 to 1961, and as such head of the first socialist government in 
> North America; from 1961 to 1971, he was the leader of the social 
> democratic New Democratic Party.)
>  >
>  > That's unimaginable in the thoroughly propagandized US.  --CGE
>  >
>  >
>  > _______________________________________________
>  > Peace-discuss mailing list
>  > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net 
> <mailto:Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> 
> <mailto:Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net 
> <mailto:Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>>
>  > http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
>  >
>  >
>  > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  >
>  > _______________________________________________
>  > Peace-discuss mailing list
>  > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net 
> <mailto:Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
>  > http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Peace-discuss mailing list
> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss