Anyone who has read “The Art of the Deal” should understand that Donald Trump is not going to annex Canada. However, the president-elect’s statements about Canada becoming the 51st state have reawakened our sorely missed spirit of patriotism in this country.
The Canadian left should sit this one out. After doing their utmost to undermine Canadian citizenship, culture and pride in our history, they do not deserve to even try and take up the mantle of patriotism.
Liberal MP Taleeb Noormohamed attempted to rebuke Trump and rally his X followers with a post about how Canada is worth defending and “we’re never, going to surrender.” He even mentioned the War of 1812. Where do these guys get the balls?
The Trudeau Liberals’ disdain for Canadian history prior to the 1980s is palpable and well-known. By renaming parkways named after Sir John A. Macdonald and historic sites like Fort Calgary, the Liberals and their progressive foot soldiers have made it abundantly clear that they are embarrassed by Canada’s history.
The War of 1812 was a tenacious defensive campaign fought by British redcoats, Indigenous warriors and militiamen drawn from this country’s two founding peoples to ensure British North America would not be annexed to the United States.
The memory of 1812 involves the Crown and the ideals of loyalism and martial valour, none of which are upheld, cherished or practised by the Liberal party and the broader progressive movement. Even Remembrance Day, the one day that the Canadian military and its traditions are not assaulted with DEI initiatives and ritual humiliation, has become a controversial topic on the Canadian left.
Progressive municipal officials in both Calgary and Toronto took great pains to wedge statements about colonialism into their speeches on Nov. 11, while a public school principal in Ottawa decided to appropriate the sombre holiday to pontificate about Palestine.
While even the Liberals will not yet publicly dare to violate Remembrance Day in such a manner, it is safe bet their advisors have discussed it.
There is nothing sacred in modern progressivism, save for the ideology itself. Everything must conform with the progressive vision of turning Canada into the embodiment of John Lennon’s vile, overrated song, “Imagine.”
“Imagine there’s no countries/It isn’t hard to do/Nothing to kill or die for/And no religion too/Imagine all the people/Living life in peace.”
Practically everyone has had these vapid lyrics railroaded through their eardrums at one point or another. Former prime minister Stephen Harper may have sung the song once on the campaign trail, but the Liberals have made it their doctrine, falsely believing the world was destined for inevitable globalization and integration.
It turned out that there are things worth dying for, like the sovereignty of Ukraine, which the Liberals have, to their credit, supported since the Russian invasion in 2022. As evidenced by the reawakened tide of nationalism around the world, people are willing to fight for their countries and their cultures.
These brave, admirable ideals are a language that the modern left is incapable of comprehending, let alone adopting and expressing.
Terms like “diversity,” “inclusivity” and “decolonization” are their substitutions for the distinct Canadian national trinity of “peace, order and good government.” Outside the platitudes posted on social media, there are few signs that Liberals or progressives would do anything to fortify a culturally unique Canadian identity.
Take Liberal leadership candidate Chandra Arya, the MP for Nepean and backer of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. Arya was previously most well known for opposing a foreign agent registry and a motion to label the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in India as a “genocide.”
To kick off his leadership campaign, Arya went on the CBC and all but spat on the idea that bilingualism is important. Even CBC host David Cochrane seemed flabbergasted by Arya’s dismissal of the idea that the prime minister of a bilingual country should be bilingual.
Quebec Liberal MP Steven MacKinnon implored leadership candidates to be fluent in French and to understand Quebec. These are admirable sentiments, but the Liberals opened a Pandora’s box with their post-nationalism and a cultural agenda that is inherently hostile to Quebec’s distinct society.
Liberal MPs Anthony Housefather and Yvan Baker recently penned a piece for the National Post calling on their party to dump post-nationalism and be “unapologetically” proud of Canada. They should embrace the likely gutting of their party in the next election. It will cleanse the rot in their government and give them up a clean slate for renewal and better ideas.
This, however, will be a tall order. After putting on a big show for Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017, the Liberals effectively ceded nationalism to the Conservatives, along with classical liberalism and any pretense of caring about law and order.
There are those on the fringes of the Canadian right who are guilty of undermining the ideal of a distinct Canada, as well. Many worship at the altar of the United States, a country they have never lived in, and have taken Donald Trump’s victory in the November presidential election as a sign that Canada should be annexed by its southern neighbour.
If they do love the U.S., a remarkable and special country, they should move there as soon as they can. The only barrier would be their inability to qualify for a green card, which would be a challenge for many considering the depth and quality of their thinking about Canada.
Conservatives should shun these people and expel them from the movement whenever possible. The anti-national trends of the modern left have gifted patriotism to Canadian conservatives. If they play their cards right, they will own it for a generation.
National Post