Ignore him. Just ignore him.

Americans elected Donald Trump as their forty seventh President. Although he will take office on Janurary 20th, he is already asserting himself around the world and, it seems, particularly in Canada. Why he has such a facination with Canada is anyone’s guess, but he does, now trolling Canada’s leadership and its people with the claim it should be the fifty first state of the United States.

This comes as a shock to Canadians who have, for over two hundred years, viewed themselves as a friend and ally of the United States, and whose “longest undefended border” with the U.S. has been a point of pride. And this doesn’t even reference the many Canadians, myself included, who have American families. Canadians fought and died side by side with Americans in two World Wars, the Korean War and, after the attacks of 911, in Afghanistan. We have provided safe shelter for our American neighbours, whether in Tehran during the hostage crisis, or in Newfoundland and elsewhere in Canada after the attacks of 911. Our economies are so intertwined that attempting to separate them will result in monumental disruptions on both sides of the border. And yet here we are, with an American President elect who values none of that and seems to take special pleasure in insulting Americans’ northern neighbour.

I could waste a lot of time trying to analyze Donald Trump and his motivation but it would be just that: a waste of time. It is what it is and, from a Canadian’s perspective, the most important thing is to acknowledge that the relationship has changed, perhaps forever, and look to support and defend our country.

When adolescents troll other people they are looking for a response, the more dramatic and excited the better. And that is what is happening here. Donald Trump and his tech boy toy, Elon Musk, are having “fun” trolling Canada and watching the chaos those trolls are causing. And that’s where my advice comes in: ignore them, don’t react to them, in fact for Canadian media, stop even giving them significant coverage. I haven’t any idea whether this is some kind of carefully calibrated and thought out first salvo in a renegotiation of the USMCA (the latest trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico) or whether it’s just a bunch of immature wannabe frat boys getting their jollies, but I suspect it’s more the latter than the former.

Whatever it is, Canada must develop a carefully thought out and, if necessary, calibrated response to whatever eventualities the new American government is going to throw at it. And it must do that quietly. Thus far, we’ve seen our political leaders doing the opposite, whether it’s Prime Minister Trudeau frantically phoning Donald Trump and then rushing down to Mar-A-Lago for a hasty dinner where he and Canada were made the butt of jokes; or the various Premiers rushing to microphones to threaten, cajole, beg or publicly discuss strategy. And I guarantee you the trolls are laughing. So folks, cut it out and shut up. There’s work to be done.

Americans are telling Canadians how little they value the relationship. Well, so be it. I suspect the day will come when America regrets behaving this way but, at least for a generation, things have changed and Canada must define a new role for itself in the world, a role that increasingly separates it from America and focuses exclusively on what is in the best interest of Canada and Canadians even if that goes against America’s interests. Personally, I say this with great regret as I have held America in such high regard for so many years but it is what it is. Americans, including members of my own family, have voted for this President and his behaviour.

Message received.

Just sayin,

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Leave Justin. For God’s Sake Leave

Justin Trudeau just entered his tenth year as Prime Minister of Canada. If the polls are correct, it will be his last with an election required no later than October, 2025. His time in office began with “sunny ways” after the dour eleven years of the Stephen Harper Conservatives and end with Canada weaker, less unified, ridiculed on the international stage and rapidly abandoning those ideas and beliefs that were its successful foundation for the past nearly one hundred and sixty years. And make no mistake, Canada’s current position is a direct result of Justin Trudeau’s governance. What began as “sunny ways” has devolved into an endless parade of self indulgent photo ops, apologies and mind numbing platitudes out of the Prime Minister’s mouth. Canada deserves better. In fact, Canada needs better if it is to survive in an increasingly dangerous world.

The first time I really noticed Justin Trudeau was at his father’s funeral where he delivered the eulogy. Although the chattering classes were quick to sing the praises of his speech and behaviour, already grooming him to ascend to the pinnacle of Canadian political power, I was not. What I witnessed was a juvenile, self indulgent performance by someone who loved the spotlight and who was far more interested in the world’s perception of him than of his father. Unkind you say? Well, yes, I suppose it is, but it was a warning very few took seriously. And, full disclosure here, when he first ran as leader of the Liberal Party against the incumbent Conservatives, I voted for him although, in fairness, it was more a vote for change and against the tired government than for him. I have not made that mistake since.

