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4 ~ Wednesday, October 5, 1988 - North Shore News

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WHEN I hear people coming out against thz free trade deal

on the grounds that it will erode our soycreignty, my first
instinct is to reach for the tranquillizer gun.

Sovereignty is a concept that has
been forced on us by the bloody
history of our species. It grew out
of the territorial imperative, which
is virtually ar innate drive, like sex
or hunger — nothing to be intel-
lectually proud of.

Passports, let us keep in mind,
are a modern invention, and if you
ask me, a curse. More often than
not, border crossing checkpoints
are used to keep people in as much
as to keep them out.

_ A good portion of the countries

ee
IT do know that when politicians wrap themselves in the
Slag, they do so for the simp.e, primitive, stupid reason that
they can bring out the worst in us, and use all those visceral,
innate, territorial (which is to say, half-animal) drives to
manipulate us for their own purposes.”’
EE A a 2,

In order to salute a flag — any
flag — Gne raises one’s arm. The
act of saluting has always struck
me as a gesture that symbolizes
waving bye-bye to one’s brain.

Canadian sovereignty has not
really been at stake since the war
of 1812, when the Americans
tashly invaded what is now On-
turio with the vague idea in mind
of adding another state to the
union, |

But even then, the issue wasn’t
really Canadian territory. The war
began over the British practise of
intercepting American ships on the
high seas.

The American assault on
Canada came to an abrupt end in
1814 when the British, having
defeated Napoleon, sent an ex-
peditionary force to the United
States, marched into Washington,
D.C., virtually unopposed, and
burned the place to the ground.

Since then, no one has come
close to violating our territory,
unless one counts the American,
British, Russian and French nu-
clear submarines that test
themselves and each other
underneath the arctic icepacks.

And even then, they are passing

in the world today are in fact vast
concentration camps where people
are penned in like animals.

Sovereignty, nine times out of
ten, is an excuse for localized
dominance of various groups by
one group or another. In the
Soviet Union, it is the Russians
lording it over their Asians and
Baltic colonies. .

In Africa, it is invariably one
tribe slaughtering its way to the
top. The only significant difference
in South Africa, for instance, is
that it happens to be a white tribe
on top, rather than one of the
multitudinous black ones which *
would otherwise be at each other’s
throats.

This, of course, is a very parallel
situation to the one in Canada,
where some 50 ‘‘aboriginal’’ na-
tions were conquered by the two
“founding peopies,’’ i.c. hordes of
foreign devils from France and
England. The difference is that we,
the invaders, now vastly out-
number the peopie we overran.

I do know that when politicians

’

wrap themselves in the flag, they
do so for the simple, primitive,
stupid reason that they can bring
out the worst in us, and use all
those visceral, innate, territorial
(which is to say, half-animal)
drives to manipulate us for their
own purposes.

The issue of sovereignty in the
context of the free trade debate is a
celebration of primitive patriotism
over common sense and mod-
ernism. Since the Second World
War, the entire world has been
moving toward an unprecedented
and wonderful degree of in-
terdependence.

Every Canadian government
since then, incidentally, has pushed
for lower tariffs with the United
States (and other countries) to the
point where they are roughly two-
thirds lower than they were at the
start of the war. This has been
done for strictly logical, pragmat-
ic, realistic reasons. .

The trend is, in fact, part of a
welcome march in the direction of
increased international coopera-
tion. in case anyone hasn't notic-
ed, the only hope of saving this
abused little planet is through in-
creased interdependence — a
breaking down of the barriers of
sovercignty, not a building-up of
them.

I see free trade as a sign of col-
lective maturity. I see it as a sign
of intelligence. I see it as the wave
of the future. What did sovercign-
ty ever bring but blood, sweat and
tears? Perhaps worst of all, it
presents a narrow and ultimately
destructive vision of human
nature. We are not really Cana-
dians, Aussies, Yanks, Brits,
Africans or anything else. Our
country is only our current ad-
dress. Our home is the world. @

ae

CASS

British Columbia Legislative Assembly

SELECT STANDING COMMITTEE
ON
FINANCE, CROWN CORPORATIONS AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES

FINANCIAL PLANNING INDUSTRY
PUBLIC HEARINGS

Monday, October 17, 1988
Commencing 9:00 a.m.

Tuesday, October 18, 1988
Commencing 9:00 a.m.
Capri Hotel
1171 Harvey Avenue
KELOWNA

The Westin Bayshore .
1601 West Georgia Street
VANCOUVER

Tuesday, October 25, 1988
. Commencing 9:00 a.m.
Douglas Fir Committee Room
Parliament Buildings
VICTORIA

The purpose of these public hearings is for the Committee
to receive submissions respecting the financial planning
and advisory industry in British Columbia.

Those wishing to appear at any of the above locations
should notify the Clerk of Committees as soon as
possible. .

Address all correspondence or inquiries to:

Mr. Craig H. James, ;
Clerk of Committees,
Room 236,

Parliament Buildings,

Ay

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faughed at all this to tzy to put Other Services; waxing, suntanning, manicure, pedicure & makeup | Hon. he Couvelier Me e snk vee
on. J. Janse r. C. DiArcy, M.L.A.

the question of Canada’s precious
sovereignty into perspective.

What is sovereignty and why is it
such a holy grail?

Chez Elfe estuetics

_#10-636 Clyde Ave. 922-1225 (West Van, Park Royal area)

Hon. A. Ree

Ms. D. Marzari, M.L.A.
Hon. E. Veitch :

HEAD b

6 ) BELFE j
b DITRANI b “_ j

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ScHneDER db SUNICE

FERA-
MOBIUS A

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