Maple Nationalism

A Country That Stops Telling Its Own Stories Eventually Forgets Who It Is
Canadian sovereignty is usually discussed in terms of borders, armies and trade. There is another form of sovereignty that is easier to overlook. Cultural sovereignty. Ask yourself a simple question. Who tells Canadians what Canada is? Increasingly, the answer is determined by global entertainment companies, streaming services, social-media platforms and algorithms. A teenager in Calgary, Halifax or Toronto can consume hours of entertainment without encountering a Canadian story, Canadian historical event, Canadian musician, Canadian landscape or even a Canadian accent. That is an extraordinary change. For most of human history,... Read more...
National Resilience: Patriotism Means Being Useful When Things Go Wrong
Patriotism is easy when everything is functioning. The electricity works. Grocery stores are full. Roads are open. Emergency services arrive quickly. Communications networks connect instantly. Water comes out of the tap. Under those conditions, national life becomes nearly invisible. You notice the systems that hold a country together only when they begin to fail. Canada has experienced enough wildfires, floods, ice storms, hurricanes and other emergencies to understand that resilience cannot be left entirely to professionals. Governments and emergency services carry the primary responsibility for large-scale response, but communities recover... Read more...
We Cannot Talk About National Unity While Operating Like Thirteen Separate Economies
There is something strange about Canadian economic nationalism. We frequently talk about protecting Canadian businesses from foreign competition while making it unnecessarily difficult for Canadian businesses to operate inside Canada. For decades, companies and workers have encountered different provincial standards, licensing systems and regulatory requirements as they cross provincial boundaries. Canada is a federation, and provinces have legitimate areas of jurisdiction. But federalism should not become economic fragmentation. Goods and services worth more than $500 billion move between Canadian provinces and territories each year. The federal government estimates internal trade... Read more...
Hockey, Curling and the Strange Importance of Cheering for the Same Team
It is easy to dismiss sports as entertainment. People chase a puck, throw rocks down a sheet of ice, race on skis or skates, kick a ball across a field and then everyone goes home. Yet nations continually invest enormous emotional energy in sporting events because something more is happening. For a few hours, millions of people who disagree about almost everything else agree about who “we” are. That word matters. When Canadians watch an Olympic final, the athlete on the screen may come from Quebec, Alberta, Ontario, Nunavut or... Read more...
Being Pro-Canadian Does Not Require Being Anti-American
(Funny coming from us given some of our designs we know) Canada has perhaps the strangest relationship with national identity of any major country. We define ourselves beside the world’s most powerful nation. The United States is our largest neighbour, one of our most important trading partners, our military ally and a country with which millions of Canadians have personal connections. American culture flows across the border constantly. Canadians watch American television. Listen to American music. Follow American politics. Work for American companies. Visit American cities. Buy American products. Cheer... Read more...
Canada Should Not Be Satisfied With Inventing Things Other Countries Own
Canada has never lacked intelligent people. Canadian universities conduct important research. Canadian scientists contribute to discoveries recognized around the world. Canadian engineers, software developers, medical researchers and entrepreneurs regularly create technologies with global potential. The frustrating part of the story often comes afterward. A Canadian idea becomes a Canadian startup. The startup grows. Foreign capital arrives. Intellectual property moves. The company is purchased. Senior management shifts elsewhere. Production takes place somewhere else, and Canada celebrates having participated in the beginning of a value chain whose largest economic rewards eventually accrue... Read more...
Energy Independence Is Canadian Independence
Canada is fortunate in a way that many countries would consider almost unimaginable. We possess enormous hydroelectric resources. We are a major oil and natural-gas producer. We have world-class uranium deposits and decades of nuclear expertise. We possess significant reserves of critical minerals required for advanced manufacturing, electricity systems, defence technologies and the emerging energy economy. We also have wind, solar and other renewable resources spread across an enormous territory. Few countries have such a broad energy hand to play. Canadian nationalism should ask why we sometimes behave as though... Read more...
