Good fun. Nations behave like people. There are the bullies, the cool kids, the jocks and cheerleaders, and the rest of us schlubs. When people try to be who they're not, or live in constant worry about how they're seen, happiness is impossible. The most important thing is to feel comfortable in your own skin: to achieve to the best of your abilities and not worry if you're "as good as" or "better than" anyone else, whatever that means. The same is true of countries.
I agree we’re not important. But dammit, I refuse to accept your defeatism. That’s our problem. Where’s our fire our passion, to get aggressive. To accept that we are a virtuous people and the world needs more Canada. I wore the flag on my shoulder for 15 years and I saw how much we were needed and respected across the planet.
Demand more. We don’t shy away from a fight and this is what this is.
That is actually who we are and the service of people like you, for which there is gratitude all around the world, has proven it for decades. The writer of this piece is young.
Absolutely love this line: "Canada is alarmingly little more than a two-bit Instagram influencer with a closet full of free designer clothes but no ability to pay the gas bill." Under this PM, describes us to a T. But to me it's not OK. Canada can BE more. It just takes leadership with a clear set of principles and the vision and determination to get it done, neither of which exists in our current buffoon in Ottawa.
You make a good point. Our 'leadership' (on all levels and in all parties) has been mediocre at best. And, quite probably, the fault lies within each of us for not demanding better (I remember the heat Jim Prentice took a few years back for saying we should 'look in the mirror' as a source for our situation - I thought then, and still do, that one of the reasons for that heat was that on some level, we knew he was right but didn't want to admit it).
But I know one thing, if we sit back and tell ourselves that Canada isn't all that important, it never will be!
Canadians are for the most part of lower middle class and peasant stock. We defer to our leaders and expect them to lead. Prentice broke the agreement by asking people to take personal responsibility
You are and Jim Prentice was absolutely correct! People have become hypocritical, selfish and mad at the world in general. A growing majority is no longer able to or willing to invest into the common good, unless there is some kind of personal advantage. Case in point, look at Mr. Slabinac's comment below. I don't know to which of Mr. Prentice's commitments he's referring to, but I fear the former didn't accept the original premise. A growing part of society is no longer willing to assume any kind of responsibility nor is it able to make an intelligent decision (comment), without seeking someone else's opinion. There is a growing group in society who prefers to be swayed by all kinds of false, mis, or disinformation because it satisfies their ego and their anger. It is much easier to do this, rather than looking at yourself in the mirror, like Mr. Prentice eloquently stated.
I know I'm a little far from the subject, but I'm getting there.
Politicians of all stripes know this and are adroit in exploiting these fears and uncertainties but any means, be they ethical or lately by adopting unethical means for the most part. I came across an interesting article and appropriate to the times which, if you take the time to read it, will illustrate my next point.
How can any political party hope to attract competent ( Tongue in cheek and I am not suggesting he would be a good politician) people at any governmental level, when others like this CEO makes such an outrageous salary? This guy and so many others can sit back, enjoy life, be immune to social media criticism and not have to worry about being elected to office every 4-5 years. Their only worry is to satisfy investors and not give a damn about us poor suckers who eke out a living, if we're lucky, relying on RIIFs and pensions. And then there are the opportunist politicians whose only agenda is to satisfy their political contributors in the hope of getting a bigger and better pay check once they resign from politics. Sort of a vicious circle! Am I missing a bigger picture? I perceive that you are an intelligent person. Let's keep this conversation going! RECTIFUS!
As Canadians, we've kind of won the jackpot. We live in a great country, enjoy "peace, order and good (ok, decent) government". It's nice to just enjoy it all. We are a country, after all, of immigrants -- people who didn't have what we enjoy and often went through a lot to get here. So, its not surprising that once they got here, maybe they didn't want to take over the world, but enjoy where they had landed.
We're a middle power. We could get better at being a middle power -- of understanding what we can (and can't) do. We could coordinate better with other middle powers to accomplished shared goals. But, Toronto isn't New York or London; Vancouver isn't LA. And, that's ok -- they're great a what they actually are.
