Six Birthday Wishes For Canada

Canadians have been saying sorry for too long. It's time to get over it.

In 1904, Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier said, “…it is Canada that shall fill the 20th century.” And many Canadians have been apologizing ever since.

They apologized for the sheer brazenness of such a statement in the first place, and then as the century rolled along apologized that the U.S. seemed to outrun us on this continent; that in Europe, Britain, France, and Germany seemed to hold their historic pre-eminence despite two terrible wars; and that the USSR reared up mightily. They apologized that first Montreal and then Toronto wasn’t New York. They apologized that we didn’t warrant major league sports status, until we got it, then apologized that we weren’t the Yankees, Lakers, or Green Bay Packers.

Well, at 143 years old, it is time we got over it.

After all, maybe Canada did fill the 20th century, in a sound and enduring way.

I would argue that over the course of the 20th century our mothers and fathers built an enviable nation combining health, wealth, safety and security, freedom, education, and diversity better than almost any country on earth. Not a perfect country, but good enough to put us among the lucky few in the history of human endeavour.

Canadians built Canada, it didn’t just happen by itself. Some of it was built by private effort through the creation of communities, culture, companies, and their attendant institutions and organizations. Some was built by families. And much of it was built by collective action through our governments.

Laurier’s government itself was responsible for populating the West through innovative policy. Subsequent governments developed programs during and after the Great Depression to help farmers and the unemployed. They built housing and created education supports after the Second World War to provide a transition to the post-war economy for soldiers and war workers. They developed income support programs after the middle of the century to insulate people from the ravages of economic cycles. They expanded the education system in the ’60s and ’70s to prepare Canada for the knowledge economy. They instituted an immigration system based on human capital to both diversify the population and bring in the brightest and the best.

Governments created a legal system which both defended our values and allowed them to develop in response to changing communities. The federal government enacted the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which expanded the liberty of Canadians. Governments left office when they were defeated, and didn’t insist they’d won elections they lost. Importantly, they instituted fair elections which minimized fraud and manipulation.

There is much work left to be done in Canada. We have been unable to build a consensus on the place of our aboriginal communities. People with disabilities find it difficult to live dignified and prosperous lives. The ambitions of many of our youth are thwarted by lack of opportunity. We waste energy and abuse the environment. Our business community lags in productivity and innovation, and in the provision of capital to enterprise.

But around all of those shortcomings there is discourse and activity, and the hope for resolution. We are a country that has faced and solved difficult problems over seven decades.

On our 143rd birthday there is much for Canadians to celebrate, and much remaining to be done. But when we take together our collective accomplishments and compare them to those of other countries we have reasons to be proud of Canada. It is time to stop apologizing.