Season 3: Episode 1 - The Third Solitude

1:  The Third Solitude

I’m Patrick Esmonde-White. Welcome to the trailer for Canada Re-imagined, season three: After the Cataclysm. For those new to my podcasts, these are audio essays that run a bit over 20 minutes, all part of a connected story arc.  

2025 is finally over. American democracy is in freefall. The drums of war are pounding. The global economy is tottering. The planet burns. The oceans fill with tears.  After eight decades on this blue planet, I explore glimmers of hope.  Despair is not a plan.

Three years ago, in the first season of Canada Re-imagined, I covered a wide range of issues on Canada’s future.  

One year ago, my second season looked how Canada can survive Donald Trump. Looking back, I believe my crystal ball was fairly accurate.

In this eight episode season of Canada Re-imagined, I will explore the reasons why Prime Minister Carney may be doomed to fail in his nation-building efforts, in spite of his best intentions. I will examine some of the key challenges ahead for Canada. Finally, I will argue that for Canada to survive the post-Trump cataclysm, he, or another leader, will have no alternative but to adopt truly radical change. Constitutional renovation… Indigenous restitution… Quebec sovereignty… and more.

If you enjoy my unconventional perspective on Canadian politics, please share my podcasts. I don’t use social media… life’s too short.  I need your help.  So thanks.

And now: Episode 1…The Third Solitude

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Let me to start with a personal perspective. I became hooked on politics in the mid-1950’s.  Yes, not normal. I have spent the subsequent seven decades observing Canada, wondering how we got to where we are, and where the future lies.  I also got involved.

Before Pierre Trudeau became Justice Minister in 1966, I was hired as his Ottawa assistant. Not many teenage university students had a boss who was as cool, as relatable. He was a generationally different politician. The following year, Canada celebrated the centennial, and the FLQ continued its terror campaign. A political storm was clearly coming.   

Today, another storm is upon us.  Between Trump, climate change, and the arms race, a global crisis is unavoidable.  In my mind, Canada can learn from some of the mistakes made by Pierre Trudeau, and get through this storm.  

Here’s my unconventional perspective.

An early believer, I was the assistant campaign manager on Trudeau’s 1968 leadership campaign. He emerged from a heated race as the guy with an answer to the crisis of the day: Québec separatism. 

Our first job was to win at the convention. Our plan, which has never been revealed, was to plant volunteers in the crowd with instructions to mob our candidate. We created chaos. It worked. Trudeau won by the narrowest of margins, and the following day Trudeaumania went viral beyond our wildest dreams. 

Trudeau’s solution to Québec turned out to be simple: stop the terror or else; we will pay handsomely; and you stay in Canada. Alberta unwittingly picked up the tab. 

The War Measures Act, which I opposed, defeated the FLQ. Bilingualism was quickly made law. Transfer payments flowed through Ottawa. Yet even so, separatists almost won a referendum.  

Trudeau’s big move was the 1982 Constitution Act. To appease Québec, he included a “notwithstanding” clause that allowed provinces to ignore anything they dislike. Québec was never satisfied. A second referendum soon followed, and also failed. Yet over the years, the sovereignty dream has not died. It is now coming out of hibernation.

From my perspective, with hindsight, Trudeau’s strategy had three flaws. He underestimated the First Nations. He alienated the west. And he did not update federal-provincial responsibilities.&amp

Transcript

I’m Patrick Esmonde-White. Welcome to the trailer for Canada Re-imagined, season three: After the Cataclysm. For those new to my podcasts, these are audio essays that run a bit over 20 minutes, all part of a connected story arc.  

2025 is finally over. American democracy is in freefall. The drums of war are pounding. The global economy is tottering. The planet burns. The oceans fill with tears.  After eight decades on this blue planet, I explore glimmers of hope.  Despair is not a plan.

Three years ago, in the first season of Canada Re-imagined, I covered a wide range of issues on Canada’s future.  

One year ago, my second season looked how Canada can survive Donald Trump. Looking back, I believe my crystal ball was fairly accurate.

In this eight episode season of Canada Re-imagined, I will explore the reasons why Prime Minister Carney may be doomed to fail in his nation-building efforts, in spite of his best intentions. I will examine some of the key challenges ahead for Canada. Finally, I will argue that for Canada to survive the post-Trump cataclysm, he, or another leader, will have no alternative but to adopt truly radical change. Constitutional renovation… Indigenous restitution… Quebec sovereignty… and more.