Lorne Michaels, the Canadian who created Saturday Night Live, once talked about that, in Canada, we're always going on about a restaurant or theatre that's better than what they have in New York and that in New York -- they don't bother camparing themselves to anywhere else.
In constantly pursuing (or deluding ourselves that we're) something that we're not, we miss out on enjoying and maximizing what we are (and can be). Maybe instead of being "not the US" or, even worse, "as good as the US" we could aspire to be the best Canada!
I've lived in other countries and you're absolutely right. Coming home was always a relief and perhaps that's why I value this country more than the writer. And why her rant made me just a little sad/mad. I was kind enough not to grade the writing so some moderation on my part.
You are so right! Couldn't have put it better, but we're nice and try to make everybody happy, and that's okay. As you say, our PM is like one of those donuts - looks nice but full of empty calories and will make you sick if you have enough of them.
as a gen-x guy, for me the moment that got me was all the BS around the space shuttle canadarm and that was way back in the 80s. The way the CBC would talk about it as if without our contribution, there would be no space shuttle was really embarrassing. Yeah, it was good tech and the whole thing was exciting, but seriously. And its not just JT. I remember Harper saying something grandiose to Putin about getting out of (Georgia maybe?) at some G-20 or G-8 meeting and Putin looking at him with a "you are a nobody, what are you talking about?"....
I had the exact same experience and reaction. We literally had a school trip to the Arts and Culture Centre along with hundreds of other kids to hear a talk about the Canadarm. I was thinking - “Let me get this straight- the US built this entire space ship - and Canada made this little arm - and you are making me take a field trip to see it.” I felt embarrassed for my country that day. However I know from experience that if you try to tell other Canadians that maybe Canada is not that important they get really upset.
Its easy to point to our problem as a failure of political leadership because that is glaringly true. But it is more than that. We've lost our moral compass. We accept ethics violations as business as usual. There seems to be no shame in failing to do our jobs with competence. How is Sajjan wasn't forced to resign if the face of so much failure? We expect and accept corporate greed and reward those businesses with more economic and political power. Why didn't a Weston end up in jail when the when Loblaws was proved to be price fixing? Our media doesn't provide facts in a balanced way that allow us to make our own decisions but deliver narratives. As a result we have to go looking and usually find a morass of disinformation or fall into the trap of living personal echo chambers. And then we have the churches who have had sex scandals and the whole residential school disaster with the hierarchical coverups.
So leadership failures have led us to have no faith in our government, media, business or religious pillars and because we've accepted that, we really are hosers.
Thanks Laura. I have no desire for Canada to be one of the 'top' few countries in the world, and to our credit we are part of the G7. I do think our political leadership is disappointing, and I can hardly wait for JT to leave to take that cushy international job he dreams of.
But we're also now living in a very complex world, and I know I have never had the skills or fortitude to take on a high profile stressful position, so I don't think I can complain too much about who we are stuck with.
But I do wish Canada was far more proactive in a number of things such as a) having our own vaccine production b) making faster progress towards Green Energy if that is where our " real leader " Grim Greta says we have to go to (I say this as a fan of oil and gas , and as the Russia/Ukraine situation has shown we've been in too much of a hurry to turn off these taps.) c) more affordable housing d) government funded pharmacare/dental plans, etc. etc. Except for natural resources most of us don't know enough about other areas we do genuinely stand out for.
Re leadership - I worked in IT for over 40 years with a growing number of skilled intelligent hard working immigrants from all over the world. Those of us who were born in Canada didn't have the drive to reach for the top positions, but the immigrants did and good for them.
So as each of us post our comments in this wonderful forum, I think we should each ask ourselves what do we as an individual do to make Canada a better place. Voting once every few years doesn't cut it IMO.
President Zelensky of Ukraine has shown the entire world that a Russian speaking Jew who studied law, and was an actor and comedian, can impress the entire world with his strong leadership in a time of a life or death situation. He is currently the most impressive leader in the world. IMO he's made other leaders look like amateurs. We need more Zelensky's.