Now, in a desperate attempt to hold on to power, he is attempting to buy Canadians’ support with our own money. Most Canadians will receive a $250 cheque early in the New Year and, for added measure the federal government is suspending the GST and HST for two months, starting on December 14th. Aside from the predictable outrage from some provinces who will have to absorb part of that loss of tax revenue, it also flies in the face of good economic policy, almost certainly slowing the reduction in interest rates by the Central Bank and, as a result, long after the one time payment and the tax “holiday” are history, Canadians with any kind of debt, be it mortgages, credit cards, lines of credit etc., will be paying for it with higher payments. And, yes, I do know some Conservative Premiers have done the same thing but that doesn’t make it right. It’s just the latest in gimmicky promises, highly targeted benefits or feel good ideas that Justin Trudeau so enjoys announcing, often, as was the case this time, with his tiny enabler, Chrystia Freeland, the Finance Minister, at his side.

Canada has been degraded on so many fronts over the Justin Trudeau decade it’s hard to know where to begin so let me start with the potentially catastrophic erosion of any sense of what it means to be a Canadian.

Canada represented one of the great compromises between two of the major European empires, the French and the British. Defying all odds, the French and the English found a way to live together and prosper, both drawing on the traditions of Western Liberalism. In time, immigrants from other nations joined, creating the multi cultural mosaic we now know as Canada. The idea of a multi cultural Canada really came into its own under Justin Trudeau’s father, Pierre Trudeau, in the late sixties and seventies and, for a time, it seemed like an idea whose time had come. I used to enjoy telling non Canadian friends that Canada was like the Bumblebee, that from a strictly aeronautical point of view, couldn’t fly and yet it flew very well.

It was undoubtedly arrogant of Canadians to believe all new immigrants, while maintaining some of their cultural background, would assimilate into the dominant Canadian family and adopt its core values that, from our perspective, were superior to all others. After all, as far as we were concerned, those values were the bedrock upon which Canada’s peaceful and prosperous existence was built. It never occurred to us new immigrants might not want to shed their previous identities, beliefs and values.

With the benefit of hindsight there is a kind of poetic justice to Pierre Trudeau’s son leading us into what now seems the inevitable outcome of our faulty reasoning to a “post national country”, one that has no unifying myths and histories, and that rushes to eschew anything that might “trigger” anxiety or concern amongst any of our diverse members no matter how important it is to another, or particularly the largest, group amongst us. And it’s hard to see how a country with no past has a future.

As if to accelerate this loss of any real shared identity, Justin Trudeau has seized upon the colonist narrative when it comes to Canada’s treatment of its native citizens, using it to illustrate his compassion, his wokeness, his view all non native Canadians, presumably including him, are sinners in need of endless absolution. Perhaps the best example of this was his response to the discovery of anomalies in the soil around a former Residential School in Kamloops, a discovery that was quickly equated with mass graves and gruesome images of the schools as killing factories right up there with the death camps of the Nazis. Did Trudeau ask for any verification of the worst case scenario? Did he appoint some kind of inquiry to determine the truth? No, he did not. He bought into the myth of genocide wholeheardedly, ordering Canadian flags lowered to half mast where they remained for over half a year during which, by the way, not a single body was recovered or verified from the site. And suddenly Canada, hithertofore the world’s boy scout, was labelled a nation of murderers and racists. Our enemies couldn’t have been happier. After six months, with no explanation, the flags were quietly raised to full mast, presumably hoping no one would notice.

Not surprisingly, this attitude and approach led to the burning of churches across Canada, the tearing down of statues honouring Canada’s founders, the push to erase the names of men and women who contributed mightily to the Canada we enjoy today and, most troubling, the move by some parliamentarians to criminalize speech that even questions the most extreme of the claims about Residential Schools and Canada’s history with native peoples. It also led to the use of the term “the so called country of Canada” by those who want to see this successful nation fail.

The Canada I grew up in had a good international reputation. It had punched well above its weight in two world wars and Korea. It had been a founding member of NATO and the United Nations. It practically invented the idea of peacekeepers and strove to be an intermediary between the former colonial powers and their colonies, perhaps best illustrated by its role under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney confronting Apartheid in South Africa. Although closely allied with the United States, it refused to participate in the Vietnam war or the second invasion of Iraq. Wearing a maple leaf pin when travelling abroad usually resulted in good and friendly treatment by people who liked and respected Canada but, after ten years of Justin Trudeau’s foreign policy, not so much. In fact, it’s probably fair to say Canada has become an irrelevant laughing stock to much of the rest of the world. How did this happen? Well, it was an accumulation of small but symbolic acts, all against the drumbeat of us hectoring the world. We announced we had a “feminist foreign policy”, whatever that meant. We were quick to judge and condemn our historic allies and friends when they came under attack. We equivocated and hid when difficult foreign policy choices confronted us. And our actions seldom, if ever, matched our words. All this while our capacity to even enforce our own sovereignty was constantly degraded as our military became less and less well funded and supported.

