February 21: There was a time when I loved this country in a proud and unquestioning way, a kind of sew-the-flag-on-your-backpack-and-go hitch-hiking through-Europe kind of way. It seemed that people in other countries knew Canada as that kinder, gentler, more thoughtful and accepting second-cousin to the United States. We were respected across the world as peace-keepers and contributed to many multi-national organizations such as the UN and NATO in meaningful ways.
Our political leaders were guys like Lester Pearson, William Davis and Tommy Douglas, men (sadly, all men) who valued working for the common good – working for the benefit of everyone – rather than cleaving to narrow, self-serving and self-interested political games.
Tommy Douglas was Premier of Saskatchewan and later, leader of the Federal NDP. His party held the balance of power for many years, notably voting against the imposition of the War Measures Act in 1970. As Premier of Saskatchewan he created Canada’s first publicly-owned automobile insurance corporation; created publicly-owned Saskatchewan Power Corporation and several other Crown corporations; and his government adopted a Bill of Rights which preceded adoption of the UN Bill of Rights by 18 months.
William Davis was the 18th Premier of Ontario (1971 to 1985). In a prior role as Minister of Education, he reduced the number of school boards within the Province from more than 3,600 to 192. One of his first initiatives as Premier was the cancellation of the Spadina Expressway and throughout his time in office, he worked “across the aisle” to implement policies that may not have been entirely supported by his caucus – buying a share of oil producer Suncor for example.
Pearson, our fourteenth Prime Minister, ran consecutive minority governments after an extensive career in the diplomatic corps. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez crisis. As a minority Prime Minister he created universal health care, the Canadian Pension Plan, the Canadian Student Loan Program, and introduced the Order of Canada. His government also gave us our flag in 1965.
Pause for a moment and consider what Pearson accomplished as a minority government and compare that with what has been accomplished by the current minority lead by Justin Trudeau. When he came to office after the Harper years, he promised “sunny ways” and a kinder, gentler form of politics. That seems to have devolved into and era of promising many things but accomplishing little. The current government approach to the situation in Ukraine was ably captured by Andrew Coyne in the Globe and Mail (January 29, 2022):
“What actions does the Trudeau government propose, then, in order to “be there for” and “stand with” and be “in support of” Ukraine ? Less than what the Ukrainians have asked for. Less than what other countries are doing. Less than what previous Canadian governments did. Less even than it had itself been hinting it would do. And certainly less than the situation requires. We will give Ukraine every assistance, it seems, short of actual help.”
Our status as a multinational partner is illustrated by our role in the current negotiations with the Taliban around the future of Afghanistan – a country where 165 Canadians died and more than 2,000 were wounded: we weren’t invited. Our minimal financial support for other countries and our own military capability have withered to such an extent that we are no longer seen as having a viable role internationally. We don’t matter.
In a recent article in the Globe and Mail (February 12, 2022), pollster Nik Nanos concluded that, over all, Canadians score their satisfaction with Canada as a country at a paltry 68%, down from 72% a year ago. He concludes:
“It is clear that many feel that our democratic institutions are failing at delivering solutions that make our country a better place. …. Our political discourse has lowered itself to a regular baseline of name-calling and sloganeering. These have always existed and will continue to exist but the public good is a casualty in today’s discourse. No one should be surprised that Canadians rate their democratic institutions poorly and do not see them as moving our country forward in a positive fashion.”
This makes me sad. This is not the country I once knew and I don’t see that changing any time soon. Politics has become a partisan game played with public opinion polls. Actually accomplishing things of value to society as a whole has become less important than scoring points over the other guy in an effort to get elected at the polls. Much energy is spent criticizing alternative views rather than actually doing meaningful things that will have a beneficial impact for our country. If I hear Trudeau breathlessly say that he will “be there for” and “stand with” one more cause I will scream. Instead of all the standing around perhaps he should actually take a page from the playbook of previous governments and actually do something meaningful to the greater benefit of our country.