So who wants to help develop a few more Zelensky's here in Canada? Mentor someone, be a buddy for a younger boy or girl, show them they can fly if that's what they want.
I think the writer doesn't understand the difference between `inferiority' and `modesty'. The latter is out of fashion at the moment and maybe it's hard to spot the difference when one lives next door to self-congratulators for whom that practice is seen as a patriotic gesture.
Canadians are not inferior to anyone. We are modest, though, and that's moreorless baked into our culture. Bob and Doug are a couple of guys whose lives are modest to the extreme, which is what comedy is all about, ie taking things to the extreme. Seeing them as anything other than a sketch comedy about `a couple of guys of a certain age', which many chaps who subscribe to this site would quite possibly have been themselves at one time, is a stretch.
It's troubling that so many young people, like the writer, are only too interested in tearing their country down. If the reason is that their lives do not resemble those they see in the media, then that's sad but then, hardly anyone's does so we live with it.
The word 'inferior' is misjudged, but I don't think the writer intends it as you think. (And she isn't that young if she remembers TV from 1981/1982.)
Consider her wrap up: "I am not suggesting Canada doesn’t pull its weight — Canada, and Canadians, have proudly done good in the world. And we aren’t done. We have an incredible amount to offer as the caretakers of the globe’s second-largest landmass whilst the caretakers of the largest are, shall we say, indisposed and reviled. We can grow the food and pump the oil and build the cars and catch the fish. We can rear the cattle and wire up the warehouses. We can take in the dispossessed and send in the ambulances." But we don't have the power, as she says, to be major geopolitical players.
If you're my age, you'll remember Pierre Trudeau's Global Peace Initiative in his last year. Los of photo ops for domestic consumption, but the bantam roster act was pretty embarrassing. (And I say this as a huge fan.)
The thing is, Canadians, or at least the Canadian chattering classes, are not modest. They are as Albertans would say "all hat and no cattle."
They pitch noble lies such as "Canada has world class health care" and "the world needs more Canada" and feed it to the labouring classes to clamp down on dissent and distract from their own mediocrity.
Seriously- Trudeau is a world class blowhard - he is the definition of immodest. He is the master of grand announcements and empty gestures - with no follow through. What has he achieved other than legalizing cannabis? I genuinely can’t think of one thing.
Sorry, but I absolutely reject the premise of this piece. We don't have to be a superpower, but we can punch above our weight because we've done so in the past.
A brief reminder: we built and manned hundreds ships that kept the sea-lanes open in WW2, one of the five divisions that landed on D-Day was Canadian, we regularly ( on average, 2 years per decade) rotated as members of the UN Security Council, we sent peacekeepers all over the world, we sent thousands of troops with tanks and air support to Europe to deter Soviet aggression not just for months or years but for DECADES! A country whose Prime Minister could reach out to other leaders for better reasons than to make an Instagram post. And, above all, a country that has provided a haven to millions who have left their homes in search of a better life, one they thought they could find here in Canada.
And yes, we can be self-deprecating (or modest) and smile at countries that wave their flags all around the world while their population struggles to find their own country on a globe. But I think we've taken it too far and have forgotten what we were and what we could (and should) be. Canada deserves to be known for something other than sending one of the largest delegations to Climate conferences. And sitting back and saying we're hosers who are "not very important" and we should embrace mediocrity insults the Canadians, past and present, who have lived their lives to demonstrate the opposite.
PS - I was going to post this when I saw Neilster and others make the same points about what Canada has achieved in the past. I thought about deleting this, but decided to let it stand, because some things cannot be said too often.
Most of what you listed, though involves the military. Agreed -- we've really messed up having a coherent military strategy and funding and procuring properly. But, that's a specific challenge -- one we should fix.
We're actually really good at accepting immigrants from around the world -- I'd agree that's something we do well as a middle power. It's good for us and immigrants. But, I suspect we're not the marque choice as a place to go to compared to the 'land of opporunity' south of us.
