4 — Wednesday, June 6, 1990 - North Shore News Bos HUNTER AS OUR country drifts toward political disintegration, I find myself Desieged by different emotions and thoughts. Many years ago, I came to the intellectual conclusion that small is indeed beautiful. 1 adopted the basic dictum of the ‘‘bioregionalist’’ school of thought, according to which a huge number of small countries scattered around the world would be better for the environment than a handful of gigantic empires. There was a utopian ideal in- volved, to be sure. And for that I apologize. But it had a ring to it. - If the world was to be divided up into, say, 2,500 little countries, and the boundaries of each coun- ry were drawn to fit the contours of the natural biological regions the natives inhabited, each country would become responsible for a shared bio-zone. Naturally-occurring watersheds would make the best basis for co- operation. In theory, the inhabitants of each such region would have every reason to work together to preserve their area. Moreover, because they were indigenous, they could be counted on to have the best understanding of how to truly manage the land and the water. Distant bureaucratic overloads would thus be eliminated. Megaprojects would become a thing of the past, to be marvelled at, like the pyramids, but never to be emulated because of the known certainty of ecological disaster. Now, that’s a fantasy future, if there ever was one. And so maybe it is merely ac- cidental that, in the real world, we are looking at actual Balkanization on a grand scale. First, the Soviet East Bloc rub- ber-stamp monclith collapsing. Then the drum-beat stirrings of independence in the Baltics. And, at the same time, in Quebec. The largest country in the world and the second-largest country in the world are both coming apart at the seams, and at the same time! This is just a coincidence? Can't be. For all the vast dif- ferences to be found in their his- tories, the Soviet and Canadian empires are affected by the same inherent contradiction — pluralistic cultures within a unitary political frame. Neither nation has any organic tribal basis. Each represents a long string of conquests and occupa- dns and deals and ripoffs, culminating i in two almost polar- opposite political systems which are nevertheless almost identical at their core: Canada and the U.S.S.R. are incredibly central- ized, bloated administrations, both of them. Between Ottawa and Moscow there resonates an essential har- mony. Both are bureaucracies gone mad, having far too much contro) over affairs in distant parts of the imperium. The outlying or downtrodden locals are obviously going to be better off without the mandarin class clustered around Parliament Hill and the Kremlin alike, feeding off their backs. The track record of centralized power structures in terms of dam- age done to the environment in faraway regions is legendary. Accordingly, it seemed only log- ical to me that smaller political units would be more ‘‘en- vironment-friendly"" than big ones, and therefore the break-up of Canada is a good thing from the Deep Ecology point of view. -Thave been writing about the “inevitable’’ separation of Quebec from Canada fer many years. At one point | was, in fact, sold on the even more creative idea of an independent British Columbia. Certainly, if there are two or three regions in Canada, aside from Quebec, that could make it on their own as economi- cally-viable separate nations, they would be Ontario, Alberta and B.C. The rest of the provinces are basket cases. It is doubtful the United States would even want to pick them un. Whether Quebec’s departure happens this year or next or the year after, it seems irreversible now. And I am one of those Anglo swine whose basic feeling is: **Adieu! Good luck. And thanks for taking Ottawa with you.”’ Let me get on with an interesting life in my own language and without paying too much alimony and see how the cards fall! The fact is, the composition of what remains of the federal gov- ernment is going to change radical- ly in the wake of the first English-Canada-only federal elec- tion. The Chretiens ard Mulroneys won’t even be in the game. They'll be from another country. And I say, adieu, chaps! Yet, forgetting political pre- judices, the breakups of Canada and the USSR appear to have quite different environmental conse- quences. The rebel states within the Soviet orbit are declaring themselves green. The rebel state in Canada has declared itself most assuredly not green. J refer to the James Bay power project which Quebec’s Premier Robert Bourassa has made the centre-piece of his economic strategy for independence if neces- sary, and which is one of the Parti Quebecois’ objects of worship. The only jurisdiction that has had any success at ail in slowing down the James Bay juggernaut is the federal department of the en- vironment, formerly headed by Lucien Bouchard. One of the reasons Bouchard quit was because he found himself squarely against Quebec national- ism on environmental grounds, and he couldn't figure out a solu- tion except to jump ship. To be continued. e OVERWEIGHT? We design a persanalized program that tacuses on you, noton traditional weight loss methods that can let you down. So lose weight in a way that feels natura! to you and is comfortable and permanent. Call for a free initial consultation] Daniel 1. 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