Canada: a country calling out for a national vision
TORONTO – Heaven have mercy on those who would enter political life at a federal level. Canadians, almost by definition, are a difficult – at the best of times- collection of people to guide. My grandfather, God rest his soul, used to say they “want it hot or cold” at the same time! Former Federal Minister, Premier and founder of the Bloc Quebecois, Lucien Bouchard once famously said “Canada is not a real country”. Another former colleague, later Minister, felt that our distinguishing characteristic is that “we are not American”. I disagreed with both.
One thing for certain is that it is a country in population freefall. Deaths are surpassing births (click on the Statistics Canada site – from which attached map, below, is derived – for a minute-by-minute change: here). The most significant factor, from my perspective, driving the “growth of this vast territory north of the 49Th parallel was the vision by early prime ministers to create a unified country capable of developing its immense natural resources for a population able to compete internationally independently of the USA and Britain.
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the second “big name” prime Minister after the Confederation of 1867 envisioned a country for which the world might say “the twentieth century is Canada’s century”. He structured a demographic policy (one hundred and twenty years ago) to ensure it would have a population of one hundred million develop its potential and maintain market sustainability. By the time I had the privilege of being appointed Minister of Immigration (one hundred years later), I was able to say that “we are only 70 million short of the mark”.
People (whether in numbers, consumption habits, evolution of social programs or cultural practices) depend on their ability to “grow themselves” to sustain their quality of life. No one has a monopoly on competencies and honing of skill sets. But…
On the weekend, I had occasion to stop at the corner of Dufferin St and Lawrence Ave (Central north Toronto). The rapidly rising costs in gasoline prices by yet another 5% (yesterday) and news everywhere about dropping births (and birth rates) contrasted starkly with “protesters” outside a church saying the unthinkable uncomfortable truths: look to a different solution than the one sought.