I think Laura makes a good point, which is there is a bit of smugness in our culture about how much more significant we are, and to some degree, how morally superior we are, compared to other countries (cough, US, cough) that doesn't serve us well. We expect to be viewed that way on the world stage, and we're not ... and maybe that's ok.
To put it another way, Canada actually has a larger GDP than Russia. The whole world is focused on Russia and pretty much ignores Canada. Which country would you rather live in? I know -- that's kind of a silly example, but it's easy to forget how good we have it here and worry about 'our place' in the world.
Yes, I confess my historical focus was oriented towards the military - no doubt partly a response to the current situation. But a lot of it (peacekeeping, our frequent presence on the Security Council, our ability to grab the ear of major world leaders) came from Canada's possessing a blend of 'hard' and 'soft' power. Today, our blend seems to be 'soft power' and social media which has been obviously ineffective both against countries that are willing to wage open war to advance their ends or other countries that are willing to take our citizens hostage to advance theirs...
But the raised eyebrows at our 'smugness' comes, I think, because while we talk a lot, we do very little. Whether it's defense policy, climate change or even our 'world-best' health care system - in all those cases, we consistently fail to 'walk the talk'. But, again. I don't think the answer is to downsize our aspirations but to try to live up to them, the way we used to.
Agreed. Part of is accepting we aspire to something a bit different than bigger powers. Not necessarily better (or worse) but in keeping with who we are and what we can contribute. We *should* focus on and live up to that, 100%!
I think a little perspective is in order here. For one thing, our current Influencer-in-Chief is merely the latest in a long line of prime ministers, both Liberal and (Progressive) Conservative, who have neglected the military.
Things being how they are, I’m willing to bet that JT is going to step up by starting to pay our fair share into NATO, and increasing our military presence in the North. Feckless he may be, but even he must surely understand that we’re facing a real and serious threat. Not just to the world order, but to our own sovereignty.
Let’s also not forget that once upon a time we punched above our weight on the world stage. We certainly did our part in both World Wars – by the end of the last one, we had the fourth-largest navy in the world. We were also a driving force behind the creation of NATO, and for a while there we played a big peacekeeping role in some pretty dangerous places.
True, it has been way too long since we’ve done our share. But the world has become a lot more dangerous all of a sudden, and even JT can read the writing on the wall. I think we’ll be stepping up again. We really don’t have much choice.
Ok, I know it's school break time and The Line has put down its normal tools for 10 days or so. I can live with that and endure the withdrawal symptoms.
This cute piece, however, just denigrates Canada and draws acidic "designer clothes", "buffoon in Ottawa", "leadership with [no] clear set of principles", "full of empty calories" type comments.
I look forward to the return of dispatches that deal with substance, you know, the fact that the globe is in crisis because of an out-of-control despot and the fact that this week there has been a sudden sea change in Canadian politics.
I also look forward to the pieces the senior/more experienced The Line writers produce. But I support the less known submissions because even Jen and Matt started at the bottom. You don't get better unless you get the opportunity to work at your journalistic skills.
There are bullies. And there are those that stand by and watch the bullies beat up others. We did not do that in the 20th Century. Looks like we intend to do that now and as long as current Govt is in power. But that’s ok. Cuz we’re hosers. Right?
Thanks for the laughs. (I heard David Frum do what can only be described as his Bob McKenzie imitation just the other day. It was weird. I thought maybe he'd been drinking.)
Nice to read a realistic view of ourselves. Especially based on the Mackenzie bothers. Those two and Red Green gave us a way of laughing at ourselves that was refreshing. We are a middle power and should realize our limitations globally. The less people know we are here the more relaxed we will be and in a more realistic position to help others.
Good fun. Nations behave like people. There are the bullies, the cool kids, the jocks and cheerleaders, and the rest of us schlubs. When people try to be who they're not, or live in constant worry about how they're seen, happiness is impossible. The most important thing is to feel comfortable in your own skin: to achieve to the best of your abilities and not worry if you're "as good as" or "better than" anyone else, whatever that means. The same is true of countries.