In fairness, the degradation of Canada’s military predated Justin Trudeau by at least three administrations, both Liberal and Conservative, but the willful blindness to the threats that opened Canada up to in a newly dangerous and fractured world is astonishing. Canada is quite rightly considered a freeloader in NATO despite being one of the wealthiest nations in the world. And how does the Trudeau government respond? Not with solid and real commitments to rebuild our military, to meet the challenges posed by Russia and China in the Arctic, to effectively stand with our allies in the conflict in Ukraine. Not at all. Just some flimsy commitment to meet a 2% military expenditure target by 2032.

From its inception Canada has had the advantage of being protected by the two great super powers of their times, Great Britain and then the United States. And, in case you haven’t noticed, the United States is tired of carrying that burden. After all, why should American taxpayers pay for the defence of Canada while we instead channel monies to feel good political programs or boutique benefits that advantage whatever political constituency the governing party is seeking favour from? So Canada, wake up while there’s still time because it is running out.

It is past time for Justin Trudeau to go. By the looks of it he’s going to hang on to the bitter end, taking the Liberal Party down with him. In the end, he will disappear like a cloud of vapour, leaving unpleasant memories of a weakened and divided nation.

Just sayin

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Ruffling a Few Feathers

On April 14 the Government of B.C. and the Haida Nation signed an agreement confirming Aboriginal title over all of Haida Gwaii. It grants title to the entire archipelago to the Haida Nation and creates a process and timeline for its implementation. This is one of several such processes the government is engaging in with native bands in B.C. that are outside the treaty negotiation process and that may result in ceding vast swaths of Crown land to the various native bands. The Premier and his ministers repeatedly claim the agreements will have no effect on non native land owners on those lands, although that remains to be seen. B.C. is somewhat unique, given its lack of treaties with native bands, but the steps it is taking may still have significant implications for other provinces.

This process is taking place at a time when Canadians are being inundated with claims their country is, and always has been, deeply racist and, in its past at least, genocidal. This is the culmination of two decades of indoctrination by those advocating for “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” (“DEI”), backstopped by an anti-colonial/occupier narrative that divides Canadians into “victims” and “exploiters”, the victims being native Canadians who were here prior to European and modern Asian settlement, and “exploiters”, being all of us who are descended from the European and later Asian settlers. Perhaps the most egregious example of this is the mythology that has grown up around residential schools in Canada. It has become the almost unchallenged dictum that the schools were created for the express and singular purpose of eradicating Canada’s native population, with the most outrageous claim being that the now empty schools are surrounded by mass graves of native children, each a kind of mini Auschwitz. And there is even support for laws that would criminalize questioning that dogma. George Orwell would have found this completely predictable. I’ve criticized this before and that isn’t the main purpose of this blog, except to note that these beliefs are a barrier to native Canadians becoming full, autonomous, independent, successful and participating members of Canadian society, and not just victims.

If the only criterion for determining who is a victim and who is an oppressor is who got here first then, to pursue that logic, we should delve deeper into the history of native peoples in Canada. I believe it’s a given they didn’t all just appear here at once, and there is historical and archeological evidence they came from Asia in waves, some on land and some by sea, over what was probably centuries. So, which now have first claim on this land? It’s almost certain some groups were displaced, absorbed or worse, while others moved further into the continent. In fact, given B.C.’s geographic location, it’s likely native groups in B.C. were some of the later arrivals.

The absurdity of using the “who got here first” criterion is illustrated further by looking at human settlement all across world. Much of it by today’s standards would be considered oppressive and wrong, fitting nicely into the settler/occupier narrative. That’s true in the British Isles, everything east of the Urals in Russia, not to mention the Caucuses, China, Australia, New Zealand, much of Africa and certainly Israel. And those are only the major examples. In fact, all of human history is about population movements, with new groups replacing or absorbing earlier populations. But it is only in the Anglo-sphere where modern societies are tying themselves in knots over it (I guess I should exclude Britain from that as, as far as I know, there is no current movement to return much of England to the ancient Celtic Britons). And, in the Anglo-sphere, Canada seems determined to lead the charge, to go where few if any other nations have gone before, and damn the consequences to the future of this nation.

