Now is surely the winter of my discontent - I have had enough of the odd bubble that surrounds Canadian news. Frequently, stories from the United States and other countries take over the headlines.
One of the reasons I love social media is that I can somewhat control the stories I see. I can add local information, follow companies I like, read about issues I care about.
But there is a danger in getting your news from favourite sites and social media - you don't read everything that is going on that you might care about but simply aren't aware of yet. If you don't think about a topic to search for, it likely won't appear.
It is well known that Facebook filters your content so you only see a fraction of what your "friends" and contacts are sharing.
On Twitter, while superior in many respects, stories you don't know about appear - but only if they are "trending".
I also follow issues on Reddit, Google News, and various publications.
My main concern is that I know I'm missing things that I care about. Yes, it's true that no one can follow every important story; nobody can effect change on every issue.
But if I'm a Canadian who isn't able to travel much and, therefore, is mostly in Canada when I'm doing research on Canadian issues, why does Google always given me American and other international results to my searches? Why must I put "Canada" in every search so I don't get top results from other countries? Don't get me wrong, I care very much about international issues, but why can't there be more Canadian content?
I looked up online versions of various Canadian newspapers - several have websites that are not very sophisticated, many links are broken, and most well-designed sites require a paid subscription. So, I can read about what's happening in downtown Chicago for free but not the Rankin Inlet?
Then there is the issue of our multicultural perspective - we are meant to embrace all of our Canadian friends from every province and territory, from all roots and outlooks - this is the Canada I believe in very strongly. So why am I familiar with dating lives in Hollywood (even when I actively avoid those sites) but am not able to mention anything I've seen from Quebec cinema? I grew up watching shorts produced by the NFB and Histori.ca Minutes, but these aren't regularly produced anymore. CBC no longer has a physical or online store like it used to have - it sells through Amazon and other companies. Much of their older content is difficult to find and probably filed away in some warehouse or archive that can't be accessed by everyday Canadians.
I love my country deeply and I am very worried that we must take better care of our past and current talents. Yes, our neighbour to the south is very large and highly populated and they are mostly a benign and friendly giant - but it threatens to roll over and smother us.
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