I agree we’re not important. But dammit, I refuse to accept your defeatism. That’s our problem. Where’s our fire our passion, to get aggressive. To accept that we are a virtuous people and the world needs more Canada. I wore the flag on my shoulder for 15 years and I saw how much we were needed and respected across the planet.
Demand more. We don’t shy away from a fight and this is what this is.
We are not needed nor respected and we shirk our commitments. I can't see that changing.
Canadians need more ambition and work ethic for starters. Can't just lean on immigrants and gatekeeper families to grow Canada.
That is actually who we are and the service of people like you, for which there is gratitude all around the world, has proven it for decades. The writer of this piece is young.
Absolutely love this line: "Canada is alarmingly little more than a two-bit Instagram influencer with a closet full of free designer clothes but no ability to pay the gas bill." Under this PM, describes us to a T. But to me it's not OK. Canada can BE more. It just takes leadership with a clear set of principles and the vision and determination to get it done, neither of which exists in our current buffoon in Ottawa.
And who do you suggest could do a better job?
You make a good point. Our 'leadership' (on all levels and in all parties) has been mediocre at best. And, quite probably, the fault lies within each of us for not demanding better (I remember the heat Jim Prentice took a few years back for saying we should 'look in the mirror' as a source for our situation - I thought then, and still do, that one of the reasons for that heat was that on some level, we knew he was right but didn't want to admit it).
But I know one thing, if we sit back and tell ourselves that Canada isn't all that important, it never will be!
Canadians are for the most part of lower middle class and peasant stock. We defer to our leaders and expect them to lead. Prentice broke the agreement by asking people to take personal responsibility
You are and Jim Prentice was absolutely correct! People have become hypocritical, selfish and mad at the world in general. A growing majority is no longer able to or willing to invest into the common good, unless there is some kind of personal advantage. Case in point, look at Mr. Slabinac's comment below. I don't know to which of Mr. Prentice's commitments he's referring to, but I fear the former didn't accept the original premise. A growing part of society is no longer willing to assume any kind of responsibility nor is it able to make an intelligent decision (comment), without seeking someone else's opinion. There is a growing group in society who prefers to be swayed by all kinds of false, mis, or disinformation because it satisfies their ego and their anger. It is much easier to do this, rather than looking at yourself in the mirror, like Mr. Prentice eloquently stated.
I know I'm a little far from the subject, but I'm getting there.
Politicians of all stripes know this and are adroit in exploiting these fears and uncertainties but any means, be they ethical or lately by adopting unethical means for the most part. I came across an interesting article and appropriate to the times which, if you take the time to read it, will illustrate my next point.
https://pressprogress.ca/cp-rail-claims-workers-are-already-paid-well-their-ceos-pay-increased-920-during-same-time-period/
How can any political party hope to attract competent ( Tongue in cheek and I am not suggesting he would be a good politician) people at any governmental level, when others like this CEO makes such an outrageous salary? This guy and so many others can sit back, enjoy life, be immune to social media criticism and not have to worry about being elected to office every 4-5 years. Their only worry is to satisfy investors and not give a damn about us poor suckers who eke out a living, if we're lucky, relying on RIIFs and pensions. And then there are the opportunist politicians whose only agenda is to satisfy their political contributors in the hope of getting a bigger and better pay check once they resign from politics. Sort of a vicious circle! Am I missing a bigger picture? I perceive that you are an intelligent person. Let's keep this conversation going! RECTIFUS!
Pretty much any grade five student raised by parents with common sense.
Appreciate your comments hopefully we can do better but not with our current "leadership" team.
Surely you're not suggesting the CPC `team'?
As Canadians, we've kind of won the jackpot. We live in a great country, enjoy "peace, order and good (ok, decent) government". It's nice to just enjoy it all. We are a country, after all, of immigrants -- people who didn't have what we enjoy and often went through a lot to get here. So, its not surprising that once they got here, maybe they didn't want to take over the world, but enjoy where they had landed.
