Guest Column: Cynical Canadians: Shame on you!
Guest Column Rant
By Curmudgy Mapleblight:
Some might suggest that it is cynical behaviour by Canada’s Conservative federal government led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to prorogue parliament in the middle of the Christmas/New Years holiday week, on the eve of New Years eve, when the hearts and minds of the Canadian electorate were presumably taking a break…
Taking a break from:
- heartbreak of first Christmases without friends and relatives lost in a war in Afghanistan that few can make sense of
- the suffering of escalating hardship after a more than year long recession
- the consternation, puzzlement and international embarrassment of the Canadian diplomat James Colvin’s recent Parliamentary Committee testimony over the handling of Afghan detainees
- the deepening international embarrassment of Canada’s grotesquely obvious foot-dragging and role in the failure of the Copenhagen climate summit
- the record numbers of starving Canadian children
- the record numbers of northern First Peoples without access to clean drinking water and safe living conditions
- the record number of unresolved Native land claims
- the record low numbers of surviving family farmers
- growing fear and escalating discomfort stemming from official reactions to that fear for the flying public
- the struggle of families in Canada’s hinterlands struggling with the invasion of their private properties by mining companies
- the lingering uncertainty of impending global pandemics
- and so many other petty issues
But it would be irresponsible—undemocratic—to accuse the government of taking such cynical actions, or for that matter the opposition who has said relatively little in the wake of this latest prorogation—the second in a year—when all these well paid public servants are away from their offices, support staff and other resources they might use to defend themselves, which taxpayers pay for.
Since that damn commie outfit, the CBC began reporting on the new Facebook group Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament ) late yesterday the groups numbers have increased by 25%, as updated in the past couple of hours.
This is ridiculous! You so-called “engaged Canadians” and especially those belonging to that most infernal of special interest groups—FAMILIES—who claim you care about our country, and yet who yourselves so cynically would think so badly of our government, should feel ashamed of yourselves.
You should ignore silly, childish distractions like Facebook and those few remaining ways that citizens have left of engaging in the political process, and get back to your day jobs (and second night, night jobs and off-farm jobs) so you can keep those tax dollars rolling in and keep those big stone buildings in Ottawa heated, and lights on—even if nobody’s home—so the pipes don’t freeze. That way, when the government finally is ready to come back to work, they don’t have to waste more time and our money debating a budget full of emergency building repair bills.
And one more thing: don’t waste your time trying to contact your MP to tell them to get back to work; they’re on vacation for the next Quarter, and won’t be picking up their messages until late March.
Post Script: And for that matter, that damn CBC shouldn’t be allowed to report on such matters of public interest. When the government finally does get back to work, if they ever survive the confidence vote on their budget, they should finish what they started with that despicable band of pinko intellectuals: eliminate their funding altogether: muzzle’em and then scrap’em!!
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Disclaimer:
The opinions expressed on this page are for informational purposes only. Mixed Farmin’ makes no claim to the opinions expressed by our guest columnist. Mixed Farmin’, its affiliates and content licensors assume no liability for any inaccurate, delayed or incomplete information, nor for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
Toronto Star’s Lucas Oleniuk and Randy Risling: State of our art
Here’s a really fine piece that is firing on all four cylinders: story, technique, presentation, relevance: http://www.thestar.com/videozone/737443–william-and-the-windmill
CBC Ontario Today Interview with Hugh Sibbald
CBC Ontario Today Interview with Hugh Sibbald
with Rita Celli April 23, 2009 ©CBC, 2009
Official Red Barn Theatre Blog Launched
To those who have contacted me through this blog concerning the events of the past few days, thank you all for your interest, notes, comments and remembrances.
The Official Red Barn Theatre Blog went up late last night at http://redbarntheatre.wordpress.com/. In the coming days photos, video, audio interviews and stories will be added. As well the Official Red Barn Theatre Blog will be the nerve centre for ongoing updates and any further news concerning plans for a rebuilding collection fund, rebuilding and plans for the 60th Diamond Jubilee season of the Red Barn Theatre for summer 2009.
The rest of the Sibbald family and I as well, I’m sure, as other local Red Barn supporters and volunteers would greatly appreciate if you could also send/re-send and post or re-post your comments and stories to the Official Blog. In particular, we are looking for your personal stories and remembrances, the livelier, the better.
Please note that your voices are extremely important to hear: the more support we can get, the easier it may make it to access public and private funding in the future to enable the possibility that the old girl may rise from the ashes.
-Peter
The Red Barn Theatre Fire of April 18, 2009
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I up loaded this video to CBC Newsworld where it has been running for much of the day.
Final Act at The Red Barn
Jackson's Point, Ontario Canada. Firefighters from the Georgina Fire Department battle to keep the fire at The Red Barn Theatre from spreading to the surrounding brush and nearby senior's residence. In the end all that survives the fire is the barn's signature silo. ©Peter Sibbald, 2009. All Rights Reserved.
Last night The Red Barn Theatre gave it’s final performance. To an audience of fewer than one hundred, mostly comprised of family, Briars Resort employees, friends, neighbours, Georgina Mayor Rob Grossi and over 30 fire fighters of the Georgina Fire Department, the Red Barn —my family’s barn— in its final and arguably most spectacular performance, burned to the ground.
