Yes, it is worth fighting for. I would never sell out to America, especially now, when their democracy is at risk. I always lived in a democracy, the UK and Canada, I cannot imagine living any other way. I don't want their guns, I don't want their health care, I don't want their lack of respect for minority rights.
I agree those hard won rights are probably safe in Canada, but not as sure as you are. We MUST protect them, they are what makes us great
Couldn’t have said it better myself. It frustrates me that the left seems so inclined to capitulate on patriotism to right wingers. When those convoy idiots were going around flying Canadian flags with all their dumb slogans so many people I knew were talking about how it made them not want to have their own flags. To that I say: fuck that, fly your flag louder and prouder, preach what it truly stands for, justice, equality and freedom!
Y’know one of the things I really love about this country is that most of us aren’t just Canadian because our ancestors are Canadian. Most people in this country are immigrants or the descendants of immigrants. We’re Canadian because at some point our ancestors saw the nation they were building over here, saw what it stood for, and said I want to be a part of that. I like to think we’re still building a great nation today, while we have some missteps (we really gotta cut it out with all the NIMBY shit haha), being a part of this construction is what makes me proud to be Canadian today.
Maybe the challenge for the left is that Canada really is a national of immigrants, but before that it was a colonial project, and before it was that it was the ancestral lands of many indigenous nations. To love Canada is to love a nation of immigrants, but at the same time that nation is built on the corpses of dead aboriginal people and so it must be evil. Tbh I’m not sure what to make of this myself, I mean I’m all in favour of reparations for aboriginals and I do think genocide is fucked up, but I think it’s unwise to think in black and white terms. Canada can be a beautiful country worth fighting for and also have skeletons in its closet.
I feel like this got a bit rambly but hey I got a lot of love for this country.
Andrew Coyne says “Our task is to find ways to strengthen our connections to one another. If we had an electoral system that sent members of all parties to Parliament from all parts of the country, this would help to build a more robust and enduring sense of nationhood.” (The point is not to be different from the States. It’s to be better than them. Globe and Mail, Jan. 18)
Last Oct. 7 Trudeau said of his 2015 promise “some very strong voices in my caucus were very clear they wanted to at least make an argument for proportional representation,” so he “left the door open” to that. Time to assert it again.
Prop Rep just a recipe for a repeat of the past four years. Minority voices driving the agenda. Time to clearly go back to the day where the silent majority is in charge and the activists and zealots are voices in the wilderness.
A beautiful love letter! Most Canadians simply haven't experienced all of Canada as it's a huge geography. But it is absolutely a country of many different immigrants and aboriginals. Canada's northern territories are amazing both the geography and people. Throughout our provinces are neighbourhoods of Aboriginals, Francophone, German, Chec, Ukrainians, Swedish, Danish, Brits, folks from India, Africa, Carribian etc, etc and they/we are all Canadian. We are entering interesting times as Canada is being challenged as never before, as democracy is also being challenged. Perhaps looking inward, working together and reclaiming our country and economy from foreign monopolies and land owners - prioritizing interprovincial trade, turning our natural resources into goods & services rather than selling south - sell east, west, north. The economy is global, so let's focus trade more globally. Celebrate our differences as monocultures tend to die-off.
Like a growing child entering teenage years, we're experiencing a growth spirt where perhaps the old cloths don't fit any longer and we need bigger shoes etc. We don't throw a toddler temper tantrum and declare 'everything is broken' and pine for our younger years - we embrace our future as educated adults with innovation and enthusiasm. Don't let the 'Donald' piss us off.
We came to Canada as immigrants in 1951, and since we were French speaking, we naturally settled in Montreal. But the French Canadians firmly rejected us and showed open hostility. So we integrated into the English side, and I became, in effect, an Anglo Quebecer. Those were years -- decades -- of inter group hostilities and troubles, culminating in the FLQ crisis of 1970 and the subsequent rise of French Quebec nationalism. The end result was the purging of Anglo Quebecers, including me.
It was a mild form of ethnic cleansing, but it hurt psychologically. I don't go back to Montreal any more.
I acknowledge that there were two centuries of discrimination by the English against the French, and that a riposte was justified. But we allophones got caught in the crossfire. Too bad.
So I don't have the same mental image of Canada as you seem to. Yes, it is a good place to live. It was better before a certain government set out to win elections by using "wedge issues" to divide us. But it is still worth preserving.
I’m an English Canadian who moved to Quebec in 1980. I refused to be discriminated against, and so now, fluently bilingual for many years, I love living in Quebec. I have nearly as many Francophone friends and acquaintances as Anglophone or Allophone. It’s a different place than when you arrived. Come back and visit!
