Thoughts on Victoria Day

This weekend, thousands of Canadians will be kicking back for the unofficial start to the summer – the Victoria Day weekend. Usually, though, the manner in which we celebrate a monarch who gave name to an era of modern history consists of cleaning out garages, opening up cottages, painting, primping, gardening, and shoveling doggie-doo, but je digress…

It’s only natural, though. It is the first time since the fall that many of us have had three days to string together to get any outdoor work done. I do feel bad, however, that the significance of the day gets lost.

Normally, I would not be so maudlin about it, except that part of the long weekend will be spent putting the finishing touches on a speech I am giving to a Canada-Commonwealth Trade Forum in Edmonton on the 29th of this month. Although my serious writing focuses on the idea of a Commonwealth free trade agreement, I am taking a more pragmatic approach by speaking on A “Commonwealth Trade Strategy for Canada.”

The Commonwealth, aside from being the successor to the old British Empire, is a voluntary association of approximately 53 nations. Between us, we have one-third of the world’s population, forty percent of the membership of the World Trade Organization, and almost one-quarter of global trade.

There are over 83 organizations within the Commonwealth family, whose activities range from education, to healthcare, to sport, to development. One such group – the Royal Commonwealth Society of Canada – will be my hosts at the event.

Rather than shamelessly promote my book, or the event, I just want to encourage you to go to the Commonwealth Secretariat’s website and see how much they do. I also want you to bear in mind that Canada is the second-largest contributor to its budget, and yet what they give amounts to five cents a year per Canadian.

In a world where globalization has so many panicked about our economic future, it seems odd that for our best insurance policy, we wouldn’t pay more than a nickel a year. Heck, the Timbit that got that woman temporarily sacked from Tim Horton’s cost 16 cents.

Priorities, people, priorities…