So why does all this matter? Well, for starters, a country that comes to despise its history probably doesn’t have much of a future and, increasingly, that is where Canada is going. We are constantly inundated with propaganda telling us Canada was a bad idea, that the men who created it were monsters, that the modern state we have built is built on the bones and blood of the native Canadians who were here first. We’ve lost sight of the fact that in one hundred and fifty years Canadians have created a remarkable, prosperous, democratic and free country, one that has few equals in human history. Instead of celebrating that we are told to feel shame and to qualify Canada’s considerable achievements with a “but”.

I fully support measures that will help native Canadians become autonomous, strong, prosperous citizens of this country. But that can only happen if the rights and interests of the other ninety five percent of the population are also respected. And that is not happening. It’s not just that Canadian history is being devalued or that native Canadians are encouraged to play the victim card to avoid any responsibility for their position and actions, but there is now a systematic effort to rearrange the ownership of land in B.C. and Canada in a way that will significantly disadvantage the vast majority of the population.

Some years ago we began hearing “acknowledgements” at the beginning of meetings, speeches, concerts, gallery shows, in fact, in virtually any venue that was publicly funded and, laterally, any that wanted to be considered progressive. You know what they sound like: “We acknowledge that we are on the unceded land of the (insert whatever native group is relevant) and are grateful for…”. Then these same statements began appearing on the letterheads and other stationary of public and private entities, a kind of Scout badge for having completed the task signifying progressive, inclusive, woke. I have always found them irritating, at first because they seemed meaningless or, worse, were holding open possibilities to native communities that could never be realized, and then because they began to move from the zones of gesture to action. And that’s where the land settlements typified by the one for Haida Gwaii enter the picture.

Most Canadians look at these settlements, or proposed settlements, and shrug, generally feeling they are a good thing and, more importantly, have little if any real effect on them. After all, we keep hearing the assurances privately held land will not be affected. All that is being discussed is “Crown Land”, which is a sufficiently obscure term that most don’t give it much thought. They should. Approximately 94% of British Columbia’s landmass is Crown Land, land that is held by the province on behalf of all British Columbians. Native groups are claiming ownership of approximately 95% of all land in B.C., including that which is privately held. So, if indeed the politicians are right and privately held land is not in play, that pretty much accounts for all the Crown Land being available for just 5% of the population.

I understand that the settlement process is at least partially driven by court rulings compelling governments to move them forward. Putting aside for the moment the argument that courts have “made law” with some of their rulings, it remains true that court rulings in Canada rely on laws passed by Parliament and legislatures. Where necessary, those laws can be changed if they result in an obvious injustice or rulings that undermine the essence of what Canada is or should be. And it is probably time to seriously consider that option on the issue of native land claims.

Just sayin

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Where Did Canada Go?

My paternal grandparents immigrated to Canada at the end of the nineteenth century, one from Scotland, the other from Norway via the United States. They met in Edmonton and homesteaded on a quarter section of land provided by the federal government about a hundred miles southeast of that city. They spent their first winter in a one room shack created by my grandfather pulling two graineries together and covering the roof with sod. That’s the home my father and his twin sister came to after they were born in Edmonton.

They struggled, they persevered and they worked very, very hard. And in the end they prospered, at least by the standards of that time and place. Both their children went to university, a first in our family. They believed in Canada, fully embracing the ideas that shaped this nation, including that, with hard work and perseverance, the future would belong to it. They participated as active and full citizens of what was then The Dominion of Canada. And when duty called, their only son, my father, went off to war, fighting for freedom and the ideas that animated this new nation.

The Canada I was born into in 1949 was still bathing in the afterglow of its heroic participation in the Second World War. It was also a country on the verge. Most of the ties to imperial Britain had been severed and Canada faced the world as a modern, liberal democracy, one that, as the years passed, expanded on that idea , particularly with respect to human rights, civil society and freedom, both at home and in the world. We were taught to be proud of our place in the world, to understand we were a new kind of nation, one that was free of the tribal hatreds of Europe and yet separate from our avaricious and noisy American cousins.

The idea of multiculturalism was formally presented to us by the governments of Pierre Trudeau in the 1960’s and 70’s and, with remarkably little conflict, Canada’s demography began shifting away from British/French/Western European to something else, something that to an increasing degree reflected the second and third worlds. Although many said this experiment would not work, it did to a remarkable and historically unprecedented degree.