“This imperfect country, sure, but this country that has given all of us so much. Canada is worth fighting for, and worth loving, and worth protecting. And I will believe that until I draw my final breath.”
One need travel for only a brief time to see more clearly that Canada is truly an exceptional country: unsurpassed freedom, social mobility, economic opportunities, abundant natural resources, excellent public services, education, and health care, multicultural diversity, and of course, the most pristine wilderness from coast to coast to coast.
Let's channel this pride and confidence to raise our political discourse to a more mature and constructive level.
Those 22% (if they ARE real) can freaking move to Alabama. I do NOT believe for one second that there are THAT many morons in this country, even after seeing some of the FreeDUMB trucker jackasses.
Canada IS worth fighting for, I will fight for my beloved country until my last breath. We will never back down and are far stronger than any yankee-doodle dumbf*** will ever be!
I live here too and the quantitative data from Abacus, Leger, Nanos and Ipsos speaks for itself. A statement without data to back it up is just opinion.
So, you live by polls? Are you the one picking up the landline in Canada? Or do you live in a Balkan state in Europe as your Substack infers? If you buy the essay describing Ralph Klein as a libertarian, the author got it, about… half right…unlike you, I lived it, I left it, I am still Canadian and give a darn about this country.
I care about nationalism only as much as how well the country is for young people. If a place isn't a good place for young people then it isn't a good place to stay. A country needs to love you back. My family is spread around the world and have been travelling the world for generations now chasing opportunity, love and happiness.
As for my personal situation, I've worked hard, worked smart and been just lucky enough that I can afford to live wherever I want now. My life is here, but I own property elsewhere and won't hesitate to move where life is better.
Asking your kids to live a less prosperous and happy life for nationalism is weird.
As for living by "polls?" I live by data and evidence. It's worked for me.
As someone who was born here, whose family has been here (on one side over 200 years, on the other over 100) I am sorry you dislike us and our country. I try through my votes, and, time spent with worthy causes to affect Canada, I know it’s not enough, but…all I can say I won’t live anywhere else, I will continue to make what I can better in Canada. It’s all anyone can do.
I wished it was true but it seems like Canadian civility has been going downhill since the Bush and Harper era. I noticed people are less polite and less friendly since I moved back to Canada recently, especially the locals who keep mistaking me for a foreigner or newcomer. A few think I am bringing no value other than being a cheap working professional or that I am here to jack up their real estate prices.
It's going to take much longer for the saner level of civility to return as locals and politicians keep responding with social media one-liners and overreact to everything.
It may be true that 22 percent of Poilievre supporters would consider joining the United States, but that is a much smaller number than you think and it doesn’t reflect the population of Canada as a whole. And when Poilievre gets elected (which I hope doesn’t happen) it will not be due to his popularity, but rather to a desire for change after so many political missteps by the Liberals and a feeling that we in the western part of the country have been disenfranchised.
What is the value proposition for the young to believe in Canada? Canada quite frankly hasn't been as good for them as it has been for past generations, especially the boomers.
There really is no point in Canada if it isn't a better place to live, and with lower wages, much higher costs and worse weather politeness can only carry on so far.
Evan, so many young people want to hear more about the US for the same reasons you don't live in Montreal. You can't eat good feelings and young people are really getting a raw deal in Canada. I'd advise my kids to go elsewhere if they didn't have anything keeping them here.
Then, why did you leave where you were? I suspect how you are treated by Canadians, as you state, has more to do where you live, i.e. a large urban area (rather than a rural one) and the difficulties that entails. We (the people I know as immigrants) want others to succeed. There are steps to take…no further foreign ownership of land in Canada is a good place to start. Who is promising that in the next election…never mind Trudeau or Singh…heard that from Poilievre? I haven’t.
We left because it was a corporate transfer and the money was good as were the schools. That was then though and times change. The Canada of 2010 or even 2015 competed with the US economically and was superior socially. Now it doesn't even bother to compete economically and increasingly can't afford the social benefits it craves.
Yes, it is worth fighting for. I would never sell out to America, especially now, when their democracy is at risk. I always lived in a democracy, the UK and Canada, I cannot imagine living any other way. I don't want their guns, I don't want their health care, I don't want their lack of respect for minority rights.
