Trudeau too down on Canada
It’s interesting and puzzling that Canada has one of the few world leaders who never seems to have anything positive to say about his country. Recently he hinted that we have a lot to work on. Responding to the Meghan and Harry affair he stated that he would stand against intolerance in Canada every day. Apparently Canada is rife with the worst possible values, and our country is a terrible place. Luckily for us he is going to fight against our failings, saving us from ourselves, our twisted national history and our evil nature.
He went further saying “There are many institutions that we have in this country including that big building right across the street from us (referring to Parliament) that has, and is built around a system of colonialism, of discrimination, of systemic racism in all of our institutions.” Even our time honoured democratic institutions are horribly flawed and intolerant, a fact that, apparently, never stops making the daily lives of Canadians a living hell.
According to Mr. Trudeau we, the Canadian public, have a lot of deficiencies and he has had to remind us of them for a long time. We are racists and homophobes, in addition to every other kind of “phobe” imaginable. We’ve disappointed him and don’t measure us up to his personal value system. We are behind the times, and we need to take a good hard look at why we are failing to meet the grade, his grade.
The only problem with our P.M.’s analysis is the truth. According to a newly released Gallup poll (September 2020) Canada is the most welcoming nation in the world, leading other nations and far ahead of the U.S. Canada was the first country to adopt multiculturalism (1971). In 2016 Canada ranked as the second most progressive nation in the world, in a report by Social Progress Imperative. We were the fourth nation to legislate same sex marriage as a right. We have always been known as a congenial, tolerant, polite place. That’s been our reputation for decades. We put more people in uniform in the fight against fascism in World War II, relative to population, than almost any other Allied nation. We have always fought for freedom and opposed oppression.
So what on earth is Justin Trudeau talking about? Yes. We are imperfect. Every nation is, and we are working on the things we would like to improve. He may drag out the narrative of “Canada as an evil nation with a lot to learn and be ashamed of…” but it doesn’t fit the facts. Perhaps he should spend more time focusing on Canada’s difficulties, difficulties his government is failing to solve, and spend less time telling us how bad we are. Canada is a wonderful country. If he doesn’t think so he should ask the millions of people trying to be Canadian citizens so that they can enjoy the benefits of democratic parliamentary government and a guaranteed Charter rights. Perhaps they would disagree with our erstwhile and “woke” P.M.
Perry Foster
Duncan
