South Marysburgh Mirror (Milford, On), 1 Dec 2002, p. 7

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The Country of Prince Edward I'm fed up! I'm sure you feel that way at times and usually I get over it. Not because the things change that upset me but because I begin to ignore them, bury them in my psyche were they fester away and pop out at odd times. "What are you fed up with now?" said Valerie the other day. I could give you a list, a long list-NIMBY (not in my back yard) types, whiners about taxes and the way our elected officials are running things (except when I agree with them), the complainers about the lack of spending on our armed forces ( as if we could ever field an army out of our population that could protect everything north of the 49™ parallel right up to the North Pole-- a border 3,978 miles long not includ- ing the border with Alaska). But I suppose what has been really bugging me lately are the supercilious anti American outbursts from some of our countrymen. We keep saying-- Canadians are different from Americans-- except we can no longer point to former mundane differences grammes listen to, and enjoy the same entertainers, eat the same fast foods, read the same books and maga- zines, speak the same language, spend the winters, or at least vacation time in their Country, etc.etc. On this note, Maclean's magazine of Nov. 25" has several articles and essays on this whole question. They printed a definition of a Canadian from the internet--an unarmed American with Health Insur- ance. But I didn't intend to rehash old arguments about how we may or may not be different from our Ameri- can friends, that would be futile. It reminds me of the great turgid discussions that Clerics and Church officials used to have on how many Angels could stand on the head of a pin. Those deliberations proved fruitless since we all know, the American t.v. show-- Touched by an Angel- notwithstanding, that Angels do not exist. I propose that we don't worry about who we are similar to or dissimilar from, but rather enshrine the culture we have in the County and protect it. "How s0?", you ask. I think we should separate from Canada. We are an island and could easily isolate ourselves. We wouldn't pay Provincial or Federal taxes, keep our money in the County and what with our burgeoning wine industry and wind generated electric- ity become self sufficient in power and booze. New like cleaner cities. or even safer cities where you used jobs would be created as we would have to set up to be able to walk without fear at nights and now can read about the gangland and punk killings in your morning papers over coffee, let alone drink water from the taps, safe in the knowledge that purification proc- esses are adequate. We watch the same T.V. pro- SINCE 1925 MINAKER'S AUTO PARTS (MILFORD) LTD. Phone (613) 476-4547 Fax (613) 476-1565 Milford, Ont. KOK 2P0 Specializing in Hard-to-Get Farts New and used, for cars and tricks 1920 models and up Paul Minaker Randy York Closed Thursday Afternoons and All Day Sunday customs offices, sell Visas to non residents, travellers and tourists, build our own Casino, declare ourselves a Duty-Free zone and attract all kinds of business from bargain hunters. Let your imagination run free and you will think of all kinds of advantages. Here's one I would do right after separation. Some of you may remember a number of years ago the # Turks and Caicos Islands wanted to join Canada as § another province but our Government was not recep- tive at the time. Just lately, Anguilla, an Island in the British West Indies expressed interest in joining Canada. Well I'd take them right away as a sister { Island. Just think of vacations, off shore Banking, year round beaches and rum to add to our wine and cider. I can hear some skepticism out there about our Continued on page 10