2010 Handbook for Entering Canada

For Howard White

Are you bring­ing any fruits or veg­eta­bles into Canada?

Have you vis­ited a farm in the last 30 days?

Are you now or have you ever been a mem­ber of a group that dis­agreed with government?

Do you intend to ride the zip line?

Do you approve of prod­uct place­ment in movies?

Do you like my uniform?

Are you bring­ing into Canada any cur­rency and/or mon­e­tary instru­ments of a value totalling CAN$10,000 or more per person?

Have you ever assaulted a police offi­cer with a stapler?

In describ­ing my uni­form, would you say that it a) inspires respect or b) breeds contempt?

Have you ever dreamed of shoot­ing a fas­cist dic­ta­tor off a Spanish balcony?

Do you approve of John Furlong?

Can you give me an exam­ple of the words in your head and how they might be used while in Canada?

Do you vote?

Are you now or have you ever been a per­son who car­ries MasterCard?

Were you aware of the Oka upris­ing, and if so, whose side were you on?

Remind me again about the zip line.

Do you read poetry?

Do you believe in home­less­ness as a right of the people?

If you were Canadian, and if it were pos­si­ble to do so, would you vote for John Furlong?

Does the colour of your socks match the colour of your pants?

Do your chil­dren own an effigy, stuffed or oth­er­wise, of the Olympic mascot?

Our pre­mier rode the zip line. Did you see that? It looks awesome.

Please arrange the fol­low­ing terms in order of pref­er­ence, start­ing with the least impor­tant: Health Care, Education, the Environment, Homelessness, Logo Placement at Sporting Events.

Do you now or have you ever owned a copy of Raffi’s Baby Beluga?

Do you own a cell phone?

Are you car­ry­ing any printed mat­ter that illus­trates same-sex love?

Are you bring­ing into Canada any firearms or other weapons?

Did you know that each year, more Canadians trust RBC Royal Bank® for their mort­gage solu­tions than any other provider?

What is the total mon­e­tary value of the goods you will be leav­ing in Canada?

Let’s go back to my uni­form for a minute, you gotta admit it’s pretty fuck­ing awesome.

Do you or have you ever lis­tened to Democracy Now?

Can you fin­ish the fol­low­ing sen­tence? Baby bel­uga in the deep blue ______________.

What colour is your heart?

Do you believe in global warming?

Have you ever pur­chased No Name brand prod­ucts? You know, the ugly yel­low ones?

If while in Canada you were tasered, would you be upset or go into car­diac arrest?

Do you sup­port an inter­na­tional unelected and roam­ing fourth tier of gov­ern­ment as set out by a non-existent char­ter of the
IOC?

If your gov­ern­ment acted against the prin­ci­ples of democ­racy, would you be com­pelled to action or would you just tell your
friends you are miffed?

Do you ever expe­ri­ence emo­tions stronger than miffment?

If some­one you knew spoke up against your gov­ern­ment, would you a) lis­ten or b) think that was a lit­tle weird?

Which of the fol­low­ing does not fit? Osama bin Laden, Louis Riel, Chris Shaw, Gordon Campbell.

When asked, will you keep the flow of traf­fic mov­ing smoothly?

How long will you be staying?

Comments

11 Responses to “2010 Handbook for Entering Canada”

  1. Eva van Loon on February 11th, 2010 8:27 pm

    “Miffment”! I love it!

    I live in perpetual miffment
    every little whiff
    of civilisation,
    every time I sniff
    eau de globalisation,
    every poor stiff
    in marginalisation,
    adds to a monument of miffment!

  2. Eva Sharell on February 12th, 2010 10:11 am

    Perfect!! Very apt and witty!

  3. Carrie on February 13th, 2010 3:34 pm

    beautiful.

  4. pwlg on February 13th, 2010 4:18 pm

    What a nice discovery…

    Campbell’s zip line adventure made me think of the phrase, hook line and sinker, in Campbell’s case and the case for the 2010 Games it should be changed to zip line and sinker

  5. burgherRaveen on February 14th, 2010 3:52 pm

    Excellent
    uniform
    indeed, Ms.!

    Amy Goodman could have used the heads up earlier on there.

    Although Nick George, a Pomona College student, a physics major studying Arabic may have used your tips, he was detained and aggressively interrogated and handcuffed for over 4 hours by TSA, because he had Arabic flash cards. Arabic on one side and English on the other.
    ACLU filed a lawsuit on his behalf. [from crooksandliars[dot]com]

    Reminded me of Communist Poland of the 70’s and Bugajski’s movie [The Interrogation].

    Is Canada striving to be like the US? Tsk, tsk. They’re getting there.

    I want to give you mad props for not signing that contract with the lympic* Committee. Too bad our politicians haven’t the gall.

    Speaking of Chris Shaw, Laura Robinson, doesn’t care much for the IOC either. You may have read her essay in the Literary Review of Canada, ‘A Shameful Track Record – The Olympic movement plays fast and loose with basic democratic values.”
    http://reviewcanada.ca/essays/2010/01/01/a-shameful-track-record/

    Beautiful.
    May you run into her in Van. She’ll be reporting there. Not for any MSM I bet.
    My pleasure.

    Cheers!

    * [read: limp dick]

  6. Erin on February 15th, 2010 2:31 pm

    Brilliant!

  7. Megan on February 16th, 2010 3:40 pm

    Brad. You are simply awesome and this poem has cheered up my dreary government office for the afternoon. Thank you so, so much for being the poet laureate and giving us things to read about, talk about, think about.

  8. Mike Halk on February 16th, 2010 7:36 pm

    Good interrogatory poem; I enjoyed the play between the questions and the answers formed in my head, the tension between political correctness and reality deepened my reflection.

  9. Dave on February 18th, 2010 11:15 am

    Well done…

  10. Section 98 – Open Source Entry #5 – I believe in the power… of you and I – Praxis Theatre on March 1st, 2010 9:50 am

    [...] 2010 Handbook for Entering Canada [...]

  11. Lindsay on June 18th, 2010 2:54 pm

    I’m still laughing at this, months later.

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