I am not ignoring the failures that existed in the emerging Canada, particularly its treatment of its native population and other, under-represented peoples. Nor am I saying there weren’t frictions and eruptions of racism, homophobia and other forms of prejudice. But, as a country, we always aspired to do better, to honour the hopes and plans of our founders and, by and large, we stayed on that track, looking forward with optimism.

But something has changed. At first it was imperceptible to people like me but then, slowly but surely, it intruded into our discourse and our sense of ourselves. Its earliest expression concerned Canada’s native population and its treatment of them. What began as a healthy acknowledgement of past failings and the belief we would do better in the future has metastasized into an endless litany of mea culpas with a stifling drive to devalue the contributions of the very people who created and built modern Canada. In fact, in many circles, it is now a given that Canada was founded and built by genocidal racists, something we should be deeply ashamed of. Statues of the Fathers of Confederation are vandalized and destroyed or, if not destroyed, removed by public officials not wanting to offend the tender sensibilities of complaining constituents. Street names are changed, as are names attached to universities, hospitals, galleries, museums and other public spaces, all in an attempt to erase the history of European and subsequent Asian immigration and its vast contribution to what, to this point, was one of the most successful nations in all of human history. And god help anyone who attempts to apply some context to past government policies and practices that are now reviled.

The native population of Canada is approximately 5% of the total population. I agree there are many failures in Canada’s past approach to this community and future policies should be informed by those experiences. But I do not agree that all discourse should be warped by the sense of victim-hood that is so intensely cultivated by today’s native Canadians and their enablers. The so called “inter-generational trauma” experienced by survivors of residential schools is only the most obvious “get out of jail free card” that resonates across the interactions between native and non native Canadians and, inevitably, builds resentment amongst non natives and passivity amongst natives. It’s a path that leads neither to reconciliation nor to a bright and optimistic future for all Canadians and it needs to be confronted.

Of course part of the challenge is that most elected leaders in Canada, starting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet, have so wholeheartedly embraced the mantra of shame about this country’s past that has poisoned most areas of Canadian society. It has only become clear to me recently that that idea has a much broader political ideology behind it, the ideology that views the world solely through the eyes of those who identify as, or with, the victims of colonialism or, to use the more de trop phrase of university podiums, victims of “settler/occupiers”. And lest you think this really doesn’t apply to Canada, listen carefully to the various native leaders and their supporters as they describe Canada as “Turtle Island” or as “so-called Canada”. In other words, not a legitimate country and, in their wildest of dreams, one that will someday be returned to its native inhabitants.

Given the size of Canada’s population and the fact that 95% of it is non native, the logistics of returning Canada to its pre-European inhabitants, even if that were desirable, are probably insurmountable except for the wildest fantasist, so we revert to a steady drum beat of shaming and demanding whatever the ransom du jour is. It’s not surprising that a negative reaction is growing, just as it is in many other western countries where some other version of this tale is unfolding. In fact, the rise of ugly populism in recent years is at least partly a reaction to the narrowing and cancelling of public discourse on a range of topics including the claims of people who believe they were disadvantaged by colonialism. That said, Canada seems unique in its self flagellation over real and imagined historical wrongs committed by its founders and earliest European settlers.

One especially troubling example of how warped Canadian society has become in response to the settler/occupier narrative is the reaction of large parts of Canadian society to the terrorist attack by Hamas on Israelis on October 7 and the consequent war in Gaza. Instead of placing much of the blame where it clearly belongs with the terrorist organization, Hamas, large segments of Canada’s population have hijacked the narrative by blaming Israel as they chant “from the river to the sea”, a not so coded call for the genocide of non Muslim Israeli citizens. Examples of antisemitism crop up seemingly every day. This would never have been tolerated in the Canada I grew up in and cherished and, yet, in the face of such outrages, our political leaders tip toe around, hoping not to offend Muslim Canadians, and implying, if not outright saying, Hamas’ actions are understandable, if regrettable. I understand there is now a much larger Muslim population in Canada than there was even a decade ago, mostly a result of mass immigration from Muslim countries and that has political consequences. It grieves me, who has supported immigration to Canada all my adult life and who lives in one of the most multi cultural neighbourhoods in the world, to have to say core Canadian values are at risk because of some of that immigration. As a gay man I remember vividly the image a year or so ago of Muslim mothers encouraging their children to stomp gleefully on Pride flags. We like to say there is no place for homophobia in Canada, just as there is no place for antisemitism, but, increasingly, the changing face of our population is putting the lie to those assertions.

I have no idea how we turn this Titanic around but I am sure it begins with recognizing the dangers before it is to late. If we don’t, the future will certainly not belong to Canada.

Just sayin

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