Introduction

Between Trump and climate change, things look bad. Is there a  path forward that does not lead to peril for Canada?  Tune in to “Canada Re-Imagined: After Trump” for an idealists’ guide to the future.

Ten episodes will follower the next two weeks.

Transcript

Introduction: A New National Dream

2025. 

My name is Patrick Esmonde-White. 

I am a 77-year-old Canadian who has spent a lifetime trying to understand politics. Whatever I have learned, nothingprepared me for Trump, or for what is happening in Canada and around the world. I do however have ideas about how to fix things in Canada during the Trump years, setting us up for the decades after Trump.  There will be a lot of work ahead.

For lack of a better label, I am progressive. But I am not dogmatic. The one issue where there is no room to waffle is climate change. On most issues my goals are mainstream: a healthy economy, national security, rule by law, independence.

Most of our political parties grasp the importance of climate. But I have a problem. They chicken out on climate action and other issues, waiting for the public to lead. They stay in their comfort zones. They waste time when we need to fix things.

Let me start with some context … my perspective

My generation is leaving behind a real mess for Canada.  True, most of the world is even worse off. Canada is without doubt one of the best countries on earth. But the facts are clear. The world, to put it mildly, is in peril. Canada is in peril. Trump is making it worse.

My grandparents went through the “War to End All Wars”, and a flu pandemic that killed over 50 million people. My parents lived through the Great Depression and a World War. From all those horrors came a time of hope. Organizations like the United Nations were set up, along with agreements to create a more stable global economy. NATO created a deterrence from Russian aggression. China, hidden behind the Bamboo Curtain, had a chance to build anew. The hope of countries in the western alliance was that over time even communist states would see the advantages of democracy, human rights and an open economy.

My post-war generation inherited opportunity, and we lived through the Pax Americana. On the plus side, there was no nuclear war. On the other, our generation has left behind a host of unresolved and even unacknowledged problems. Over my lifetime, our leaders did not deal with many of the big issues. 

We fought the Cold War, and overlooked atrocities. We wanted industry, but minimised pollution. We encouraged diversity, and created resentment. We honoured wealth, and saw greed bring the entire economy to the brink of collapse. 

It has been one crisis after another. Now, younger generations are left deal with the debris: the chaos of Trump, the drumbeat of war, climate crisis, economic inequality and democracy on the run. It is all very frightening. 

An optimist sees opportunity in crisis. Most of our political leaders are decent, intelligent, and honest. Canada is a country with wonderful values. We generally get good government, but seldom great government. Good, under the circumstances, is not good enough. It is time fpor Canada to re-imagine the future, and to re-invent democracy. 

As an optimist, I still see hope. To turn hope into success, I will argue that Canada must adopt radically different policies in several key areas. Some of the political solutions I propose will be heresy, such as why we need Constitutional renovation, or why the time may be right for Québec sovereignty. The ideas I will present will be rooted in fact and science, but put together in a different way.  

The Trump era requires Canada take a fresh look at our problems, and have an open-minded willingness to consider all the alternatives. He forces us out of our comfort zone.  In the immediate future, Canada’s leaders will be playing political wack-a-mole with tariffs and other threats. They will deal with events as best they can with integrity and patriotism. The joker in the deck is possibility that Trump will actually try to take Canada by force.

In the meantime, there will be a 2025 federal election. The options do not inspire me. I yearn for more. I want bolder ideas. They seem lacking.

The Poilievre Conservatives demand lower taxes and de-regulation. This has gut appeal, since everybody hates taxes and red tape. There is ample proof it simply does not work. Conservative thinking is a century behind the times. Like Trump, the Poilievre rhetoric is nasty and divisive.

The Carney Liberals represent the “Laurentian Elite”. They offer good intentions, good government, and professional management. What they do not offer is new ideas. They remain the party of Pierre Trudeau, half a century behind the times.

The Singh NDP is a party of values without vision. They have stumbled from prairie populism to union solidarity to a coalition of the disenfranchised, and nothing has worked. It is a party lost in bewilderness.

The Green Party is a home for Conservatives who like trees.  

In Québec the political parties are truly different. There, nationalism is thriving. Only when Québec is in need of help do they suddenly become Canadian. Trump has achieved a miracle: Québec now loves Canada.

It is said that an election is not the time to talk about issues. But then, there never is a right time. Party platforms are set in concrete long before a campaign. 

The upcoming Canadian election will be all about who can best lead Canada during the Trump years. My faint hope is that during the campaign, voters will push for bolder solutions. If climate change is real, for example, gas pipelines are not the answer. Hydrogen pipelines: that is another story. 

Voters will inevitably choose what seems to be the best option. Then, events will unfold. It is at that point that new ideas may be allowed to creep into the conversation, especially if there is a majority government.

The mistake Canada is likely to make is to get so caught up in the battle that we cannot plan against the danger that follows. We could go from the frying pan into the fire.

After Trump, a multitude of issues must be dealt with for Canada and the world to thrive. What Canada Re-Imagined tries to offer is a plan for a half century beyond this crisis.

A reasonable reader or listener might ask what gives me, an unknown, the gall to offer solutions? My answer is that I have collected ideas and insights for decades. My modest career in politics, journalism, international assistance, and government has allowed me to meet with and learn from many incredible people. I have watched as brilliant ideas, like seeds, fell on stony soil and failed to grow. I have collected the seeds of their ideas, and hope to plant them anew.

Much of what I will propose reflects my experience of recent history. This history informs not just the present, but also where the future may take Canada.   

I first became involved in politics writing constituency correspondence for Pierre Trudeau in 1966. I was seventeen, a student at Carleton University. When Trudeau entered the 1968 Liberal leadership race, I volunteered, ending up as Assistant Campaign Manager. The Liberal convention took place the same weekend that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Washington burned, while Trudeau won by the narrowest of margins. 

