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Canada to the rescue

Once upon a time talk of "carrying coals to Newcastle" was greeted with laughter. Once upon another time talk of "selling fridges to Eskimos" brought the same response. Now it's "selling shamrocks to Ireland", and it isn't just talk or a laughing matter by any means.

Canada is doing it, and people in Ireland are glad of this latest link between the two countries.

How there could be a shortage of shamrock in Ireland comes as a shock to Irish descendants all around the globe, but in the immortal words of Myles na gCopaleen, "There you are."

The present generation in Ireland can't be counted on to preserve the very symbol of the land of St. Patrick, the three-leafed shamrock which, it is claimed, he used to teach the lesson of the Holy Trinity, three persons in one Godhead, the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, the latter now more universally called the Holy Spirit.

How did it happen? How was it allowed to happen? How did Canada become involved? Not hard to answer those questions.

To the first, indifference. To the second, short-sightedness. To the third, happenstance.

The young look upon wearing the shamrock as uncool. Like, old fashioned. Like, you know, totally not with it.

Their parents no longer saw any value in it. The shamrock was just another logo. Its symbolism was well nigh forgotten.

As for Canada's place in this story, because the wearing of the shamrock had shown a steady decline in Ireland, commercial gardeners began to cut back on their plantings. As a result, seed to grow shamrock became scarcer and scarcer. At first, New Zealand began to market seed back to Ireland, but growing transport costs made this non lucrative. In addition, seed from the southern hemisphere, when planted in Ireland, grew upside down.

Into the breach has stepped Canada which, as everyone knows, is in the northern hemisphere, and its seeds, when transplanted in Ireland, grow upside up.

But there is a limit to the amount of Canadian seed that can be sold in Ireland. It may only be sold in small packets to home gardeners.

Strict regulations ban free trade in rooted plants. No such regulations apply to free trade between Canada and China in the importation of Canada's national symbol, the red maple leaf, depicted on button lapel pins and other trinkets. In fact, when the current government recently sanctioned the importation of such pins from China, there was one heck of a kafuffle in Canada's Parliament. Such pins are freely distributed by Canadian parliamentarians to all and sundry, and it was anathema to them that the national symbol should be manufactured outside Canada.

As a compromise, parliamentarians will continue to get their allotment of pins manufactured in Canada, and other citizens will have to make do with the Chinese ones.

Canadian shamrocks in Ireland, Chinese red maple leafs in Canada. What next? Again not hard to answer. Both countries have two official languages, Irish and English in Ireland, French and English in Canada. Now the Irish minister holding the responsible language portfolio, Eamon O Cuiv, has raised the possibility that Mandarin or Cantonese may become a third official language if enough Chinese people come to live there!

Such talk may send shudders throughout Canada where debate over language issues has created a cultural divide. Between 1980 and the year 2000, some 800,000 Chinese immigrated to Canada, more than half of them Cantonese speaking, adding to the already large population of Chinese in Canada. Chinese is now the third most spoken language in the country, after English and French.

For now we wish all and sundry, and our parliamentarians, a Happy Saint Patrick's Day.

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