I agree those hard won rights are probably safe in Canada, but not as sure as you are. We MUST protect them, they are what makes us great
Couldn’t have said it better myself. It frustrates me that the left seems so inclined to capitulate on patriotism to right wingers. When those convoy idiots were going around flying Canadian flags with all their dumb slogans so many people I knew were talking about how it made them not want to have their own flags. To that I say: fuck that, fly your flag louder and prouder, preach what it truly stands for, justice, equality and freedom!
Y’know one of the things I really love about this country is that most of us aren’t just Canadian because our ancestors are Canadian. Most people in this country are immigrants or the descendants of immigrants. We’re Canadian because at some point our ancestors saw the nation they were building over here, saw what it stood for, and said I want to be a part of that. I like to think we’re still building a great nation today, while we have some missteps (we really gotta cut it out with all the NIMBY shit haha), being a part of this construction is what makes me proud to be Canadian today.
Maybe the challenge for the left is that Canada really is a national of immigrants, but before that it was a colonial project, and before it was that it was the ancestral lands of many indigenous nations. To love Canada is to love a nation of immigrants, but at the same time that nation is built on the corpses of dead aboriginal people and so it must be evil. Tbh I’m not sure what to make of this myself, I mean I’m all in favour of reparations for aboriginals and I do think genocide is fucked up, but I think it’s unwise to think in black and white terms. Canada can be a beautiful country worth fighting for and also have skeletons in its closet.
I feel like this got a bit rambly but hey I got a lot of love for this country.
Andrew Coyne says “Our task is to find ways to strengthen our connections to one another. If we had an electoral system that sent members of all parties to Parliament from all parts of the country, this would help to build a more robust and enduring sense of nationhood.” (The point is not to be different from the States. It’s to be better than them. Globe and Mail, Jan. 18)
Last Oct. 7 Trudeau said of his 2015 promise “some very strong voices in my caucus were very clear they wanted to at least make an argument for proportional representation,” so he “left the door open” to that. Time to assert it again.
Prop Rep just a recipe for a repeat of the past four years. Minority voices driving the agenda. Time to clearly go back to the day where the silent majority is in charge and the activists and zealots are voices in the wilderness.
The silent majority? The 1984 election was the only time since 1958 that Canada's governing party received an actual majority of votes cast.
A beautiful love letter! Most Canadians simply haven't experienced all of Canada as it's a huge geography. But it is absolutely a country of many different immigrants and aboriginals. Canada's northern territories are amazing both the geography and people. Throughout our provinces are neighbourhoods of Aboriginals, Francophone, German, Chec, Ukrainians, Swedish, Danish, Brits, folks from India, Africa, Carribian etc, etc and they/we are all Canadian. We are entering interesting times as Canada is being challenged as never before, as democracy is also being challenged. Perhaps looking inward, working together and reclaiming our country and economy from foreign monopolies and land owners - prioritizing interprovincial trade, turning our natural resources into goods & services rather than selling south - sell east, west, north. The economy is global, so let's focus trade more globally. Celebrate our differences as monocultures tend to die-off.
Like a growing child entering teenage years, we're experiencing a growth spirt where perhaps the old cloths don't fit any longer and we need bigger shoes etc. We don't throw a toddler temper tantrum and declare 'everything is broken' and pine for our younger years - we embrace our future as educated adults with innovation and enthusiasm. Don't let the 'Donald' piss us off.
Well put?
We came to Canada as immigrants in 1951, and since we were French speaking, we naturally settled in Montreal. But the French Canadians firmly rejected us and showed open hostility. So we integrated into the English side, and I became, in effect, an Anglo Quebecer. Those were years -- decades -- of inter group hostilities and troubles, culminating in the FLQ crisis of 1970 and the subsequent rise of French Quebec nationalism. The end result was the purging of Anglo Quebecers, including me.
It was a mild form of ethnic cleansing, but it hurt psychologically. I don't go back to Montreal any more.
I acknowledge that there were two centuries of discrimination by the English against the French, and that a riposte was justified. But we allophones got caught in the crossfire. Too bad.
So I don't have the same mental image of Canada as you seem to. Yes, it is a good place to live. It was better before a certain government set out to win elections by using "wedge issues" to divide us. But it is still worth preserving.
I’m an English Canadian who moved to Quebec in 1980. I refused to be discriminated against, and so now, fluently bilingual for many years, I love living in Quebec. I have nearly as many Francophone friends and acquaintances as Anglophone or Allophone. It’s a different place than when you arrived. Come back and visit!
“This imperfect country, sure, but this country that has given all of us so much. Canada is worth fighting for, and worth loving, and worth protecting. And I will believe that until I draw my final breath.”
Me too.
