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As a kid growing up in small town New Brunswick (Minto until 7, Chipman until 17) my teachers said, “If you want to be successful move to Ontario.” At 17 my father (Own Hartt, whose brother Douglas Hartt served as Director General of Public Works Canada) moved us to Ontario (Sault. Ste. Marie, Ontario) where my teachers said, “If you want to be successful move to The United States.” At 17 I realized two things. The first was that Canada has been telling its young to leave it from the birth of this nation. The second is that doing that is committing suicide because the young are the fresh blood. I determined to achieve success in Canada on my terms.

I am, as far as I know, the only Canadian to do this.

I also knew long before I met Jane Jacobs and Judith Merril and they became friends and mentors and long before I read John Taylor Gatto not only that our education system produces second rate intellects but that it is designed to do that.

Gary Topp filled venues by being cheap.

I fill them by being good.

In a nation where no one has faith in themself or their nation a man with faith in himself and his nation is an anomaly.

After that program I made the Rialto raise the admission to $10. They said, “People won’t pay it.” I said, “They will.” They did. In fact the police showed up. They said, “The nest time you know will have crowds like this call us. We will help control them.”

You can vote for whomever you choose however no one you vote for has the vision I have.

No one in THE UNITED STATES has it either.

Joni Mitchell is a singer and a good one.

Here is a list of the greats. I’m on it: https://www.ranker.com/list/famous-male-orators/reference .

I was asked, “How much did you pay to get on that list?” I replied, “Nothing. I’m there because I earned the right to be there.”

Many say I’m boasting when I add this to my flyers. A boast is something we say about ourselves. This is what particularly qualified people are saying about me: https://reghartt.ca/cineforum/?p=43100 .

First and foremost from the moment I returned to Toronto after turning my back on Hollywood as a city empty of dreams in 1970 to become part of the boldest experiment in education ever, Rochdale College and against the will of my uncle who wanted me to apply for public funding I chose, like GOD, to create something from nothing.

Canada, as a nation, has never had faith in itself, its people or its future. I have faith in all three.

People who want to separate from Canada are losers. Losers always want to separate. Tribalism is for small minds. Small minds think only small thoughts.

I’m not the only one who realized as a kid our schools are factories churning out second rate goods:

“The musical exhilaration and reverie of (Herman) Hesse’s early years were antipodal to what he was undergoing at school, which, until his fourteenth year, had for Hesse “the close atmosphere of a penal institution.” At twelve he was already clear in his own mind that he wanted “to become either a poet or nothing at all.” But this astonishingly early clarity of purpose was soon followed by the painful realization that, although there is a road, a school, a course of study by which one can become a teacher, a pastor, a physician, an artisan, a merchant, a postal official, and even a musician, a painter or an architect, there is no road, school, or course of study by which one becomes a poet. Out of the child’s question— whether his goal could be realized—grew criticism of the school’s authority. Leading to serious conflict, this precipitated the first real crisis in Hesse’s young life. The child had perceived lucidly the equivocal nature of pedagogy—indeed, of the adult world in general—that because of its own mediocrity and lack of existential courage, allows greatness only as a distant idea in remote historical perspective. 

“It was the very same with the poet as with the hero and with all strong or beautiful, sanguine, and out-of-the-ordinary people and movements: If they lived in the past they were glorious and every schoolbook was full of their praises; but if they lived in the real world of the present day they were hated. Presumably the teachers were specifically trained and hired for the purpose of preventing as far as possible the growth of magnificent free men and the committing of great, splendid deeds. Thus the young Hesse soon saw nothing but abysses between him and his goal. Everything seemed devalued and uncertain. But he adhered stubbornly to his plan to become a poet.

“Presumably the teachers were specifically trained and hired for the purpose of preventing as far as possible the growth of magnificent free men and the committing of great, splendid deeds. At thirteen the conflict began. Hesse’s conduct at school and at home left so much to be desired that he was sent “into exile” to the Latin school in Goppingen. His stay there lasted only a year.”—Franz Baumer, HERMAN HESSE.

As for Joni, God love her, every vote to get that low rate ass out of the White House is an important vote though anyone who thinks having a popularity contest is the best way to elect a leader deserves everything they do not get.

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