Theatre historian David Gardner is researching the history of the Red Barn and a small synopsis of his research into The Barn’s illustrious history can be found on the Red Barn Theatre web site at http://redbarntheatre.ca/working/aboutus_history.html . Originally erected in the early 1800s and rebuilt by my Great-Great Uncle Frank Sibbald in the 1870s to be the family barn attached to The Briars, then being run as a farm, The Barn—as it has simply come to be known—has played stage to nearly everyone who was anyone in the Canadian theatre and music scene for 59 years. This was to have been its 60th season. Created as a theatre by Toronto-born actor Alfred Mulock in the spring of 1949, and leased from my grandfather Jack Sibbald, then Reeve of Georgina for $1.00, The Red Barn was one of the first professional summer theatres in Canada, predating even the Stratford and Shaw festivals.
Like so many Canadian cultural institutions, The Barn has always operated very close to, or below the line. From Brian Doherty in 1950, who would go on to found The Shaw Festival, Vern Chapman who would become the President of Canadian Actor’s Equity through Bill Glassco who would found Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre, The Barn has run through a tumultuous history of financial struggle from the first season onward. Management was finally somewhat stabilized when it was transferred to the not-for-profit Lake Simcoe Arts Foundation, founded by my father John Sibbald in 1973. Under their auspices, and a series of professional theatre managers and artistic directors, The Barn has been the labour of love for a small army of volunteers and a grateful recipient of Town of Georgina and provincial arts funding. Throughout the theatre’s history and for all but a few years in the early 1960s, the Red Barn Theatre and surrounding 7½ -acre property has been owned and its use donated by Briars Estates Limited of the Sibbald family.
From 1986 to 2007, The Barn played home to the Peter Gzowski Invitational Golf tournament gala performances when Canada’s household names gave generously of their talents to help Peter Gzowski realize his intention to “raise a few bucks” for literacy, fund-raising for Frontier College. Celebrities have included Peter Mansbridge, Loreena McKennitt, Valdy, Natalie McMaster, The Barenaked Ladies, Laura Smith, Ashley MacIsaac, Cynthia Dale, Murray McLauchlan, Pamela Wallin, John McDermott, Susan Aglukark, Ron Maclean, Tom Jackson, and Shelagh Rogers along with Poets Laureates Tim Findlay, Michael Ondaatje, Margaret Atwood, Dennis Lee and Sheree Fitch, to name but a very small few.
If the barn was lost, the Georgina Fire Department nonetheless successfully managed to contain the blaze, keeping it from spreading to the neighbouring field, woodlands and senior’s complex. York Regional Police have secured the site, and the Ontario Fire Marshall is on the scene and has begun his investigation. The cause of the fire is still unknown.
As neighbours and volunteers wept in the waning glow of the fire at the periphery of the property, murmurs of renewed fund-raising efforts, rebuilding and “the show must go on” could be heard in the semi-darkness. Plans for the upcoming season remain undetermined.
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Other coverage:
- Toronto Star April 19, 2009
- Toronto Star April 20, 2009
- Georgina Advocate
- Georgina Advocate Ongoing Search with latest articles at the top
- Globe & Mail
- Globe & Mail April 20, 2009
- CBC News Online April 20, 2009
- CBC News Online April 29, 2009
Following the Money in The 905
Recently the independent, non-partisan community organization Vote Toronto published a study by York University professor, Robert MacDermid, “Funding City Politics”, citing the very strong connection between elected politicians and the development industry: nearly 70% of political campaign contributions to the winning politicians come from development related corporations, their friends and families.
And what if you’re a candidate who wants to slow down development and make it more ecologically sustainable?
“You’ve got a tough row to hoe:, says MacDermid.
More from CBC Ontario Today
Vote Toronto offers a comprehensive set of recommended Electoral Reforms
“a real treat”: The National Post
Nice little media notice on my recent installation at Harbourfront Centre in, of all places, The National Post, or here is a clipping:
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Web Site: http://petersibbald.com
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Find It
Focus
A fermentation (a.k.a. Compost) of media, technology, social justice, art and the environment as experienced on the ground through the eye of one Canadian photo documentarian, intended to help fertilize the zeitgeist and yield a mixed crop of new ideas surrounding civic engagement.
Origins
Out on the land seeking moments and light, I’m often reminded of the similarity between the life and livelihood of a visual journalist/artist and that of the farmer.
To Wit
“Well Ed, the Fishers had their auction last Saturday morning. I watched as the neighbourhood descended on the place and picked it clean. After it was over, and the Fishers had driven off to their new house in town, the auctioneer walked over the property with me. His name’s Freddy. Interesting chap, friendly and outgoing. Runs a beef and dairy herd on the farm next door, plants corn, grain, potatoes, turnips, does auction sales some blacksmithing, small auto repairs and real estate. What I believe is called mixed farming.”
Letters from Wingfield Farm, ©1989 Douglas Beattie. (Act 1) Wingfield Farm
Ongoing Investigations
• The Meaning of Land
• Rurality
• The Nexus of Technology,
Implimentation and Power in
Visual Communication
• Legacies of Colonialism
• Sustainability vs. Resilience in
Socio-Ecological Systems