If you enjoy my unconventional perspective on Canadian politics, please share my podcasts. I don’t use social media… life’s too short.  I need your help.  So thanks.

And now: Episode 1…The Third Solitude

---

Let me to start with a personal perspective. I became hooked on politics in the mid-1950’s.  Yes, not normal. I have spent the subsequent seven decades observing Canada, wondering how we got to where we are, and where the future lies.  I also got involved.

Before Pierre Trudeau became Justice Minister in 1966, I was hired as his Ottawa assistant. Not many teenage university students had a boss who was as cool, as relatable. He was a generationally different politician. The following year, Canada celebrated the centennial, and the FLQ continued its terror campaign. A political storm was clearly coming.   

Today, another storm is upon us.  Between Trump, climate change, and the arms race, a global crisis is unavoidable.  In my mind, Canada can learn from some of the mistakes made by Pierre Trudeau, and get through this storm.  

Here’s my unconventional perspective.

An early believer, I was the assistant campaign manager on Trudeau’s 1968 leadership campaign. He emerged from a heated race as the guy with an answer to the crisis of the day: Québec separatism. 

Our first job was to win at the convention. Our plan, which has never been revealed, was to plant volunteers in the crowd with instructions to mob our candidate. We created chaos. It worked. Trudeau won by the narrowest of margins, and the following day Trudeaumania went viral beyond our wildest dreams. 

Trudeau’s solution to Québec turned out to be simple: stop the terror or else; we will pay handsomely; and you stay in Canada. Alberta unwittingly picked up the tab. 

The War Measures Act, which I opposed, defeated the FLQ. Bilingualism was quickly made law. Transfer payments flowed through Ottawa. Yet even so, separatists almost won a referendum.  

Trudeau’s big move was the 1982 Constitution Act. To appease Québec, he included a “notwithstanding” clause that allowed provinces to ignore anything they dislike. Québec was never satisfied. A second referendum soon followed, and also failed. Yet over the years, the sovereignty dream has not died. It is now coming out of hibernation.

From my perspective, with hindsight, Trudeau’s strategy had three flaws. He underestimated the First Nations. He alienated the west. And he did not update federal-provincial responsibilities.  These flaws allowed the Constitution to pass.

The first flaw was to underestimate the legal status of Canada’s First Nations. Canada was then thought of as “two solitudes”: English and French. Trudeau loved the land, but never really considered the legal rights of the third solitude, the First Nations.

In 1968, he moved to assimilate Indigenous cultures into the white cultures. He failed. By 1982, he had evolved his thinking, and the Constitution Act acknowledged the “existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada”. The implication of this acknowledgement became clear when a single Indigenous leader, Elijah Harper, was able to sink the Meech Lake Accord for constitutional change.  Many Canadians today still do not grasp this reality.

Today, two million Indigenous and Métis make up 5% of Canada’s population. They speak a dozen distinct languages, all more endangered than French. Some have made political gains. A few tribes got rich. Some victims got compensation for broken promises.  But, from clean water to health care, from housing to substance abuse, the situation is tragic. This Indigenous solitude remains divided, defeated, and eternally frustrated. 

The second flaw in Trudeau’s policies was the alienation of the west. The west complains it is not listened to by Ottawa. Oil provinces resent climate action by easterners. Alberta separatists are even gathering signatures in an effort to hold a referendum. 

Trudeau’s prize policy, bilingualism, is a constant irritant. Three-quarters of Canadians speak English, the global language of diplomacy, science, and industry. Yet many Anglo-Canadians feel unwelcome in government jobs. The public service works overwhelmingly in English, but demands proficiency in a language they will seldom use.  

Québec’s harsh language laws have never ceased to get tighter. It is not just signage. Language police even patrol hospital operating rooms. Québec seems determined to drive the English from the province. Bilingualism was first sold by Trudeau père as the price to keep Canada intact. Unfortunately, the promise of two equal languages has turned into a one-way street.  

The third flaw in the Trudeau strategy was to leave intact a constitutional framework that makes good government almost impossible.  The division of responsibilities rooted in the 1867 BNA Act has never been updated. The world has change dramatically; federal-provincial responsibilities have not.  

