The Lost Promised Land

 

I saw him once in a subway station.

There was a wonderful flowering of Canadian culture in Montreal when I was young. It was a magic time. There was Irving Layton, Leonard Cohen, Mordecai Richler, A.M. Klein, F.R. Scott, Hugh MacLennan. There was Aislin. There was the NFB.

And that flowering wilted and died. 

I believe it was killed, first, by Quebec separatism, which made life difficult for Anglophones, and caused many of the best and brightest to head for Ontario. So the centre in Montreal was broken up.

But why couldn’t it have simply re-formed in Toronto? Toronto has never been able to match Montreal’s creative ferment of the forties to sixties.

I believe this is due to the dogma of multiculturalism, which suppresses the development of Canadian culture. Toronto is the centre of the multicult. The multicult will not publish Canadians; only writers celebrating their alienation from Canadian culture.

But there seems to be another factor. See how many of those Montreal names are Jewish. Montreal in those years had the largest concentration of Jews in Canada. Toronto, it is true, now has more, but as part of a much larger population—not as concentrated.

And some of the brightest lights of Toronto culture are also Jewish: Wayne and Schuster; Sharon, Lois and Bram; Lorne Michaels.

For Jews really are a light unto the nations, a leaven commissioned by God to spread culture wherever they go.

Any nation that wants a rich culture should encourage Jews to immigrate and to stay.

As immigrants, Canada should give absolute priority to Jews. This would vastly enrich Canada, and at the same time, reduce tensions in the Middle East, where Jews are apparently not welcome. The more fools they. It’s a win-win situation.

Of course, many resent the success of Jews. This is the sin of envy, and should be condemned whenever encountered. It is obviously to the benefit of all that the best rise to the top.

If the Jewish population of Canada were large enough, it would be that much harder for other ethnic groups to oppress them. It would be a protection for them.

I think even now, they would be safer in Canada than in Israel.