Commentary
In an address entitled “Forward Guidance: A Stronger Canada,” posted on YouTube the other week, Prime Minister Mark Carney appealed to Canadian patriotism and civic virtue as he outlined the government’s response to U.S. tariffs.
Do Canadians still embody the virtues Carney says we need?
Surprisingly, Carney drew upon Canadian history and praised the nation-building ambition of Sir John A. Macdonald. He compared undertakings by the federal Major Projects Office to Macdonald’s nation-building Canadian Pacific Railway, the “iron spine” that “stitched together our country and made our presence undeniable.”
It is refreshing to hear a federal leader speak of Canada’s past as something noble and worth emulating. We heard little of this over the past decade. Too often, Canadians were admonished to view our history as a source of shame. Macdonald wasn’t praised; his statues were vandalized, removed, or boarded up in cities from Victoria to Charlottetown. Schools, parkways, and other public places were stripped of his name….