When I began to study Political Science, the first thing that struck me was how much countries acted like individual humans. And when we look at people from the outside, they look a whole lot different from what they think of themselves on the inside.
When we regard our country from this point of view, the picture that we see is not exactly rosy. Canada is the favoured daughter of Mother Britain. Big Brother United States has kicked over the traces and gone independent, making a success of himself, but unable to get over the rebelliousness that caused the original rift. Canada, with her friendly manners, has managed to stay friends with both. So she has matured as a nation, but she has never had to really stand up and be independent, because she always had those two powers to protect her.
Petulant Teenager in an Adult World
Thus, our country has developed into a spoiled brat with an exaggerated sense of entitlement. (Which made Justin Trudeau a perfect match as Prime Minister but pushed the country in exactly the wrong direction.) We want all the social programs we brag so much about, but we don’t want to pay the taxes to support them. We want to swing a big hammer in world politics but we aren’t willing to invest in the military to back it up.
And now Britian has troubles of her own, United States is having a tantrum about its version of entitlement, Russia is looking longingly at the resources of our North, climate change is looming and suddenly we have to stand up for ourselves.
The Military
Donald Trump is rarely right, but one point is clear. Canada needs to contribute more to her own defence. Our Navy’s gross tonnage is in the same ballpark as British Columbia’s Ferry System. Canadian Navy has eight thousand members, BC Ferries employs five thousand. B.C has twenty-five thousand kilometres of coastline. Canada has ten times that. As far as I can figure out, the National Shipbuilding Strategy was started fifteen years ago, Work began ten years ago, and so far, it has launched…one ship.
And the Air Force? It has taken ten years to get a contract signed to replace our jets, and now we’re thinking of cancelling it for political reasons (which I agree would be appropriate, but still. When can we get serious, folks?)
First Past the Post Policy Swings
As usual, our election system has put one party in power for just long enough to get some momentum up and then switched it to an opposing party that starts the process all over again. If we had a system where government representation was proportional to the wishes of the voters, this wouldn’t happen.
Diplomacy
Canada has done well in the past with our peace-keeping forces and our good reputation. We need to bolster our contributions towards international peace efforts. What goes around comes around, and as a small country, we need all the peace we can create.
The Bottom Line
Canada needs to stand up on its own two feet and carry its own share of the democratic load, or we’re going to lose our democracy and maybe even our sovereignty. And on an individual and corporate level, Canadians must stop clinging to their short-term self-interest and look to the future. And yes, Oil Industry, I’m talking about the long-term future, not your bottom line at the next shareholders’ meeting. Trump’s effect will last a couple of years or less until it begins to fade. Ten years from now the pain we’re feeling will be overshadowed by the cascading effects of the climate.
In ten years, we could have a foreign policy based on a solid military and diplomatic footing, not on the ability of our Prime Minister to schmooze with other heads of state. We could have an economy based on the advancement of alternate power sources, not coal and oil. We could even have a healthy social services sector, where the load of poor organization and lack of funds isn’t dumped on the practitioners and the patients.
And we could have a social system where the pain of economic swings doesn’t end up dumped on the heads of the working poor.