Happy Canada Day

It's Canada Day and so apropos the title of this blog, I should write a post.   But not a rant.

What of Canada in 2011?  I am more optimistic than I have been in the past.  We are a pretty good place in the world to live when one considers the alternatives.    We are repeatedly rated among the top countries in quality of life indices.   Let’s avoid the sin of hubris though, and the pull of inertia.   Thankfully the elites no longer hold the sway they once did.  The information and communications revolutions founded on IT and education have seen to that. We are no longer dominated by Quebec and Ontario politically and economically. There are significant economic, cultural and political cleavages, but nothing like what one sees in places like Greece, France or Libya.  Unlike Thailand, there is no looming civil war.   Unlike Japan, our population is stable and our economy is strong.   We do not face the complicated and entrenched mess of the United States.  It is peaceful here, clean and convenient.  Most Canadians don't need to fear getting sick.  Our health care system does a decent job for most.  There is lots of land.  People can largely live as they wish, whether as conformists or eccentrics.

Significant challenges remain, but better to face these from a position of strength than weakness.   Despite our low inflation rate, the cost of living is rising faster than family incomes.   Maintaining our quality of life is not a given.  Remember Argentina.    I sometimes wonder if my generation will live as well as my parents’ generation.  Many things remain skewed.  Our universities are producing too many lawyers and not enough engineers.  We need people who know how to make, fix and improve things, not how to complicate life in order to further their own ends.  We need to become more energy efficient as energy costs will continue to rise.  It is also a good thing to mitigate pollution and global warming.  We need to fix our democracy in order to engage the public and reflect public opinion in forming and applying public policy.     We need to apply the latest ideas and intelligence to the smooth and equitable functioning of this polity called Canada.

This is a country of tremendous potential.   This is a country of tremendous goodwill founded on good people (recent riots notwithstanding).     This is a country of sound institutions that can be ‘tweaked’.    It has been suggested that we should be a model for other countries.     Some people complain a great deal, but remember our history.   After 500 years of Western colonization and nation-building we have reached this point.   How have other countries fared in that time?     If we had gone in other directions, followed other paths we might be as poor and strife-ridden as other places.   We did not.   We should not reject our history as we move forward.   We can celebrate it.   That is part of who we are.    Continuity is important.    As we celebrate this day, have an eye to the present, but also the past and the future.     Happy Canada Day!