My Northern Homeland

While my allegiance is with these United States, I worry about the future of the country where I spent my formative years.

I hoped for a Conservative victory this past week but it wasn’t to be. The Liberal Party under Mark Carney won enough parliamentary seats, but falling short of an outright majority, to form a government. Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party, was, just a few month ago, poised to become Canada’s next Prime Minister. But things took a fateful turn as Carney, with the help of Canada’s mainstream media, characterized himself as a stable, anti-Trump, capitalist who would stand up to the bully down south and protect Canada’s interests and sovereignty. Poilievre was labelled as a right-wing “Trumper” even though he tried to distance himself from President Trump’s comments about Canada in the weeks leading up to the “snap” election.

What concerns me most, and about politics in general, is how much of the electorate in Canada was so easily distracted from the root issues affecting their country. I grew up in western Canada and was influenced by the independent spirit of many Canadians in the province of Alberta. It was a province rich in natural fuels that the earth provided and was a massive producer in the industrial realm. But all of this took a turn in the late 1980’s as I was completing my college football days in the United States and energy sources that occurred naturally were being blamed for all kinds of climate issues and potential catastrophies.

It was clear to me then, and even clearer now, that the influence of the United States on my outlook and where I was planning to live was impacted by an American Nationalism that, at first exposure, seemed over-the-top, arrogant, and slightly xenophobic. But as I got to know my college teammates, and the people in this country; I began to realize that there was a stark and compelling difference in the mindset of Canadians and Americans.

My viewpoint about working hard, being successful and finding happiness changed somewhat when I realized that the United States, who had to fight for her freedom, looked at the American Dream as something within the purvue of independent control and a manifestation of the desire to make your own way and live a life that ultimately made one understand that the merits of their willingness to aim upward were in direct proportion to a personal feeling of success.

It was, and is, a little different in my homeland. As far as I can tell, Canada prides itself, or at least tends to elect leaders, that have a sense of their place in the global world. Mark Carney has stated often that Canada needs to take it's place and fulfill its role in the global economy. Sounds progressive and somewhat less nationalistic and jingoistic than the Americans down south.

Up until a few weeks ago, when President Trump inserted his thoughts about Canada becoming the 51st State did Canadian’s nationalism reawaken and suddenly Canadian leaders were trotting out the various reasons why Canada would never surrender their country, or their people, or their way of life, to a United States that held them in such contempt as to refer to former Prime Minister Trudeau as Governor Trudeau. Such talk was an affront to Canadians and a wedge issue used to get a decidedly unknown Mark Carney elected to Canada’s highest office.

I was glad to hear Canadians standing up and flexing their nationalist voice and talking about how Canada was, and is, a country that will never be taken over by another country. But here is the problem. By most estimates, their newly elected leader doesn’t really have an issue with Canada being placated to some global vision of governance as long as it isn’t the United States. This will become a compelling issue as Canada’s newest leader trots out his vision for Canada’s role in the world.

The lesson Canada should take from their neighbors to the south is that a national self-determinism is the best way forward for any country. Leveraged with the multiple possibilities of a strong energy economy, Canada could become an influencialplayer in the revitalizing of an industrial economy that the globalists seem to frown upon but depend on to keep the lights on and their jets in the air! So much of what makes America great isn’t that they have all the answers, it’s simply that as Americans we want to know that decisions being made help fuel a stronger United States which, in turn, helps Canada be a stronger and more protected country.

What I realized many years ago, and the reason I became an American citizen in 2003 was that America isn’t over-the-top, just patriotic. American’s aren’t arrogant, just proud and willing to stand for what they believe to be true. Amercan culture isn’t xenophobic, its hopes and dreams are built around people coming to this country to live the American Dream and choosing to embrace the characteristics of a nation founded on the principles of a declaration in which life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness inform their way of life and how America fits into the world.

I love my homeland, and I pray for better days ahead!