events and readings

I tweeted this earlier:

Author Encounter, Crossings Library, Tuesday night; Jane Harris-Zsovan, Blaine Greenwood, Richard Stevenson, and Ken Sears.

It’s all part of the only Word on the Street to take place in Alberta, 25 September.

Here is Lethbridge’s Word on the Street Blog. (I’m also participating in that event.)

Arts Days, including Art Walk and Arts Fest, are the following week. I’m also doing a reading there, but haven’t got all the details, yet.

Come one; come all to the only city in Canada, co-founded by Father of Confederation, who just happens to be the son of the Scottish poet who founded Guelph and wrote my favourite poem, "Canadian Reflections." We love talking books down here!

Ideology, Goose-stepping and Republicanism in Canada

Here's the Governor General's statement welcoming the the restoration of the historic names for the Canadian Armed Forces. As he points out, the names Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Canadian Navy, & Canadian Armyalways remained on the books but the Pearson government, and subsequent governments, in an undemocratic bout of social engineering, forbade names to be used. Defence Minister Mackay was right in correcting this error.

The notion that you 'forbid' royal symbols, British Heritage, international ties, & history in order to create your own unhistorical Canadian culture was always undemocratic. The idea that you refuse to allow young Canadians knowledge of their constitutional heritage in order to convince them that your revolution has already taken place and indoctrinate them with the idea that the country is 'progressing' toward your own vision is nothing more than deceit. This is how much of the political and educational class in Canada have behaved over the last 50 years. They are now out of power because Canadians got sick of them.

Supression and manipulation are not democracy. Calling traditionalists and veterans fighting to have our history restored is the height of arrogance. Suggesting we cater to separatists and using ordinary Quebecois as an excuse for your own need to enforce your ideological vision on Canadians who disagree with you is divisive and reprehensible.

These activists are far more ideological than Prime Minister Harper or Preston Manning ever were. (Anyone who knows me, knows I didn't like the Alliance vision and I still have my doubts about about whether Alberta populism is really seeking democracy. But, I see the ideologues who got hold of and destroyed the Liberal Party of Canada as every bit as dogmatic as the dictatorial William Aberhart ever was.

The reaction of Pearsonian (don't blame Trudeau for this) activists suggests that they still believe they the only 'vision for Canada:' Those who feel left out of the goose-stepping ideological vision of the Pearsonians are called regressive or just plain stupid.

Tom Freda was actually right when he said that Canadians are used to having their royal symbols removed. Yes, Mr. Freda, they are.

They are used to governments obliterating their history to cater to a minority of social engineers who think they know better what Canada should be and who denounce traditionalists as stupid and colonial. Interesting Mr. Freda's own republican organization is the ultimate colonial relic, being a part of Common Cause a republican group headquartered just outside London,UK.

These activists, especially Professor Jack Granastein, know full well that the Canadian Crown is separate from the British Crown. They know that what sets the British definition of citizenship apart from many other national definitions, is that it goes beyond ethnicity to encompass a system of Parliamentary Democracy that seeks to treat (although we've had some failures here) all citizens equally before the law. (As opposed to insisting on uniformity of all citizens.)

Many of these activists actually think it is progressive to slam against 'British Canada' in a way that would never be acceptable if they attacked French, Aboriginal, Chinese, Black, or even Swedish or German Canada. And rightly so.

The Canadian Crown is not 'colonialist' at all. It has not been so since the 1931 Statute of Westminster and the

1982 Canada Act

reaffirms the independence of the Canadian Crown.

Canada's Crown helps protect the rights of all Canadians from social engineers who would recreate our nation in their own image. God Save The Queen! God Save Canada from the ideologues.

Shaw TV interview about books, literacy and Word on the Street

Click on the Word on the Street icon on Shaw TV's website to watch Dan Clovis, Shaw TV Lethbridge, interview Colette Acheson, Project Manager Word on the Street Lethbridge, and me about writing, books, and what's in store at Word on the Street 25 September,11am to 5pm, at the Lethbridge Public Library and on the adjoining streets.

(There's also a good screen shot of my books, Eugenics and the Firewall: Canada's Nasty Little Secret and Stars Appearing: The Galts' Vision of Canada, included in this footage.But stay away from the Chinese website on the Stars Appearing link. That book is still available through Volumes Direct.

Eugenics & the Firewall is published by J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing, Inc., represented by the Literary Press Group of Canada, and distributed through U of T press. It's available online, in university bookstores, independent bookstores,and through chains such as Chapters. McNally Robinson, Audreys, Pages, Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, & Booktopia also sell Eugenics & the Firewall.)

Lethbridge’s Word on the Street Festival is creating a lot of buzz in Alberta’s fourth largest city. CKXU.FM, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Lethbridge Public Library all help to get the word out. Flash mobs are popping up in unexpected places and authors, musicians, publishers, and booksellers are lining up to get involved.

I’m pleased to say that my bio is up on the Word on the Street Lethbridge site. And I’m excited to be joining so many great authors at Lethbridge’s WOTS!

In the next few weeks, I’ll be blogging about some of the authors, musicians, and organizations I hope to meet at the festival. Cheers!