Two decades ago, I wrote: “Sometime, not too long ago, while no one was watching, Canada became the world’s most successful country.”
The culture of accommodation that we evolved more than a century and a half ago as a way for the French and English populations to co-exist had proved to be ideally suited, I believed, to bringing millions of people from all parts of the world to this country, where they lived, worked and played together in harmony.
“Canadians have used politeness to foment a social revolution,” I said. “And from that revolution, our Canada has emerged – young, creative, polyglot, open-minded, forward-looking, fabulous.”
I’m not sure that’s still true.
We are a less-accommodating country within a less-accommodating world. We confront internal and external challenges that place our future at risk.
The Canada I celebrated two decades ago is still around. But it’s getting harder to find by the day.
In 1991, according to the Angus Reid Institute, 65 per cent of those polled agreed with the statement, “I have a deep emotional attachment to Canada. I love the country and what it stands for.” In 2016, almost as many Canadians – 62 per cent – felt the same way.
But when Angus Reid asked Canadians in 2024, only 49 per cent expressed that commitment to country. Even more dramatically, the number of people who said they felt “very proud” to be Canadian had dropped to a paltry 34 per cent today from 78 per cent in 1985.
(Angus Reid conducted an online survey of 4,004 adults from Nov. 29 to Dec. 5. The comparable margin of error is plus or minus 1.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.)
The economic circumstances of the country aren’t worse than in the past. Canada in 1985 was recovering from a crippling recession. Inflation sat at 4 per cent, while the bank rate and unemployment hovered around 10 per cent. All those numbers are much better today.
The year we voted against democracy
In 1991, Canada was gripped by a national-unity crisis: the Meech Lake Accord had failed the year before, and the Charlottetown Accord would fail the year after.
The Liberal and Progressive Conservative parties in the 1980s were deeply polarized over the issue of free trade with the United States. Western alienation was so severe that the populist-protest Reform Party sent 52 MPs to Parliament in the 1993 federal election.
So why are Canadians experiencing a crisis of faith now that they did not feel then?
Yes, the COVID-19 pandemic inflicted trauma on Canadians. Yes, social media encourages polarization of attitudes that is reflected in our politics. But there is more to it than that.
Canada’s aging society has placed a serious burden on the young. Many of them lack income security and can’t afford to buy or even rent their own place. They’re angry, and who can blame them?
For more than three decades, the public health care system has been flashing red, but no one had the will or means to address emerging shortages. Today, there aren’t enough doctors, nurses, support workers, acute-care beds, long-term-care beds – you name it.
The federal Liberal government sought to address labour shortages and increase the population by bringing in more permanent residents, temporary foreign workers and students. But the system spiralled out of control, undermining public support for open immigration.
Western anger at an intrusive federal government dominated by central Canadian political elites is even greater today than it was thirty and forty years ago. Governments in Alberta and Saskatchewan speak openly of sovereignty for their provinces within Confederation. Meanwhile, the separatist Parti Québécois is favoured, according to polls, to win the next Quebec election.
Multicultural tolerance has eroded. Islamic worshipers and families have been the target of deadly violence, while hate crimes against Jews have skyrocketed. Foreign governments foment division within various communities and within Canadian society.
We have surrendered some of our most precious public spaces – sidewalks and parks and neighbourhoods – to troubled people struggling with homelessness and dependence.
The Western alliance in which Canada is imbedded appears to be in decline. Russia has brazenly invaded Ukraine, China rattles its formidable sabres and the United States, this country’s closest ally, is acting more like an antagonist, as president-elect Donald Trump threatens Canada with crippling tariffs and derisively refers to us as a 51st state.
Finally, efforts to confront systemic discrimination against women, against sexual and gender minorities, against racial minorities and Indigenous peoples, against those with physical and mental challenges have devolved into screeds that question the very legitimacy of Canada itself, condemning the country as a society of racist, oppressive colonizers.
If Canada is to endure, we need to repair what is broken. We need to reknit the tattered social safety net within a fiscally sound framework. We need to make housing available and affordable. We need to restore confidence in a soundly conceived and administered immigration system. To lessen regional and provincial alienation, Ottawa needs to become less intrusive. We need to live up to our responsibilities in foreign affairs and defence.
And we need to give ourselves a good shake. The Canada we used to love so much is still here. We have the same bounteous resources we had before; our cities remain vibrant and diverse; we still welcome newcomers from around the world.
To steal from Winston Churchill, Canada is the least successful country on Earth, except for all the others. That was true two decades ago. It’s true today.