We're a middle power. We could get better at being a middle power -- of understanding what we can (and can't) do. We could coordinate better with other middle powers to accomplished shared goals. But, Toronto isn't New York or London; Vancouver isn't LA. And, that's ok -- they're great a what they actually are.
Lorne Michaels, the Canadian who created Saturday Night Live, once talked about that, in Canada, we're always going on about a restaurant or theatre that's better than what they have in New York and that in New York -- they don't bother camparing themselves to anywhere else.
In constantly pursuing (or deluding ourselves that we're) something that we're not, we miss out on enjoying and maximizing what we are (and can be). Maybe instead of being "not the US" or, even worse, "as good as the US" we could aspire to be the best Canada!
I've lived in other countries and you're absolutely right. Coming home was always a relief and perhaps that's why I value this country more than the writer. And why her rant made me just a little sad/mad. I was kind enough not to grade the writing so some moderation on my part.
You are so right! Couldn't have put it better, but we're nice and try to make everybody happy, and that's okay. As you say, our PM is like one of those donuts - looks nice but full of empty calories and will make you sick if you have enough of them.
as a gen-x guy, for me the moment that got me was all the BS around the space shuttle canadarm and that was way back in the 80s. The way the CBC would talk about it as if without our contribution, there would be no space shuttle was really embarrassing. Yeah, it was good tech and the whole thing was exciting, but seriously. And its not just JT. I remember Harper saying something grandiose to Putin about getting out of (Georgia maybe?) at some G-20 or G-8 meeting and Putin looking at him with a "you are a nobody, what are you talking about?"....
I had the exact same experience and reaction. We literally had a school trip to the Arts and Culture Centre along with hundreds of other kids to hear a talk about the Canadarm. I was thinking - “Let me get this straight- the US built this entire space ship - and Canada made this little arm - and you are making me take a field trip to see it.” I felt embarrassed for my country that day. However I know from experience that if you try to tell other Canadians that maybe Canada is not that important they get really upset.
Immigrants to Canada know Canada for what it is. The chattering classes and old stock for the most part are in complete denial.
Its easy to point to our problem as a failure of political leadership because that is glaringly true. But it is more than that. We've lost our moral compass. We accept ethics violations as business as usual. There seems to be no shame in failing to do our jobs with competence. How is Sajjan wasn't forced to resign if the face of so much failure? We expect and accept corporate greed and reward those businesses with more economic and political power. Why didn't a Weston end up in jail when the when Loblaws was proved to be price fixing? Our media doesn't provide facts in a balanced way that allow us to make our own decisions but deliver narratives. As a result we have to go looking and usually find a morass of disinformation or fall into the trap of living personal echo chambers. And then we have the churches who have had sex scandals and the whole residential school disaster with the hierarchical coverups.
So leadership failures have led us to have no faith in our government, media, business or religious pillars and because we've accepted that, we really are hosers.
Thanks Laura. I have no desire for Canada to be one of the 'top' few countries in the world, and to our credit we are part of the G7. I do think our political leadership is disappointing, and I can hardly wait for JT to leave to take that cushy international job he dreams of.
But we're also now living in a very complex world, and I know I have never had the skills or fortitude to take on a high profile stressful position, so I don't think I can complain too much about who we are stuck with.
But I do wish Canada was far more proactive in a number of things such as a) having our own vaccine production b) making faster progress towards Green Energy if that is where our " real leader " Grim Greta says we have to go to (I say this as a fan of oil and gas , and as the Russia/Ukraine situation has shown we've been in too much of a hurry to turn off these taps.) c) more affordable housing d) government funded pharmacare/dental plans, etc. etc. Except for natural resources most of us don't know enough about other areas we do genuinely stand out for.
Re leadership - I worked in IT for over 40 years with a growing number of skilled intelligent hard working immigrants from all over the world. Those of us who were born in Canada didn't have the drive to reach for the top positions, but the immigrants did and good for them.
So as each of us post our comments in this wonderful forum, I think we should each ask ourselves what do we as an individual do to make Canada a better place. Voting once every few years doesn't cut it IMO.
