Canada is Not for Sale

For Prince Rupert, the U.S. trade war threatens to take a toll on our city’s economy, an economy based in trading, port industries, fishing, forestry, energy, other resources, and tourism. Like much of the country, Prince Rupert relies on a trading-based economy.

Worse, the American government is literally saying, through its Commander in Chief, that America would like to annex Canada now, if not by military force, then through economic might. America is telling us why it’s attacking our economy, and that’s because America wants to take over Canada.

Given the threat that even talk of annexation poses to our way of life, the only possible good that can come from this trade war is if it ends up helping Canadians realize how much we need our independence and freedom.

Our country is worth defending. Our way of life is worth protecting. Our economic strength matters to us all. And the Canadian system of parliamentary democracy, universal human rights, pluralism, and federalism is good for Canadians. We want to keep that, something that too many Canadians seem to have forgotten lately.

Having our country’s independence and freedom threatened by its powerful neighbour to the south shows us how much sovereignty matters, providing Canadians with an urgent reminder to do what’s required to sustain and secure our country’s democratic institutions.

These and other democratic institutions provide our public schools, universal health care programs, police and military forces, judicial systems, public infrastructure, health and safety regulations, local governments, and many other tax-supported services and public programs.

We need sovereignty, not only as a matter of national pride but also to sustain our way of life. We cannot be free and independent absent Canadian democracy.

A Warning Shot for Canada

The current trade war is therefore a warning shot. With this warning, Canadians should double down, rebuild our economy, strengthen our democracy, and unite as a country. It’s time to make our country stronger and to make our government work better for ourselves.

Beyond love of country, national sovereignty is about who controls the government and how this control is used. The American trade war against Canada is also a reminder that national sovereignty is more about real outcomes than it is about imagined identities. 

Our interests, as Canadians, are served when our country is sovereign, when our democracy is strong, and when government works to help us meet our economic, political, cultural, and security needs. We need sovereignty because of the real benefits that this can provide for us.

Protecting Canada requires action on several fronts. First, we must strengthen our economy. Going forward, productively, growth, investment, skill-development, and getting serious about economic prosperity should be at the top of the list at every level of government in Canada.

We must diversify our economy. And we must improve economic outputs, not for the sake of growth for growth’s sake, but instead for the sake of building and sustaining communities that meet our needs.

Turning off the deficit spending tap, for operating expenses, and getting control over future debt service payments would also help strengthen our economy, especially if we’re serious about keeping inflation low.

Second, we must strengthen our democracy. To do this, government must deliver in order to rebuild trust. It’s time to get serious about affordability, economic security, filling skills shortages, growing our economy from within, and solving the health care and housing shortages.

We should therefore celebrate, strengthen, and embolden our system of parliamentary democracy, not because of ideals but because of the material benefits that democracy provides for ordinary people like ourselves.

Democracy Is Worth Defending

Beyond rebuilding trust by delivering what people need from the government, we must also drill down deeper to solve some other fundamental threats to our democracy. This starts with education and literacy. A sea change is needed across the country to deliver quality education for all students.

Public schools should focus more on teaching the basics of numeracy, literacy, science, and Canadian institutions and history. The role of education to prepare citizens to lead a united country should be paramount to protecting our democracy.

Beyond reinvesting in public education, Canada should also push back against all forms of foreign influence over our country’s affairs, and this includes stopping misinformation and political meddling that’s stemming from our neighbour to the south. A free and independent country defends the truth, educates its citizens, and builds cultural institutions that will unite a society rather than divide it.

Canada is not alone in the challenges its democratic institutions face, as effective democratic governance is in decline all over the world. Citizens throughout the world are losing trust in the ability of democracy to meet the needs of the moment.

Faced with these challenges, rather than tear down democracy, we must rebuild it. Our health care requires that we do this. Our jobs depend on it And our way of life is protected by the extent to which Canadian democracy is defended.

Through democratic systems at all levels of government, recognition of Aboriginal titles across territories, respect for treaties and agreements within Canada, and our federal parliamentary democracy, we self-govern as Canadians. It’s our country. And therefore it’s our job to make it work, for all of us.

By rebuilding democracy, celebrating Canada, and investing in our independence, freedom, and prosperity, we can not only push back against American attacks on our economy but we can also turn this American trade war into an exercise to build back our country.

I Like How Canada Self-Governs

Despite the challenges we face now, I like how Canada self-governs. That’s why, after immigrating to Canada from the United States in 2007, my husband and I made Canada our permanent home. It’s also why I’ve stayed in Canada since becoming a citizen in 2014.

At first, I moved to Canada because I opposed the torture of Iraqi prisoners in the aftermath of 9/11. What brought me to Canada was opposition to American torture; what keeps me here is how we self-govern, or Canada’s entire way of coming together as a country.

What I especially like is that our country’s grand vision is simply to “make it work” — to make democracy work in practice, not merely through slogans and ideologies, but in order to solve problems, to make life better for the community, to be at peace with each other, and to realize the benefits that good government can provide, including the benefit of economic security for all.

There is also hope in the promise of democracy, hope that through social cooperation, communities coming together, and hard work and constant improvement our system of government will deliver on the promise of equal opportunity, equal voice, and equal treatment of all. Preserving this hope is the work of engaged citizens, working at every level of a society.