Happy Birthday! (Canada, 139 Years Old)
The Ottawa Sun ^ | Sat, July 1, 2006 | Sun Editorial Staff

Here's what we wish for our country, and for you, our readers, on Canada's 139th birthday.

We wish for politicians who don't brag about hoarding massive surpluses of our tax money in Ottawa, while our health care system goes to hell in a handbasket.

We wish for them to stop dithering over which level of government pays for what service -- since there's only one taxpayer -- and start delivering all those services efficiently.

We want federal, provincial and local governments to stop taxing away almost half of what the average family earns per year, while expecting us to be grateful for funding their dreams and schemes.

That's why we're encouraged that Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives, as of today and as promised, have cut the GST by a full point, with a second cut to come.

We hope it's the beginning of a sea change in thinking, the first of many more tax cuts as federal politicians finally start listening to what Canadians want for our country, rather than always telling us what we want and what our priorities should be.

We're pleased that after decades of neglect, the first serious steps are being taken by our new government to restore Canada's Armed Forces to their past power and pride.

We're proud, as well, to have a foreign policy that finally makes sense in the Middle East, where we've chosen to support freedom over fanaticism, democracy over terrorism.

We hope that when Parliament resumes this fall, it will give speedy passage to long-overdue bills toughening penalties for gun crimes and raising the age of sexual consent to 16 from 14.

Finally, our fondest wish is for a prosperous and confident nation. One where being pro-Canadian at long last has nothing to do with being anti-American, but with extending a welcoming hand to anyone in the world who wants to come here, work hard, obey our laws and respect our culture.

And where, in turn, those of us already here promise to respect their cultures and to defend their rights and freedoms, not just as if they were our own, but because they are our own.

This has always been our nation at its very best -- forging one people out of many, in a country where we are all different, but in our love for Canada, all equal and all the same.

Happy Canada Day.

Red Ensign or Maple Leaf -- Happy Birthday, Canadians.