Not hip to be uncool

Ah, the Winter Olympics! The eyes of the world are on Canada, land of ice and snow.

So is it just me who finds the warm weather and lack of snow at the mountain venues on the outskirts of Vancouver just a bit ironic? Or how about the fact that, despite all the hype about these games being the "greenest ever", organizers have been buying and trucking in snow. Juxtaposed against our less-than-genuine efforts in Copenhagen, I think we have the makings for a delicious 'sundae of irony'.

Would you like some sprinkles with that?

And by sprinkles, I mean latest word from an international survey by Globescan that shows that Canada's reputation has slipped amongst the community of nations. We just don't enjoy the same kind of respect we used to. It wasn't that long ago, in September 2003 to be exact, that The Economist dubbed Canada a 'rather cool place' to live. The ensuing years have been rough. We now have The Economist mocking our country and, in particular, our government, for having to prorogue parliament on the pretext that the Olympics would be a distraction to the act of governing.

How stupid have Canadians become? In a world increasingly used to multitasking, are you telling me that we can't handle sports and politics? What about war and politics? Or worse, sports, war and politics. When will the insanity in Ottawa stop?

The priorities -- at least to me -- are glaringly clear. Put our fiscal house in order, protesting loudly when money is squandered by the government on ideological rubbish; make strategic investments to help Canadians transition to more localized economies, including boosting spending for, and building more, public transit, repurposing urban sprawl, and encouraging localized agriculture; building high-speed rail links between every major urban centre from coast to coast to coast, creating a high-speed backbone supported by conventional rail links to smaller provincial centres; boost spending to increase access to education, specifically in the areas of nutrition, civics, international relations, and languages; and of course, focus Canadian ingenuity in energy, technology and medicine.

See, that wasn't so hard! I was typing this while sipping a cup of coffee and listening to the radio. I wonder if that would make me overqualified to work in Ottawa these days?