Once again a think tank has come up with a report showing Canada is an economic laggard, filled with lazy people wallowing in too much tax and too little profit motive.

The report slams Canadians for their lack of creativity. Perhaps it is time that these people stopped rehashing the same stuff we’ve been told every few months since John A. MacDonald decided the only way to salvage the Canadian economy was to build a mile-high tariff wall around the country.

So we can’t bring ourselves to care overmuch about working more efficiently and putting in longer hours. Who cares?

Who cares if the average Japanese owns more patents than we do? Who cares if the Germans work more efficiently or the Americans put in longer hours?

One day they will start looking at things that really matter to Canadians.

Like who spends the most time driving, (or walking or cycling) through the countryside in the spring, inhaling the scent of freshly turned fields and watching the land slowly turn green.

Like who has the best fishing holes. This is one that Canada will rate high on, and it isn’t just that we have so many good places to fish, either. It’s because we don’t spend so much of our time at work that we never get a chance to find them.

Like what country has the highest percentage of the population to make love in a canoe. Without tipping.

Like who has the most ways to enjoy the snow and cold of winter. Remember that complaining about the weather can be called a form of enjoyment for the grumpily inclined. One need only stop in at the local coffee shop on a snowy, blustery day to realize that Canadians lead the world at complaining cheerfully about the weather.

Like who has the better sunsets? It used to be said that the sun never set on the British Empire. Pity the poor Brits. Almost every evening, winter or summer, Canadians are treated to this truly awe-inspiring spectacle.

Like who has the lowest rate of work-place deaths. This should not only include accidents, but also heart attacks brought on by the pressures to work more efficiently and put in longer hours.

Perhaps we should remove the denizens of the think tanks from their bank towers and move them into the country-side, teach them how to walk again and breathe without artificial aids. I would be happy to show them how to pan-fry fresh caught trout in butter and distinguish the various plants in the forest. There are others who can teach them about the animals and birds better than I can.

Just maybe, after they have taken in a few sunset that aren’t screened by industrial pollutants, after they have seen a fawn looking curiously and cautiously back at them through a screen of forest green, they will go back to their towers a little more content with who they are and willing to survey the things that count to Canadians.