Canada's Marionette Existence
The world is in rapid flux and a new world order is emerging. Can Canada out grow its Marionette existence?
Only in Canada do we worry about the Chinese influencing our elections when our own politicians abuse the very fundamentals of democracy for holding power and partisan advantage.
Blogatorial
I used to follow Canadian politics with considerable interest until such time as it became icky, this was time better spent else where. It became a B grade soap opera with too many bad actors coming and going, sloganeering and virtue signaling, promises made and rarely kept, weak plots and plastic gestures. And for good measure a nauseating amount of political correctness. The haze in the maze just became more opaque.
As I look out across the land I see many people are having notions similar to my own. People are restive, something just isn’t right but what is it ? We are fully loaded with symptoms but nobody can name the disease, and maybe nobody wants to bother.
Maybe as a country the best existence we can expect is a state of listless ennui.
Canadian philosopher George Grant wrote a little known book 60 years ago called Lament for a Nation. It was a very interesting book as he predicted we were well on our way to be being a colonized country. It turns out he was right. We have become just that, as we spend too much time living our next door neighbor’s existence when we should be living our own. For Grant nationhood requires a “thrust of intention” Our political and economic elites have been content to let the country slide southward into the chilly embrace of a drunken empire that blows up gas lines and a lot of other global vandalism.
Around the same time a smart ass CBC journalist by the name of James M. Minifie wrote a another book called Peacemaker or Powder Monkey. I remember Minifie from the early days of black and white television when we had to make sure our rabbit ear antenna was pointed in the right direction. He was the CBC’s very astute Washington correspondent and kept us in touch with our southern neighbor.
In his book Minifie warned that in the preservation of independence for Canada, “it can’t be intact here and in tatters there. It is as absolute as pregnancy. If a nation is not independent it is dependent and other appellations fit equally well— satellite, fellow-traveler, lackey, as Churchill once called Mussolini”
Then came Mel Hurtig the nationalist stalwart, book seller and publisher. He waged his decades long war on those who betrayed Canada; like Grant and Minifie he went unheard in a captive society.
Then came David Orchard and his heroic Fight for Canada. Even so timorous Brian Mulroney deceived the country signing away our economic sovereignty with the FTA, NAFTA, now USMCA.
In 2008 John Ralston Saul published his epic A Fair Country, Telling truths about Canada.
“Canada’s leaders hate to hear any suggestion that they still suffer from colonial reflexes. They are convinced of their sophisticated worldliness. After all, only a sophisticated, worldly person could understand that the destiny of a smaller country is to have its interests defined by the empire of the day, indeed by outside influences in general.”
—(Saul, John Ralston. A Fair Country (p. 242). Penguin Canada. Kindle Edition.)
His truths are profound and revealing, unfortunately the dye was cast in Grant’s time everything since has been a lament for what could have been.
*****
War is revelation in so many ways, exposing the true identity of nations and what they actually stand for. The present world crisis is a global audit of what countries stand for, the values espoused, willingness to screw their neighbors and penchant for self-destruction. As each chapter of the crisis unfolds—better known as World War III—in all its sordid aspects— the Collective West is scoring badly on the audit as it appears determined to dig its grave, stuck in the 20th century.
Canada is no exception as we run for cover retreating into our parochial colonial enclave denying reality and practicing willful ignorance. Minifie’s choice still beckons us— peace maker or powder monkey? We have definitely opted for powder monkey, servile to our imperialist master.
As Minifie explains in his book powder monkeys were young teenage boys on tall sailing ships who delivered the powder and ammo to the deck guns. They were the lowest rank on the ship and completely expendable given the dangerous work they did.
Minifie exuded confidence Canada could assume an important role in world affairs. Were he around today he would be deeply disappointed.
With the retirement of Pierre Trudeau in 1984 and the advent of Brian Mulroney Canada went through a dramatic change undetected by most. Mulroney was a vindictive Trudeau-hating-neoliberal who sold out the country writing the last chapter of Grants’ prophecy. Trudeau Sr. was our last bonifide prime minister. All those since have been devoted closet neoliberal marionettes with Harper and Son of Trudeau delivering the coup de gras for Canada as a sovereign nation.
Canada’s marionette existence has too many strings attached. We are no longer masters in our are house. We are an echo chamber of our southern neighbor with no voice of our own. Our redundant political marionettes are free to be cocks of walk and dance among the ruins of neoliberalism.
Canada's federal politics are frozen in time by a broken democracy, an archaic electoral system and neoliberalism which marginalizes political democracy. Nothing is going to change soon. The decrepit {Neo}Liberals might very well win again in 2025. They are the designated default party where disenfranchised Canadians dump their votes as federal elections become rote exercises and politicos feather their nests.
Is there hope for the future? Yes, The world is in rapid flux where change comes quickly. If we are willing to make a “thrust of intention” and are open to change a decade or so might see a true north some what strong and free.
For the dissolute Collective West the first step forward is to quit waging war on the Russians and Chinese and accept that we, not they, our own worst enemies— the barbarians are within the gates… and it is us.
As it is, we are well down the road to a boon dock existence on the margins.
Contributing to this situation is the fact that, having the 'dear' friends to the South exerting much too much influence. And good natured as I know Canadians to be...just roll with the punch.