Flipping the Line: If Canada has no values, what did I adopt when I moved here?
An American-born Canadian takes issue with the latest episode of The Line Podcast.
The Line welcomes angry rebuttals and responses to our work. The best will be featured in our ongoing series, Flipping the Line. Today, Jason Friedman on why he believes your Line editors are missing something important about their country.
By: Jason Friedman
I was surprised to learn on the latest episode of The Line Podcast that hosts Matt Gurney and Jen Gerson think Canada needs new values. Or any values.
Of course Canada has values. I should know. I adopted them.
A bit of background: I grew up in Connecticut and spent the first 20-plus years of my life in the United States. I’ve lived in Canada (except for a brief return to Boston) since 2003. I’ve resided in Montreal, Ottawa, and, for the past three years, Saskatoon. I became a Canadian citizen in 2012 and shortly thereafter renounced my U.S. citizenship.
With that on the record, I confess that I found the notion that there are no Canadian values, or that they’re somehow “customer-service kiosk” based — ridiculous. Michael Adams literally wrote a book on the topic, Fire and Ice: The United States, Canada and the Myth of Converging Values. And for what it’s worth, as someone with roughly 20 years of life experience in each country, surface similarities can obscure more fundamental differences.
Of course there are Canadian values. And they aren’t based on the things we receive. Those may be outcomes of our values, but they are not values in and of themselves — things we value, not values we hold. I’m going to list a few below. They’re not exhaustive, but hopefully they are illustrative.
Bilingualism
While this might seem like a Montreal/Ottawa concern, I assure you French immersion programs thrive here on the Prairies. Saskatoon Public Schools alone have nine elementary schools (two French only) and four secondary schools offering programs. And lest you assume Saskatoon is an outlier, take a look at the French immersion offerings of the Calgary Board of Education. I assure you those parents aren’t all hoping their children end up in the federal public service or a Crown corporation.
Civility
Jen raised this last week when she noted that Canadians would not respond well to a bullying, expletive-laden tirade (in this case delivered by Ambassador Hoekstra). It’s a stereotype, but Canadians are far more likely to read the room before voicing a potentially controversial opinion. The average American would rather state their opinion first. They prioritize frankness as a value; we prioritize harmony.
Non-partisanship
Obviously, Canada has partisans. But most Canadians don’t bring politics into their social lives and don’t particularly like politics or politicians. Think about how many times you heard the phrase “no one wants an election” during the recent discussion around the budget, and consider how extraordinary that sentiment is coming from people who ostensibly would prefer a different party in power.
When I visited my mum in August 2024, she warned me in hushed tones that one of her friends was a Republican. This was not a political fundraiser. It was a group of senior ladies (and me) enjoying a meal. And lest you think this was generational, some of my high-school friends discussed how to ensure a “Trumper” didn’t move in as a neighbour. It’s hard to imagine conversations like that happening in Canada.
Likewise, can you imagine Americans objecting to an election because it costs too much? The U.S. has elections constantly. They elect sheriffs and judges, and those races generally have party affiliation. Earlier this month, the town where I grew up had no fewer than 32 positions up for election — and yes, even the Water Pollution Control Authority candidates were Democrats or Republicans. In my experience, unless you’re directly involved in politics in Canada, you tend to see it as an obligation or a necessary evil, not a participatory sport.
I could go on: deference to authority, fairness, equity. These are not uniquely Canadian values, but taken together they start to form a distinctive combination. They may not be universally shared — generalizations never are — but that’s true of any attempt to define national values in most countries. And sometimes these are aspirational values we don’t fully live up to, but that too is hardly unique. I would challenge anyone to name a country that isn’t hypocritical about its espoused values from time to time. I tend to think we’re a bit more honest about our flaws than most.
But there is one point on which I do agree with Jen and Matt: our leaders could do a far better job articulating Canadian values. When the 51st-state talk began, we saw plenty of symbolic gestures, and previous comments about Canada being a “post-national state” certainly didn’t help. But there was no real articulation of what it means to be Canadian.
For me, it’s things like our neighbours rushing to push our stuck car out of the snow so we could get our dog to chemo. Or attending Grey Cup parties, where the camaraderie from strangers is palpable regardless of whether their team is playing. It’s that when I present in French to a francophone audience, they never criticize my errors — they applaud the effort. It’s that when I encounter a problem at work (regardless of employer), the first instinct is collaboration rather than competition. And it’s a certain national snark, a refusal to take ourselves too seriously, which is not nearly as common south of the border.
And if you ever doubt that being a Canadian has meaning, go to a citizenship ceremony. See the joy, excitement, and pride on people’s faces. There’s no real material benefit to becoming a citizen once you’re a permanent resident. Like me, they feel they belong here — and that being Canadian is something special.
Jason Friedman is a librarian and patriotic Canadian living in Saskatoon.
The Line is entirely reader and advertiser funded — no federal subsidy for us! If you value our work, have already subscribed, and still worry about what will happen when the conventional media finishes collapsing, please make a donation today. Please note: a donation is not a subscription, and will not grant access to paywalled content. It’s just a way of thanking us for what we do. If you’re looking to subscribe and get full access, it’s that other blue button!
The Line is Canada’s last, best hope for irreverent commentary. We reject bullshit. We love lively writing. Please consider supporting us by subscribing. Please follow us on social media! Facebook x 2: On The Line Podcast here, and The Line Podcast here. Instagram. Also: TikTok. BlueSky. LinkedIn. Matt’s Twitter. The Line’s Twitter.Jen’s Twitter. Contact us by email: lineeditor@protonmail.com
Great piece... unless you are talking hockey. Then it's on. You want to describe a Canadian to anyone? Take them to a Game 7. THAT is Canada. We will do ANYTHING (homicide is considered a 2 minute minor in overtime) to help our team. Until it is over, then what happens? Everyone lines up and shakes hands. The conversations between guys (and girls now) that would have bloodied each other 35 seconds before... are genuine. Congratulations and condolences offered and accepted with grace. THAT RIGHT THERE is Canada.
I've had a path very similar to the author, except that I come from France instead of the US and haven't renounced my French citizenship (hedging my bets).
Granted I've only lived in the GTA, so I have a bit less of an overview of other provinces (though I visited a handful).
My sense is that Canadians, as noted elsewhere, a way more prone to define themselves in opposition to Americans, than being able and willing to clearly lay-out a very uniquely Canadian identity.
The most prominent traits I've noticed in Canadian is a lack of directness (hiding being the proverbial politeness) and a tendency to criticize people behind their backs. Also, it is a very risk-averse culture.
The above two traits personally bother me: French people are incredibly direct, although less bombastic and in your face than Americans and also much less risk-averse, and I certainly see myself reflected in those qualities.
But after 20 years of living here, I can't say that I've noticed a uniquely Canadian identity and perhaps that is a function of living in the GTA, where the proportion of immigrants is higher and therefore the "Canadian Identity" tends to be a little diluted, and the things that are considered uniquely Canadian (hockey, etc.) do not interest me.
I think Canada is better understood as a cultural offshoot of the Brits, when it comes to cultural and character traits, rather than in opposition to Americans. It's a culture that quietly gets things done, reliable and trustworthy, but that doesn't like to make waves (or at least used to until recently), unlike the US and to a lesser extend France, who love to promote their own brand of exceptionalism.
But I can't help but feel that this has been seriously eroded in recent years, in part because of the Trudeau-era hammering of the slogan that "Canada is a post-national state". Even in a short 20 years of being here, I have noticed a marked difference.
Maybe that's why some of us feel a bit orphaned these days, longing for a Canada that is slipping away.