Our national fixation on the unlikely ascent of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency has taken Canadians back to a familiar place, where our southern neighbourB次元官网网址檚 business drowns out our own.
ItB次元官网网址檚 been 45 years since Pierre Trudeau established the Metric Commission to convert this country to the world standard of scientific measurement, and the job is nowhere near complete. Two generations on, IB次元官网网址檝e met few Canadians who know their own weight and height in kilograms and centimetres, or could understand a police suspect description using metric measures.
Why? America wonB次元官网网址檛 let us. Their culture rules ours, without even trying.
While Trump-mania and Trump-phobia fill Canadian news media, life here goes on quietly.
A gaggle of Conservative candidates held their first leadership debate amid the Trumpeting down south last week. I searched national media, and there was basically one story reported: that nasty ex-cabinet minister Kellie Leitch is still talking about screening immigrants to Canada.
OMG, as the young people say. We have our very own racist demagogue. This ambitious pediatric surgeon wants immigration candidates screened for B次元官网网址淐anadian values,B次元官网网址� a term that causes our city media to pounce. Finally, a Trump angle!
Before you grab a torch and pitchfork, hereB次元官网网址檚 a bit of background. Canada has one of the highest immigration rates in the world. It increased under the Conservative government and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau aims to increase it some more. ThatB次元官网网址檚 good, not just for cultural diversity but for a population and economy that would be shrinking without it.
Currently, immigrants to Canada are screened for employment skills and given written tests of English or French proficiency. Few are interviewed, and certainly there is no systematic effort to determine if they favour throwing gay people off rooftops or treating women as livestock, to name two current immigration challenges.
Should we consider such screening? YouB次元官网网址檙e not even allowed to bring that up in polite company. ItB次元官网网址檚 like questioning the extent and causes of climate change. Shame on you.
In a December profile on CanadaB次元官网网址檚 new prime minister, the New York Times Magazine recounts TrudeauB次元官网网址檚 thoughts on the country he now leads: B次元官网网址淭here is no core identity, no mainstream in Canada,B次元官网网址� Trudeau said. B次元官网网址淭here are shared values B次元官网网址� openness, respect, compassion, willingness to work hard, to be there for each other, to search for equality and justice. Those qualities are what make us the first post-national state.B次元官网网址�
If there is no unique Canadian culture or identity, Canadian B次元官网网址渧aluesB次元官网网址� can only consist of a generic niceness, as per TrudeauB次元官网网址檚 list. WeB次元官网网址檙e B次元官网网址減ost-nationalB次元官网网址� now, and thatB次元官网网址檚 why weB次元官网网址檙e cool.
So forget about the Huron Carol, and Sudbury Saturday Night and Margaret Atwood and Leonard Cohen. Forget the art of Bill Reid, son of an American man and a Haida woman.
Forget CanadaB次元官网网址檚 proud military history. WeB次元官网网址檙e B次元官网网址減eacekeepersB次元官网网址� again, hall monitors to the world.
And whatever you do, donB次元官网网址檛 go trying to fashion some sort of B次元官网网址渃ore identityB次元官网网址� out of this old-stock Canadian stuff. That would be racist.
The younger Trudeau at least comes by this nonsense honestly. ItB次元官网网址檚 part of the DNA of the federal Liberal Party, stemming from the elder TrudeauB次元官网网址檚 multiculturalism project.
Defending that project in 1995 was Sheila Finestone, multiculturalism and status of women minister in the Jean Chr茅tien government. B次元官网网址淚n my view, there isnB次元官网网址檛 any one Canadian identity,B次元官网网址� Finestone said. B次元官网网址淐anada has no national culture.B次元官网网址�
This is an odd position for a Canadian politician to take, as Ottawa spends ever-larger sums on the CBC and the arts, in a losing struggle to keep Canadian identity alive.
Tom Fletcher is B.C. legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press. Email: tfletcher@blackpress.ca Twitter: @tomfletcherbc
