As it is winter, and as usual winter is doing its best to kill my soul, I have begun to avoid reading the news--it's just too maddening for a freezing ape to bear. I didn't quite escape this weekend though because reading the news is a good way to procrastinate on schoolwork.
In Ottawa, Federal stimulus spending has trickled down. Trickled into Ottawa. What I read about is increased spending in road expansions and extensions. In related news, public transit is being reduced in routes and frequencies. This is depressing all around, but especially depressing in the CAPITAL OF A G-7, G-8, G-20 NATION. Internationally, the world's nations have acknowledged and begun to accept the realities of peak oil, and are investing in light rail, renewables and public transit. But not Canada. We are Canadian, we build highways and subdivisions to drive to. Maybe its just a symptom of being an oil rich nation?
But it is winter, and I don't really want to think about frustrating things, so I turn to the entertainment section of the paper.
In the Globe and Mail, I read about an Australian dance troupe touring an intriguing sounding multimedia show. Ah so, when is it coming to Ottawa? Well, it isn't. The troupe is mainstream, and playing the biggest venues. In Canada it is going to Toronto, Montreal, and Calgary. yes, Calgary, with a smaller population than Ottawa.
I shouldn't be shocked. Living here for the last five years, I have watched as countless musical, theatrical and even film spectacles have bypassed Ottawa, sometimes stopping in tiny University towns, but not the nations capital. I've never understood how a nations capital could be such a cultural wasteland. Ottawa just isn't on the map. It's absurd to know that I might have a better time seeing a band I like in Sudbury than Ottawa.
I wonder if members of my federal government, who have closed up shop for the winter simply go to to other cities with their freed up time?
Sigh, where am I to escape to, if I cannot even read the entertainment section of the paper?
I fear, dear sir, that you are suffering from a common Canadian complaint, akin to 'penis envy', known as 'Toronto Envy'. The cure for this affliction is to travel to Toronto and realize there is nothing there to be envious of.However, if you are beset with the far more serious ailment "Montreal Envy', there is no outright cure, but symptoms can be alleviated by a short trip to La Belle Province.
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