Pride and sense? Prejudice and sensibility?

“As Canadian as ...” In the 70s, the CBC Radio asked its listeners to complete the sentence. Why do I write about what helps to define Canada? Well, it was a series of decisions made by Canadian authorities that mixed Canadian and foreign in a rather explosive ratio.

Awarding a contract to an overseas company when the domestic manufacturing sector struggles is like inviting Hannibal Lecter for dinner. The authority responsible for such an outrageous deed would surely be cut to pieces by almost every public figure and many a commentator would express their opinions in every medium imaginable. Which is exactly what happened.

Take the flag-gate, for example. Ontario's bureaucrats should have known better before placing an order for $1000 worth of Ontario provincial flags with a Chinese company. But let's do the math. A Toronto flag manufacturer sells a flag for $18 dollars. Ontario got them $13 a piece from China. It's 55 versus 77 flags. Problem solved. For the aforementioned bureaucrats, that is. There was a $1000 fund allocated in the budget and that had to be followed as the Scriptures. $1000 will not save the economy and, very probably, the fabric would be imported anyway.

In a similar case, latest batch of flag pins received by Ottawa parliamentarians was made in China. That had NDP's Heritage Critic Charlie Angus issuing a statement from which I quote: "The Canadian flag pin was manufactured by Canadian companies for decades. Now those jobs have been shipped overseas. As our manufacturing heartland has been gutted, the Conservatives have the nerve to use taxpayers' dollars to peddle 'Made in China' pins to the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who have lost their jobs. The symbolism of these Cadillac Conservatives couldn't be clearer." One can assume that the pin-gate was driven by the similar forces – saving money. Give them a credit, we may nag bureaucrats 24/7 but very often they're tasked (via budgets) to do the best with the very little by the same people who would later question their purchasing decisions.

Another unfortunate accident occurred in Alberta. The advertising campaign promoting the province used a picture of two kids running about a beach, which was later identified as a piece of Britain's shoreline in Northumberland. Advertising agencies around the world have access to millions images available via hundreds of commercial galleries and image banks. The picture in question was as non-descript and anonymous as possible and, frankly, can be used to promote pretty much any country. But, in this case, it was not promoting a location, it promoted an idea. Of course, it's hard for Alberta officials to fight opportunistic political opponents or patriotic busybodies who would almost certainly criticize Alberta officials had they decided to pay a professional photographer, a location manager and parents of two blond kids to take that perfect snap somewhere off the Alberta's oil rigs.

Is national (or provincial) pride taking over the bigger picture here? Does anyone think of a VW Touareg as of a Slovak car? No. Yet all Touaregs are made in Slovakia. If Made in Canada is essential to determine the nationality of a product and foster the concept of pride, then Toyotas from Cambridge, ON, and Hondas from Alliston, ON, are surely as Canadian as is Ford Flex from Oakville, ON, or Chevy Camaro from Oshawa, ON. In general, cars are a great example of twists of modern global economy. Ford Fusion's 2.5 liter engine is Japanese, essentially a rebadged Mazda's MZR engine. But a 3.7 liter V6 in Mazda 6 is Ford's. Modern day Saturns are badge engineered German Opels, or perhaps British Vauxhalls. On the other hand, we, the Europeans, never though of Chrysler Voyager as of an Austrian product even though it was assembled in that country (Graz) and, heaven forbid, it used an Mitsubishi engine. It was always an American car, symbol of the American car industry. A steering wheel in Chevrolet Malibu is exactly the same as the one in my Mazda and in tens of other models of other manufacturers. Rolls Royce will be British even though not a SINGLE part of the Phantom is made in Britain; everything is shipped from BMW in Germany, even leather is reportedly from Bavarian cattle. Bugatti Veyron was designed by … Jozef Kabaň, a guy from Namestovo, Slovakia.

Is the origin of a little piece of plastic or metal more important than the reason why a person wants to pin in onto their suit jacket? How many Ontarians knew whether flags decorating provincial edifices were or were not made in Canada? That beach photo's message was “come to Alberta”, not “go to whatever-shire”. What's the source of the pride of being a Canadian, Slovak or Ontarian? A piece of fabric? Or what it actually stands for?

Fortunately, people still sing Oh Canada! no matter how terrible the singer is. Truly in the spirit of the winning entry: As Canadian as possible, under the circumstances.