President Zelensky of Ukraine has shown the entire world that a Russian speaking Jew who studied law, and was an actor and comedian, can impress the entire world with his strong leadership in a time of a life or death situation. He is currently the most impressive leader in the world. IMO he's made other leaders look like amateurs. We need more Zelensky's.
So who wants to help develop a few more Zelensky's here in Canada? Mentor someone, be a buddy for a younger boy or girl, show them they can fly if that's what they want.
I think the writer doesn't understand the difference between `inferiority' and `modesty'. The latter is out of fashion at the moment and maybe it's hard to spot the difference when one lives next door to self-congratulators for whom that practice is seen as a patriotic gesture.
Canadians are not inferior to anyone. We are modest, though, and that's moreorless baked into our culture. Bob and Doug are a couple of guys whose lives are modest to the extreme, which is what comedy is all about, ie taking things to the extreme. Seeing them as anything other than a sketch comedy about `a couple of guys of a certain age', which many chaps who subscribe to this site would quite possibly have been themselves at one time, is a stretch.
It's troubling that so many young people, like the writer, are only too interested in tearing their country down. If the reason is that their lives do not resemble those they see in the media, then that's sad but then, hardly anyone's does so we live with it.
The word 'inferior' is misjudged, but I don't think the writer intends it as you think. (And she isn't that young if she remembers TV from 1981/1982.)
Consider her wrap up: "I am not suggesting Canada doesn’t pull its weight — Canada, and Canadians, have proudly done good in the world. And we aren’t done. We have an incredible amount to offer as the caretakers of the globe’s second-largest landmass whilst the caretakers of the largest are, shall we say, indisposed and reviled. We can grow the food and pump the oil and build the cars and catch the fish. We can rear the cattle and wire up the warehouses. We can take in the dispossessed and send in the ambulances." But we don't have the power, as she says, to be major geopolitical players.
If you're my age, you'll remember Pierre Trudeau's Global Peace Initiative in his last year. Los of photo ops for domestic consumption, but the bantam roster act was pretty embarrassing. (And I say this as a huge fan.)
The thing is, Canadians, or at least the Canadian chattering classes, are not modest. They are as Albertans would say "all hat and no cattle."
They pitch noble lies such as "Canada has world class health care" and "the world needs more Canada" and feed it to the labouring classes to clamp down on dissent and distract from their own mediocrity.
Seriously- Trudeau is a world class blowhard - he is the definition of immodest. He is the master of grand announcements and empty gestures - with no follow through. What has he achieved other than legalizing cannabis? I genuinely can’t think of one thing.
He apologized half a dozen times?
Sorry, but I absolutely reject the premise of this piece. We don't have to be a superpower, but we can punch above our weight because we've done so in the past.
A brief reminder: we built and manned hundreds ships that kept the sea-lanes open in WW2, one of the five divisions that landed on D-Day was Canadian, we regularly ( on average, 2 years per decade) rotated as members of the UN Security Council, we sent peacekeepers all over the world, we sent thousands of troops with tanks and air support to Europe to deter Soviet aggression not just for months or years but for DECADES! A country whose Prime Minister could reach out to other leaders for better reasons than to make an Instagram post. And, above all, a country that has provided a haven to millions who have left their homes in search of a better life, one they thought they could find here in Canada.
And yes, we can be self-deprecating (or modest) and smile at countries that wave their flags all around the world while their population struggles to find their own country on a globe. But I think we've taken it too far and have forgotten what we were and what we could (and should) be. Canada deserves to be known for something other than sending one of the largest delegations to Climate conferences. And sitting back and saying we're hosers who are "not very important" and we should embrace mediocrity insults the Canadians, past and present, who have lived their lives to demonstrate the opposite.
PS - I was going to post this when I saw Neilster and others make the same points about what Canada has achieved in the past. I thought about deleting this, but decided to let it stand, because some things cannot be said too often.
Most of what you listed, though involves the military. Agreed -- we've really messed up having a coherent military strategy and funding and procuring properly. But, that's a specific challenge -- one we should fix.