One need travel for only a brief time to see more clearly that Canada is truly an exceptional country: unsurpassed freedom, social mobility, economic opportunities, abundant natural resources, excellent public services, education, and health care, multicultural diversity, and of course, the most pristine wilderness from coast to coast to coast.
Let's channel this pride and confidence to raise our political discourse to a more mature and constructive level.
My wife is American, from Northern California, we chose to live here. We will continue to, we believe in the Canadian dream.
I think what sets us apart is freedom to do, be, desire whatever but we do it peacefully.
It’s almost an assumption.
An assumption that has been challenged such as the Convoy fiasco.
And now our neighbour
Its going to be a challenge to to maintain this underlying expectation.
Freedom has always been a responsibility !
Well said........ and we all put a visible maple leaf on when travelling so as not to be mistaken for an American.....
We do too!
Very well said. Here endeth the lesson
Those 22% (if they ARE real) can freaking move to Alabama. I do NOT believe for one second that there are THAT many morons in this country, even after seeing some of the FreeDUMB trucker jackasses.
Canada IS worth fighting for, I will fight for my beloved country until my last breath. We will never back down and are far stronger than any yankee-doodle dumbf*** will ever be!
It's much higher among the young, What is the value proposition of Canada for those young people to stay? Canadians are nice?
No, it is not. I live here, I listen to everyone. They hate PP and DonOLD. Stay out of this as clearly you have it very wrong!
I live here too and the quantitative data from Abacus, Leger, Nanos and Ipsos speaks for itself. A statement without data to back it up is just opinion.
So, you live by polls? Are you the one picking up the landline in Canada? Or do you live in a Balkan state in Europe as your Substack infers? If you buy the essay describing Ralph Klein as a libertarian, the author got it, about… half right…unlike you, I lived it, I left it, I am still Canadian and give a darn about this country.
I care about nationalism only as much as how well the country is for young people. If a place isn't a good place for young people then it isn't a good place to stay. A country needs to love you back. My family is spread around the world and have been travelling the world for generations now chasing opportunity, love and happiness.
As for my personal situation, I've worked hard, worked smart and been just lucky enough that I can afford to live wherever I want now. My life is here, but I own property elsewhere and won't hesitate to move where life is better.
Asking your kids to live a less prosperous and happy life for nationalism is weird.
As for living by "polls?" I live by data and evidence. It's worked for me.
As someone who was born here, whose family has been here (on one side over 200 years, on the other over 100) I am sorry you dislike us and our country. I try through my votes, and, time spent with worthy causes to affect Canada, I know it’s not enough, but…all I can say I won’t live anywhere else, I will continue to make what I can better in Canada. It’s all anyone can do.
I wished it was true but it seems like Canadian civility has been going downhill since the Bush and Harper era. I noticed people are less polite and less friendly since I moved back to Canada recently, especially the locals who keep mistaking me for a foreigner or newcomer. A few think I am bringing no value other than being a cheap working professional or that I am here to jack up their real estate prices.
It's going to take much longer for the saner level of civility to return as locals and politicians keep responding with social media one-liners and overreact to everything.
Beautifully said
It may be true that 22 percent of Poilievre supporters would consider joining the United States, but that is a much smaller number than you think and it doesn’t reflect the population of Canada as a whole. And when Poilievre gets elected (which I hope doesn’t happen) it will not be due to his popularity, but rather to a desire for change after so many political missteps by the Liberals and a feeling that we in the western part of the country have been disenfranchised.
What is the value proposition for the young to believe in Canada? Canada quite frankly hasn't been as good for them as it has been for past generations, especially the boomers.
There really is no point in Canada if it isn't a better place to live, and with lower wages, much higher costs and worse weather politeness can only carry on so far.
Evan, so many young people want to hear more about the US for the same reasons you don't live in Montreal. You can't eat good feelings and young people are really getting a raw deal in Canada. I'd advise my kids to go elsewhere if they didn't have anything keeping them here.
Then, why did you leave where you were? I suspect how you are treated by Canadians, as you state, has more to do where you live, i.e. a large urban area (rather than a rural one) and the difficulties that entails. We (the people I know as immigrants) want others to succeed. There are steps to take…no further foreign ownership of land in Canada is a good place to start. Who is promising that in the next election…never mind Trudeau or Singh…heard that from Poilievre? I haven’t.
We left because it was a corporate transfer and the money was good as were the schools. That was then though and times change. The Canada of 2010 or even 2015 competed with the US economically and was superior socially. Now it doesn't even bother to compete economically and increasingly can't afford the social benefits it craves.