By BJ Bjornson
Something a little lighter to take you into the weekend.
This is a pretty silly argument, but it strikes me as part of an ongoing pattern of Conservatives looking for symbolic rather than practical ways to burnish Canada�s image.
A Conservative senator is urging the country to dump the iconic beaver in favour of the polar bear as an official emblem of Canada, saying the rodent has had its day.
. . .
�A country�s symbols are not constant and can change over time as long as they reflect the ethos of the people and the spirit of the nation.�
The senator said the polar bear is more noble and rugged.
�The polar bear is the world�s largest terrestrial carnivore and Canada�s most majestic and splendid mammal,� she said, noting it �survives in the harshest climate and terrain in the world.�
Personally, I�m for keeping the beaver. Not only is it the only other terrestrial mammal I�m aware of to build a structure visible from space, it is also far more likely to survive in the significantly warmer world that is rapidly destroying the polar bears� habitat. Something the Conservatives are doing nothing to prevent, if not outright looking to accelerate, and just may be another thing this little symbolic gesture is looking to compensate for.
Living here in the Beaver State, Oregon, I'm kind of partial to the Beaver my self. Of course they are a pain in the a$$ when the block urban streams and flood neighbor hoods.
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