Andrew Potter: It's not about the passport
Andrew Potter: It's not about the passport
It’s never about the socks, and it’s never about the juice. Or in the case of the latest Canadian political brouhaha, it’s not about the passports.
By: Andrew Potter
Anyone who has ever been in a serious relationship knows that when it comes to getting into trouble with your spouse, it’s never about the dirty socks left lying in the hallway, or the dishes left unwashed sitting in the sink. Similarly, anyone who has ever gotten into trouble in politics knows that it’s never about the $16 orange juice you charged to your room, or even about the small consulting contract you gave to an ex-girlfriend.
In both spheres of life, the proximate causes of your invitation to spend some time in the doghouse are merely symptoms of a much more persistent set of crimes: a general lack of consideration or even contempt for your spouse in the former case, and a general lack of consideration or even contempt for the electorate in the latter.
It’s never about the socks, and it’s never about the juice. Or in the case of the latest Canadian political brouhaha, it’s not about the passports.
For those with lives to lead who might have missed it, last week the Liberal government announced a redesign of Canada’s passports. On the way out are images of very Canadian people, places and things such as Parliament Hill, the Stanley Cup, and Nellie McClung, to be replaced by stylized graphics of animals (bears and owls and such) and children doing such Canadian things as jumping in a lake.
The changes have generated an enormous amount of controversy — in particular over the decision to remove the pictures of Terry Fox and the Vimy memorial. Critics, most prominently CPC leader Pierre Poilievre, have accused the Liberals of trying to erase Canadian history in order to promote their own utopian social engineering project. Defenders of the new design have resorted to accusing the critics of making a mountain out of a molehill. Alex Usher gave probably the best version of this argument in a short Twitter thread where he looked at the symbols currently represented in the passport and noted that they are overwhelmingly white and male, a bias that is hard to defend no matter where on the political spectrum you land.
Regardless of which side you are on here, there is no question that the new passport design is absolutely horrendous. Setting aside any debate over what symbols should and should not be represented, it just looks like garbage. As The Line’s Jen Gerson wrote, the problem is particularly acute with the new cover, which she described as “an atrocity of design by committee.” Whatever political agenda the Liberals may be trying to advance with this redesign, it has to be said that no one who actually cares about Canada could have approved it.
But is this worth getting worked up about? As is usually the case in these sorts of things, both sides have a point. But ultimately, both sides are missing the point. This redesign is Justin Trudeau’s socks in the hall, his dishes in the sink, his $16 orange juice, his side-eyed cronyism. It is his perceived ongoing contempt for Canada, for Canadians, and for the symbols of their patriotism, all wrapped up in a neat, clear and easily understood package.
Ever since he was elected in 2015, dumping on Canada and Canadians has been Trudeau’s go-to rhetorical move: The lengthy list of apologies for past transgressions; the acceptance of Canada as a genocidal state; allowing the country’s 150th anniversary to be turned into an orgy of national self-hatred; ordering national flag to fly at half staff for an entire summer while blithely ignoring, for months, the factors that went into that decision; letting 24 Sussex turn into a ruin; the obscenely casual, almost sabotaging, attitude toward the appointment of a governor general; the general indifference to the Crown, the Royal Family, and what it symbolizes … and so on. He’s not the only PM to have committed some of these sins, but he’s certainly an enthusiastic repeat offender.
Don’t misunderstand: Canada might indeed be as bad as Justin Trudeau seems to think. Canadians may be the unworthy citizens he takes them for. And contempt for Canada’s historical connection to the monarchy has been Liberal dogma for decades. But past Liberal prime ministers — Paul Martin and Jean Chrétien in particular — at least had the political good sense to talk the country up, to ourselves and to others. While Chrétien never tired of telling Canadians they were the stewards of the best country in the world (and got on famously with the Queen), Justin Trudeau seems to have internalized his father’s lifelong dislike for nationalism, but learned none of the lessons P.E.T. eventually came around to understanding about the importance of national symbols.
In his 1867 book The English Constitution, the journalist and founder of The Economist Walter Bagehot made a useful distinction between what he called the “dignified” and the “efficient” parts of the constitution. A good constitution needs both: The job of the dignified part is to “excite and preserve the reverence of the population,” the role of the efficient part is to “employ that homage in the work of government.” Put differently: the pomp and circumstance around the monarchy (or, in other countries, the presidency) is what gives the work of parliament its moral ballast, its sense of legitimacy. The symbolism provides the gravitational pull that gives the population their self-understanding as a people and allows the government to function in the name of the whole.
What Canada has done is largely jettison the dignified part of our constitution. We have largely abandoned the monarchy, and replaced it with a vapid discourse about Canada as a “post-national state” (or, as Yann Martel put it, the world’s greatest hotel). It’s not surprising that this is Justin Trudeau’s preferred narrative about the Canadian project. Hotels are the paradigmatic model of cosmopolitan social organization, the playground of the global elite that finds old-fashioned nationalism rather vulgar.
But not everyone finds this Liberal stew of self-flagellating cosmopolitanism so appealing. Millions of Canadians remain uncouth enough to want to wave a flag, sing an anthem, even cheer for someone in a funny hat with some medals pinned to their chest. Indeed, a great many of them showed up in Ottawa last year, in the dead of winter, to occupy the capital of a country led by a man and a party who had spent the better part of the pandemic showing them nothing but contempt.
It’s not about the passport. If the Liberals and their supporters think that is all it is, we’re in very serious trouble.
The Line is Canada’s last, best hope for irreverent commentary. We reject bullshit. We love lively writing. Please consider supporting us by subscribing. Follow us on Twitter @the_lineca. Fight with us on Facebook. Pitch us something: lineeditor@protonmail.com