We're actually really good at accepting immigrants from around the world -- I'd agree that's something we do well as a middle power. It's good for us and immigrants. But, I suspect we're not the marque choice as a place to go to compared to the 'land of opporunity' south of us.
I think Laura makes a good point, which is there is a bit of smugness in our culture about how much more significant we are, and to some degree, how morally superior we are, compared to other countries (cough, US, cough) that doesn't serve us well. We expect to be viewed that way on the world stage, and we're not ... and maybe that's ok.
To put it another way, Canada actually has a larger GDP than Russia. The whole world is focused on Russia and pretty much ignores Canada. Which country would you rather live in? I know -- that's kind of a silly example, but it's easy to forget how good we have it here and worry about 'our place' in the world.
Yes, I confess my historical focus was oriented towards the military - no doubt partly a response to the current situation. But a lot of it (peacekeeping, our frequent presence on the Security Council, our ability to grab the ear of major world leaders) came from Canada's possessing a blend of 'hard' and 'soft' power. Today, our blend seems to be 'soft power' and social media which has been obviously ineffective both against countries that are willing to wage open war to advance their ends or other countries that are willing to take our citizens hostage to advance theirs...
But the raised eyebrows at our 'smugness' comes, I think, because while we talk a lot, we do very little. Whether it's defense policy, climate change or even our 'world-best' health care system - in all those cases, we consistently fail to 'walk the talk'. But, again. I don't think the answer is to downsize our aspirations but to try to live up to them, the way we used to.
Agreed. Part of is accepting we aspire to something a bit different than bigger powers. Not necessarily better (or worse) but in keeping with who we are and what we can contribute. We *should* focus on and live up to that, 100%!
I think a little perspective is in order here. For one thing, our current Influencer-in-Chief is merely the latest in a long line of prime ministers, both Liberal and (Progressive) Conservative, who have neglected the military.
Things being how they are, I’m willing to bet that JT is going to step up by starting to pay our fair share into NATO, and increasing our military presence in the North. Feckless he may be, but even he must surely understand that we’re facing a real and serious threat. Not just to the world order, but to our own sovereignty.
Let’s also not forget that once upon a time we punched above our weight on the world stage. We certainly did our part in both World Wars – by the end of the last one, we had the fourth-largest navy in the world. We were also a driving force behind the creation of NATO, and for a while there we played a big peacekeeping role in some pretty dangerous places.
True, it has been way too long since we’ve done our share. But the world has become a lot more dangerous all of a sudden, and even JT can read the writing on the wall. I think we’ll be stepping up again. We really don’t have much choice.
Ok, I know it's school break time and The Line has put down its normal tools for 10 days or so. I can live with that and endure the withdrawal symptoms.
This cute piece, however, just denigrates Canada and draws acidic "designer clothes", "buffoon in Ottawa", "leadership with [no] clear set of principles", "full of empty calories" type comments.
I look forward to the return of dispatches that deal with substance, you know, the fact that the globe is in crisis because of an out-of-control despot and the fact that this week there has been a sudden sea change in Canadian politics.
I also look forward to the pieces the senior/more experienced The Line writers produce. But I support the less known submissions because even Jen and Matt started at the bottom. You don't get better unless you get the opportunity to work at your journalistic skills.
Yes, SandraMB, I agree. To be fair to the writer, I was much more concerned about the feckless heckling comments than by her decent write-up.
There are bullies. And there are those that stand by and watch the bullies beat up others. We did not do that in the 20th Century. Looks like we intend to do that now and as long as current Govt is in power. But that’s ok. Cuz we’re hosers. Right?
Thanks for the laughs. (I heard David Frum do what can only be described as his Bob McKenzie imitation just the other day. It was weird. I thought maybe he'd been drinking.)
Nice to read a realistic view of ourselves. Especially based on the Mackenzie bothers. Those two and Red Green gave us a way of laughing at ourselves that was refreshing. We are a middle power and should realize our limitations globally. The less people know we are here the more relaxed we will be and in a more realistic position to help others.