Canadians Need to Know Canadian History, Including the Parts That Make Us Uncomfortable
It is difficult to feel attached to a country you do not know. Yet Canadian history is often treated as something to be endured during school rather than one of the most useful tools for understanding the country we live in. Many Canadians can tell you more about American presidents, American wars and American political history than they can about the events that created their own institutions, borders and national identity. That is partly understandable. American media reaches Canadians every day, and the major events of American history have been... Read more...
Patriotism Is Something You Do
Canadians tend to be understated about patriotism. We are not generally a country of giant flag displays on every street corner. We often express national pride through humour. Through hockey. Through complaining about the weather. Through arguing about whose winter is worse. Through maple syrup, cottages, lakes, mountains, coastlines and the almost compulsory Canadian need to tell foreigners that yes, Canada really is that big. There is something charming about that modesty. But patriotism cannot survive entirely as a collection of jokes and symbols. Eventually it has to become behaviour.... Read more...
A Country Worth Having Is a Country Worth Defending
Canada has benefited from an unusually fortunate geography. We are surrounded by three oceans and share our only land border with a long-standing ally. We have not experienced war on our own territory in the manner endured by many countries, and generations of Canadians have grown up without seriously imagining an invading army crossing the border or missiles striking Canadian cities. That peace is something to be grateful for. It is not something to assume will maintain itself forever. For decades, defence could easily feel remote from everyday Canadian life.... Read more...
Nation-Building Is More Than a Political Slogan: Canada Needs to Build Things Again
For much of Canadian history, nation-building was something people could physically see. Railways crossed enormous stretches of wilderness. Ports connected the interior of the country to international markets. Hydroelectric projects powered growing cities and industries. Highways brought communities closer together, airports connected regions that had once been separated by days of travel, and telecommunications networks gradually made one of the world’s largest countries feel smaller. These projects were rarely simple, inexpensive or universally popular, but together they helped transform a collection of distant regions into a functioning national economy. Canada... Read more...
The Arctic Is Canada, and Sovereignty Requires More Than a Map
Look at a map of Canada and one fact becomes impossible to miss. We are an Arctic country. The North represents an enormous portion of Canadian territory, yet many Canadians living near the southern border rarely think about it. That needs to change. The Arctic is becoming increasingly important economically, environmentally and strategically. Governments are paying greater attention to northern shipping routes, minerals, military capabilities and surveillance. Russia remains a major Arctic military power, while China has demonstrated growing strategic interest in the region. Canada’s Arctic cannot therefore remain something... Read more...
One of the Best Ways to Become More Canadian Is to See More of Canada
Canada is enormous enough that citizens can live their entire lives inside one small corner of it. Someone growing up in the Greater Toronto Area can reach adulthood without ever seeing the Prairies, the Atlantic coast or northern Canada. A Vancouver resident may know Seattle better than Saskatchewan. An Albertan may have travelled repeatedly to the United States or Mexico without ever visiting Quebec City. Someone in Halifax can reasonably find Europe easier to reach than parts of western Canada. Geography makes this understandable. But it creates a national problem.... Read more...
Buying Canadian Is About More Than a Maple Leaf on the Package
“Buy Canadian” can sound like a marketing slogan. It shouldn’t. Every purchase is tiny. No single grocery item, sweatshirt, bottle of maple syrup, piece of furniture or manufactured component is going to determine the future of the Canadian economy. Millions of purchases, however, create industries. They create jobs. They create supply chains. They determine where investment goes. And eventually they determine which capabilities a country still possesses. That is why economic nationalism deserves to be taken seriously. Canada spent decades building one of the most deeply integrated trading relationships in... Read more...
Why Canadian Nationalism Matters More Than It Has in Decades
We Love This Country and You Should Too. Maple Nationalism examines issues impacting Canadian Nationalism and explores ways of strengthening our great country. For a long time, Canadians had the luxury of taking Canada for granted. We could assume that our largest trading partner would remain predictable. We could assume that deep economic integration with the United States would always be an advantage. We could assume that Canadian sovereignty was something discussed in history books and constitutional law classes rather than something that might become part of an everyday political... Read more...