SCTV, RIP

SCTV, RIP I dislike Bush as much as the next guy, but the last thing I'm going to do is move to Canada. (Incidentally, thank you TimeOut New York, thank you New York and the other countless publications for covering the Canadian visa process with such aplomb and originality.) Canada may have great drug laws and universal healthcare, but Canadians have lost their sense of humor. And I'm not talking about the burly border guard who dressed me down on my way back from Montreal last summer.

It seems that Canada, birthplace of Mike Myers and SCTV, can no longer take a joke. Forget the fiasco earlier this year when Conan O'Brien managed to offend the entire country with a dog puppet. Last week, under the radar, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin fired Carolyn Parrish for daring to stomp on a doll of George W. Bush. She performed the stunt for a tv comedy show to express a widely held opinion in Canada (particularly among her Muslim constituency) and to rile the masses before Bush's November 30 visit.

Her removal is ridiculous. And not just because Parrish holds a crucial seat for Canada's Liberal party in a practically even-split House of Commons, though that's important. It's ridiculous because there are much more egregious examples of politicians flying off the handle out there. In Ecuador, a parliamentarian recently brandished a firearm mid-debate. In Japan, a brawl broke out on the floor of the legislature over the issue of troops in Iraq; in other parts of East Asia, fistfights among lawmakers are routine. Closer to home, our own vice president resorted to a locker-room taunt on the floor of the Senate. But in Canada, mix humor and politics and kiss your career goodbye.

The Great White North has long had one of the world's most liberal immigration policies, acting as a beacon of tolerance and openness-much more so than its southern neighbor. More important, Canada was known the world over for its comics as well as its gabby, good-storytelling citizenry. Yet Trailer Park Boys notwithstanding, when's the last time anything funny came out of Canada? Name a Canadian comic in recent memory who's made it big.

Call it the Quebec-ization of Canada, but our neighbors to the north are losing their penchant for humor. Even the recent spate of publications coming out of Canada has a dour and overly serious tone (i.e. The Walrus). It's only fitting, then, that Parrish, who famously apologized last year for her "Damn Americans? I hate the bastards!" comment, finds herself the latest casualty of Canada's turn toward the more serious.

Perhaps the expected exodus of non-flag-waving Americans will resuscitate Canada's forgotten sense of humor.

Except that liberals aren't all that funny either.