Le Canada, mon pays
OTTAWA—In my column last week, I focused on why I love Quebec, as well as assessing some of its flaws. I quoted former Quebec premier Jean Lesage, who described his attachment to his homeland and his country as “Le Québec, ma patrie—le Canada, mon pays.”
This week, for Canada Day, I thought I would articulate the strengths and weaknesses of our country. This seems pertinent as this year our celebration of Confederation takes place while two provinces—Quebec and Alberta—contemplate leaving.
Let’s begin with the positives. Canada is a country with two official languages, which is an enormous asset globally. English is the international language of business and tourism, and French is spoken by 400 million people. As neuroscientists will attest, bilingualism creates cognitive capacity that delays dementia. About seven million of us can speak both languages fluently, and many more can “get by” in either language.
We live in a stable democracy, with a free press and the rule of law. While we take this for granted, there are dozens of countries where that’s not true.
We are a country of immigrants, managing to successfully integrate people from everywhere into a common sense of “vivre ensemble,” or living together.
We have a health-care system that ensures people don’t have to worry about paying tens of thousands of dollars to be well. As a result, our life expectancy ranks among the top 10 major countries of the world.
Our upward mobility is among the highest in the world. Stories of immigrants and their descendants succeeding are not fables. Much of this is thanks to excellent public primary and secondary education, and relatively inexpensive college and university studies.
We have a public service recognized for its efficiency, representing Canadians from all backgrounds and both languages. We can take pride in the diplomats who have built our global credibility. Having worked in the foreign service, I know how highly regarded we are abroad. Our leaders, negotiators, and heads of mission are our best and brightest. The same goes for our military. Go anywhere Canadians have served in the cause of peace, and you will be overwhelmed by the goodwill our soldiers, air crew, and sailors have earned.
We live and thrive in a northern climate, which makes us more resilient. Getting to work or school when it is snowing or -20 C is a challenge most of us take for granted, not to mention trekking to the arena, gym, ski hill, or trail.
That said, Canada is far from perfect. We have a serious problem of housing and homelessness, especially in our cities, which did not exist a generation ago. With increased immigration, we are struggling with declining economic productivity and intolerance of others.
Many of our ambitious and brilliant youth are joining the “brain drain” to work elsewhere, threatening our economic viability as we can no longer rely entirely on resources to ensure employment. Almost half of us are functionally illiterate, which handicaps us in the knowledge economy.
We suffer an urban-rural divide, where cities grow at the expense of rural Canada. Demographically, small-town Canada is older and poorer. Policies for urban dwellers reflect the lack of understanding of the challenges facing smaller communities.
Our efforts at reconciliation are falling short, not due to a lack of will, but because of a neglect of Indigenous populations, many of whom live in small, distant, rural communities. That said, there are many extraordinary stories of First Nations communities and individuals: we need to recognize their success and encourage those great leaders as examples to all of us.
Our health-care system needs to be more efficient. Across Canada, there are not enough family doctors or specialists, and access to care varies enormously.
Finally, we may be too modest. Our patriotism has always been a quiet one, not imposing or jingoistic. We are an enormous, complicated, diverse country relying on pluralism and compromise to succeed. Francophone Quebecers mock Canadians as not having a “national” identity as they do.
Yet, when you watch the Canadian team at the ongoing World Cup, from every corner and background of the country, working together, embracing each other, with tens of thousands joining in a sea of red and white, it’s a moment for Canadian pride, and it’s who we are: a great country. Bonne fête du Canada.
Andrew Caddell is retired from Global Affairs Canada, where he was a senior policy adviser. He previously worked as an adviser to Liberal governments. He is a former town councillor in Kamouraska, Que. He can be reached at pipson52@hotmail.com.
The Hill Times