"No nation can achieve its true destiny that adopts without profound and courageous reasoning and selection the thought and styles of another, that prefers the arts and letters of a foreign state to its own...If we expect to retain our place in the British Commonwealth, then our roots must go down deep into that living stream of tradition. There are the sources of our life and power, and dearly must we prize them."                                                              (Lorne Pierce, from A Canadian People)
"For when we deny that our national character owes its primary debt to the creative power of the British tradition in this country, and proceed to affirm that we owe it all to the great Laurentian Shield and the ice of the polar seas, we are simply denying what has hitherto been the essential genius of this country--that of expressing a great tradition in a new and great environment."                                                             (John Farthing, from Freedom Wears a Crown)
"I have often said that I belong, spiritually, and intellectually, to the generation of Sir Robert Borden: I should have been born fifty years sooner, and died long ago. I'd have been happier and probably more useful. The modern world disgusts me more and more, and frightens me more and more."                                                            (Eugene Forsey; letter to Gordon Robertson, June 1989)
I dedicate this site to my father, Charles Leslee Parsons (1919-2006): The Lord has cast down the mighty from their thrones  and has exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.   Last updated on: May 20, 2010