In 1970, after working in the Prime Minister’s Office, I was hired to head up a national youth hostel Task Force. It was a summer of youth unemployment, and tens of thousands of students hitchhiked across Canada. The hostel organizers tried to create a new organization to represent youth. We failed, sabotaged by a criminal subversion campaign orchestrated by a very nasty bureaucrat. We were very naïve.

It was a horrible autumn. The Québec crisis erupted. Trudeau imposed the War Measures Act. The youth movement, such as it was, ended at the Battle of Jericho Beach when police routed protesters at the Vancouver youth hostel.  

Throughout all this, Québec was the center of attention. Pierre Trudeau was the guy who could solve the Québec question. Arguably, he kept Canada intact. But it came at a price. Québec has held two divisive referendums. Official bilingualism is enshrined in Canada, except in Québec. There, the language police enforce French.  It was not what Trudeau promised, and western Canada has not forgotten.

Some change has occurred around the edges. The Constitution was upgraded to acknowledge the First Nations. Canada got a Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Québec got a “notwithstanding clause” that lets them ignore the Charter.  

The basics of the Constitution, even with the new version in 1982, remains unchanged from 1867. On issues like health care, education, poverty, housing, infrastructure, and interprovincial trade, the provinces have the constitutional authority. The provincial princelings jealously guard their right to mismanage essential services. Government dysfunction is built into the Constitution.

For half a century, my generation hunkered down. We worked, paid bills and taxes, and raised families. Some of us pushed for women’s equality, gay rights, racial justice, nuclear safety and environmental awareness. Politicians promised action on poverty, climate, and Indigenous rights.  We got action if necessary, but not necessarily action.  

During this time, the Cold war misadventures played out in every corner of the planet, with slaughter of innocents the only certainty. Evil has no national identity, but re-appears as colonialism, dictatorship, poverty, religious insanity, and a lust for power and money. Even the best of intentions, like free trade, morphed into a globalization that let the rich and powerful became richer and more powerful, while the global poor floundered.   

Canadians, through it all, were smug in the belief that we were, and still are, better than Americans. Canada is like Goldilocks… not too hot, not too cold, always in the middle. Our politicians compromise, avoid extremes, make promises and plans, then deliver delays.

That murky, muddled, middle ground is a luxury Canada can no longer afford. Wars are popping up. Democracy is under assault. The ground is shifting beneath our feet. Donald Trump has won the White House, and Canada is being bullied. “The 51st state”. Canadians actually fear invasion, something unimaginable until Trump. We see aggression from other adversaries in a multi-polar world. We face techno-oligarchs that know no nationality. Our Charter of Rights cannot protect us from abuse through and by social media, or from a future dominated by quantum computing.  Through all this, the climate crisis is the greatest foe to humans and ecosystems. This crisis is a deadly 100% certainty, which loud denial cannot avert.

To cite Shakespeare, “When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.” 

How should Canada defend itself against this battalion of sorrows. Most voters do not seem to grasp the depth of the problems. We are united by opposition to Trump. But this unity may blind us to other dangers. Canadians are cautious, a calm, decent, caring people. Our elections work. Our courts are honest. Corruption is petty. We have a wonderful country. The temptation is to not rock the boat. Unfortunately, the boat is slowly sinking.

Canada is part of an interconnected planet on which there is no hiding. From Trump to climate, China to Indigenous restitution, the list if leaks in the boat is long. Today’s younger generations, through no fault of their own, face a turning point in human history.  They have the repair list that my generation has left behind, unfilled.

To these generations I offer a different ideas to meet the moment. I will argue that for Canada to thrive and survive, we need dramatic change. We require a wealthy economy that can pay for the transition away from fossil fuels. We need money for domestic programs and infrastructure. We must fight the assault on democracy, especially through technology. We must deal with humanitarian crises from around the globe, mass migrations, inevitable wars, and religious extremism.   

Canada must attack all these problems head on. Government must run properly: efficient, cost-effective, and transparent. Democracy must be preserved. Issues must be discussed and resolved, and steps taken to help those who are left behind. Faith and trust in institutions must be restored. This is the real common sense that has no party label. Simplistic slogans and lies, endlessly repeated, do not turn into policy gold. This is a lesson Trump’s supporters will sadly learn.

In areas like immigration and asylum, housing and health care, good government requires a delicate balance. Government is not the problem; bad government can be a problem. When government fails to deliver, citizens can vote, and politicians can respond. Great politicians also have a vision.  That vision is missing.

Great government is hard work. We know the truisms. Right versus wrong is easy; right versus right is hard. Employees have rights. Consumers have rights. Corporations have rights.  Regulations have purpose. Over-regulation undermines purpose. Modern government is complex because so many valid rights and interests compete with each other.  Good government is not easy.

Until recently, both Canada and the United States felt the need for change. The United States chose Donald Trump, who is offering a master class in corruption, ignorance and mismanagement. It is as if he serves Vladimir Putin. 

As the United States falls apart, Canada can learn from the cautionary tale, and profit from the opportunity the American decline presents. Canada is being forced out of the comfort zone. That is not all bad.

Canada must think big. A century and a half ago, political leaders in British North America Canada faced a crisis. They were confronted by a threat from the south, a huge American army hardened by a brutal civil war. The colonies acted in hope, and created Confederation. They laid the foundation for Canada, conveniently ignoring the First Nations. They imagined a National Dream that fit the needs of the colonists of the 19th century.  They built a railway from sea to sea.

Canadians today need a new National Dream, and with it a new Constitution that is right for these times. Done right, Canada can be re-invented, re-invigorated, strengthened like never before.