Edit: I’ve dire tly linked to the youtube video (irony noted) but this comes from CBC Radio
Scroll down a bit for this gem:
WATCH | Tod Maffin’s GUARD:
He uses the acronym GUARD — “as in on guard” — to explain.
G stands for getting serious about your next vote.
“There are things that are important to me as a voter — labour things, environmental things,” he said during an interview on Cross Country Checkup. “I may have to choose to shelve those priorities temporarily for one election cycle to make sure that the border and to make sure that sovereignty [are protected].
“If we’re not looking after our vote and being strategic about it in this sort of national sense, I mean, we may not have a country to argue about.”
Tod Maffin is a former CBC journalist who makes content about Canadian life and identity. (CBC)
The U in GUARD is all about unplugging from what Maffin described as “outrage platforms” — social media spaces like Facebook and X, where people can get riled up about certain posts and comments.
“It’s profitable for you to be enraged because enraged means you’re also engaged. So take a moment off of those platforms. There are other platforms out there. Or just do some reading. You don’t have to comment.”
A stands for anchoring spending in Canada, or buying Canadian as it were.
Maffin said the Buy Canadian movement came out strong in the beginning, but seems to have slipped in recent months.
“We need to recommit to the boycott of American products.”
The R in GUARD is about reinforcing Canadian media, including independent Canadian media, Maffin said.
“We get a lot of our news from the U.S.,” he said. “It’s important for us to not see this dispute through the lens of people that are against us and CNN … it is still an American filter.”
The most important part of GUARD, Maffin said, is D, which stands for distinguishing people from a regime. In this case, it means recognizing there is a difference between American people and the government and authorities that are making decisions for the country.
“The people putting their kids through school, trying to put food on the table — those people are not our enemies. Those people are just like us, caught in something that perhaps they didn’t vote for, perhaps they don’t want.”
Sure. I will distinguish them by their actions, and they have to put in some work to start to earn any goodwill, support or sympathy they’re going to get from me.
I know they don’t learn much about history besides their own down there, but if anyone is reading this: go invest some time in learning about the French Resistance in WW2. The further you let it go, the worse it’s going to get. It’s NOT going to be fun for you. That does not mean you don’t have to do it. It sounds like it was a long goddamn 4 years they went through, and you might end up in something like the same. I don’t envy you, but I also didn’t choose this for you. Fix your shit, and once you start, you can count on our help.