The Canadian National Newspaper: Canada's non existent Olympic medal count symptomatic of societal decline

Anyone who thinks that Canada's non existent medal count thus far, is irrelevant, is arguably sadly mistaken. Over 40 countries so far, have athletes who have obtained gold, silver or bronze medals.

Canada's poor showing -- while at the same time fielding a large team -- is symptomatic of a societal decline. What do you mean? That is a question you might ask. This societal decline is evident in political elites at the highest levels of parliamentary government in Canada. These elites currently ignore such critical areas as worsening socio-economic and cultural-political conditions in Canada. These include homelessness; child poverty; chronic public health issues on aboriginal reservations; increasing joblessness; declining support to universal public healthcare, and other social policies; the destruction of world renowned national institutions like the Wheat Board; and the rapid sell out of other national institutions mostly to the United States; but also to other countries like China. Canada, which used to be ranked the best country in the world to live, according to the United Nation's Human Development Index during the Jean Chrétien government of the late-1990's, has rapidly declined since then.

The same group of elites that are giving Canada away to interests associated with U.S. President George W. Bush through the Security and Prosperity Partnership North American Union (SPP-NAU) agenda, is the same group of elites that have corrupted Canada's Olympic opportunities. Canada's prevailing elites, whose main objective is to exploit public resources for a self-serving agenda, demonstrate a total lack of national pride/commitment.

Did you notice, for example, when CBC-TV on Tuesday, August 12, inappropriately cut away right in the middle of a baseball game between Canada and China, so that Ian Hanomansing could give some rather trivial commentary about the Olympic grounds, followed by haphazard commentary, that was accompanied by plenty of commercials. One of Canada’s few Olympic teams became a ritualized footnote in CBC-TV’s coverage, thereafter. At the same time, CBC a few days before, twice showed in its entirety, the same basketball game, with Team USA easily trouncing China.

Canada's elites are currently also "going through the motions" in front of television cameras, while they balkanize and parcel out vast chunks of our nation to the U.S. military-industrial complex. What Canadians are witnessing in Beijing is the filtering of this mentality right down to Canada's so-called Olympic Committee management, and even in areas of mass-media Olympic coverage. Indeed, today's Canadian Olympic Committee is a true representation of broader political-bureaucratic entourage that is self-serving. Why facilitate athletic achievement in Canada that is competitive on the world stage in the Olympics, if you can use Canadian taxpayer's and corporate financial resources to support an “in-group“? Then, put out a message that achieving "Personal Best" is good enough for us Canadians, to legitimate the manifestation of mediocrity, as a result of political corruption.

Canada's Olympic opportunities have long suffered because of apparent cronyism. Indeed, often it has appeared that getting access to the chance of competing on the Olympic world stage in Canada has not been the result of bringing together fair, open, and accessible competitions.

Countries from the United States to smaller countries like Cuba, and numerous others, have shown eagerness in seeking out and training individuals and teams, who have shown aptitude and interest, to "be the best". Not so in Canada. In Canada, Olympic teams have often been formed based upon cliques in the public financed bureaucracy, seeking to conserve access to Olympic spots to "privileged connections”, thereby turning off great Canadian competitors living abroad from representing for their own country, and also potential great coaches, who are not inspired by elite politics in Canada.

Why do you think that Canada, (where basketball was invented), does not even have a team competing at this year’s Olympic Games in Beijing, compared to at least having a team in Athens four years ago, in 2004?

Alex Baumann, had won gold medals for Canada at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics in the 400-metre individual medley, setting a world record time of 4:17.41, and the 200-metre race, lowering the world mark to 2:01.42. The 400-metre gold was Canada's first in swimming since 1912.

He was named Canada's male athlete of the year for 1984 and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. He was also named as the Male World Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World magazine in the same year.

After the 1984 Olympics, the two authored a book titled Swimming with Alex Baumann: A Program for Competitive and Recreational Swimmers.

After a poor showing by Canada at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Baumann felt he had more to offer Canadian sport, and expressed interest in taking on the vacant leadership position at the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC). However, apparently the COC felt he "did not have the business background to handle the job." In other words, he was not one of their "blue eyed" boys, who had the right connections with the "in-group"

Ultimately, Baumann was not offered the Canadian Olympic Committee position. This caused some controversy and criticism in Canada as many Canadian athletes and citizens felt he was the best choice for the job

A number of foreign sports organizations felt the same way, and he was courted heavily by the English Institute of Sport, and by the Queensland Academy of Sport: ultimately accepting the position of executive director for the Queensland Academy of Sport in 2002. Baumann was singularly responsible for making Australia a power house in swimming, while Canada's swimming programme symptomatically declined.

It was only after Baumann went abroad to Australia, and made a success of the Australian swimming programme, that Canada's elites through embarrassment sought in 2007 to use any of Baumann's services.

In a 6 August 2008 Maclean’s magazine interview, Baumann who now coordinates Canada ‘Road to Excellence program’, said that “new funding from the federal budget that was announced this year hasn't actually flowed yet to the sports, or to the Canadian sports centres.” In other words, while the Australians provided Baumann with the administrative authority and funding support to build Australia’s Swimming programme, Baumann has been eventually brought back to Canada, for public relations, while the elites corruptly continue to let Canada in general, and its Olympic programmes rot.

Canada’s particular incestuous culture, that chooses mediocrity over pursuing excellence, was spawned from the colonial days of Canada’s Family Compact, that ruled in nineteenth century, and that has since sought to maintain power through a network of interconnected cliques.

The Pierre E. Trudeau government helped facilitate a period of multiculturalism in Canada’s Olympic system into the 1980’s. However, Ben Johnson’s steroid use during the Brian Mulroney government (as if Mr. Johnson was the only user of steroids at the time), showed that racism and social exclusion was alive and well under a cosmetic context of multiculturalism. The Ben Johnson incident became an excuse by the inner clique to squeeze out the basically unwanted “niggers” that had been taking Canada at the Olympics to overall to new heights in track and field. Canada’s Olympic Track and Field Team has been in slow decline ever since.

With the total lack of national commitment by Canada’s elites to the affirmation of our societal independence through SPP-NAU to land us into being a colony of the United States, Canada’s lack of medals is arguably symptomatic of a nation of people that need to wake up, before it is too late. If Canadians don’t wake up from their national ignorance in a timely manner, this could be the last Olympics that Canada as we know it, has any team. Will a “Team North America” replace Canada in time for the next Olympics? It is goodbye Canada, if Canadians don’t wake up, and reclaim our national spirit, that has blossomed at Expo 67 in Montreal.

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