Pot, Gay Marriage Just Good Business In Canada

MONTREAL -- Freedom isn't just good for civil liberties, filmmaker Albert Nerenberg suggests in his new documentary Escape to Canada. It's good for tourism and the economy.
"I think this kind of freedom tourism that Canada has been enjoying will increase dramatically, where people will come here to smoke pot, they'll come here to get married, they'll come here just because it's a great place.
"It's going to be great for the Canadian economy."
Escape to Canada, which will premiere Monday at the New Montreal FilmFest, chronicles the aftermath of Ontario's legalization of same-sex marriage and suspension of the prohibition of marijuana in 2003. Some Americans fleeing service in the war in Iraq are thrown in for good measure.
Nerenberg argues those events are helping Canada to wrest the title of "land of the free" from its neighbour to the south.
"Doing this film really made me fall in love with Canada," Nerenberg said in a telephone interview from Toronto.
"I really started to see why Canada very much is a great country. I even felt some warmth toward people who may not be in the same political spectrum as me. Even the anti-same sex marriage people I found in Canada were reasonable.
Nerenberg got the idea for the film when he was struck by the fact that Ontario courts gave the nod to same-sex marriage and marijuana on the same day -- June 10, 2003 -- and in the same courthouse
The film looks at the flood of gay marriages that resulted as well as the adventures of pro-pot activist Marc Emery, who was recently arrested by the RCMP on drug charges filed in a U.S. court.
Nerenberg managed to make a mainly balanced film with a sense of humour, illustrating his point with some of the more surreal moments of the debate. One moment sure to induce double-takes among viewers is when an actor who is a dead ringer for then prime minister Jean Chretien smokes a joint.
At one point in the film, Nerenberg compares Canada to an adolescent coming of age -- trying to figure out its sexual orientation, trying pot and making a bunch of new friends in the bargain.

"There is a naive quality to what is going on," he said in an interview. "It fits the naive do-gooder image in the sense that we're not looking at the long-term consequences of what America's going to do."
And while he does point to negative American reaction to Canada's embracing of same-sex marriage and re-examination of its drug laws, Nerenberg doesn't bash Americans or President George W. Bush, a strong opponent of both measures.
"I don't think it's just about Bush," the Montreal-born filmmaker said. "I think that the sad thing is that Bush may have campaigned on gay marriage but it's not the only thing. There was a big movement in the States to stop gay marriage and it wasn't just Bush."
But the former journalist isn't shy about touting Canada's differences over its American neighbours.
"We're a common-sense country," he said, pointing out Canadians took a fairly reasoned approach to same-sex marriage where some Americans said it could lead to people marrying animals.
"I'm not saying Americans by nature are hysterical. I'm saying the American political process is hysterical. Yes, Canada is a boring country but our boringness is serving us very well. We use reason and balanced judgment to make intelligent decisions."
from Canada.com