This is a particular problem that Mark Carney needs to solve quickly if Canada is to be unified, efficient and effective. The American political crisis is getting worse. The global economy is tottering. From artificial intelligence to climate change to the job prospects of youth, warning signs are everywhere. 

In this “hinge moment” Mr. Carney is banking on good government and nation-building projects to save the day. His success in either endeavour, sadly, will be undermined by the constitution that Pierre Trudeau cemented in place.

Contemporary issues like welfare, health care, education and natural resources are all provincial responsibilities. All these are infused with petty politics. All feature bureaucratic duplication, inefficiency, and dismal results. 

The miserable state of Canadian health care, in particular, is a poster child for provincial incompetence and mismanagement. Canadians endorse the single-payer health care system which Tommy Douglas championed. They resent extra billing and user fees. They hate hallway medicine and a lack of doctors and nurses. Pierre Trudeau twice had an opportunity, either in the Constitution Act or in the Health Care Act, to open the way to a European-style plan. He did not do so, and the provinces are failing to deliver health care results.

Another example of where the constitution makes good government very difficult involves nation-building resource projects. Many natural resources, like fish, lumber, or agricultural land, should be part of a long-term sustainable strategy. Others, like minerals, have potential to bring wealth, if managed in the public interest.  Oil brought wealth to some, and lower taxes for others, but was fiscally and ecologically irresponsible.  

Minerals, however, have the potential to generate wealth. These natural resources are found overwhelmingly on provincial Crown Land that is also traditional Indigenous territory. The constitution guarantees Indigenous rights, but then assigns land and resources to the provinces. It is a conundrum. 

First Nations embrace mining when there is consultation, respect, a fair financial deal, and minimal environmental impact. Treated poorly, or ignored, the Indigenous can mobilize to block projects. Many Canadians recall how, six years ago, Mohawks in southern Ontario blocked a railway in sympathy with British Columbia First Nations who opposed a pipeline through their land. 

Many of Mr. Carney’s initial nation-building projects are low hanging fruit. If they can be speeded along, with everybody on board… good. The tough projects are those where indigenous or environmental opposition is strong. They will draw heat. Critics will also question taxpayer money going to a profit making mine? 

At the best of times, mining investors must navigate complex laws and regulations that differ by province. As I will discuss in an upcoming episode, Canadian mining is underperforming. This needs to change. It will not be easy. 

Another theme of this season of Canada Re-imagined is the need to make government more efficient, effective and democratic.  I will make the case that good government requires Constitutional renovation. It could clear the path not just to mining investment, but also to true national health care, a guaranteed living income, and other goals.   

A dramatic place for Canada to start would be with Indigenous restitution. I discussed this in earlier podcasts, so will be brief here. Canada could propose a ‘Grand Bargain’, a one-time offer to the First Nations.  That Bargain, to create an Indigenous province or provinces, would fulfill the promise of self-government made to Tecumseh over two centuries ago. 

Crown Land and reserves could be amalgamated into a new province, or provinces. The First Nations would own the mineral resources, and have sole power to approve resource projects. They would assess environmental risks.  They could give investors timely, one-window project approval across Canada. 

An Indigenous province would provide the housing, clean water, education, health care, social services, energy… the list is endless. Revenue would be essential. This Indigenous province would be decisive on project approvals.  

The First Nations are currently undergoing a “quiet revolution”, much like Québec did seven decades go. They are re-capturing languages, cultures and traditions.  The timing may therefore be the right for the Indigenous to consider a Grand Bargain. Some Indigenous writers have proposed “nesting” their nations within Canada. Metaphorically, a First Nation could nest within an Indigenous province, which in turn would nest within Canada.  The concept is vague, but a start.

How would existing provinces respond? They would resent losing land and royalties. However, they would keep taxes and jobs from industries like energy, robotic mining, and mineral processing, all based in the south. They would no longer pay for services to Indigenous communities.  Still, it would be a tough sell.

Then, there is Québec.

Québec is a nation. Successive governments have strengthened the economy, and protected the French language and culture. A Québec constitution is in the works, and a new push for sovereignty is inevitable at some point.  

How should Canada respond?  Perhaps it is time to acknowledge that Pierre Trudeau’s legacy was that he did not slay the Québec dragon, he simply postponed the inevitable. Separatism is alive.

The point is, Confederation worked in 1867. It was fractured by 1967. It is broken today. The world is also more hostile than ever before. The idea of reforming our antiquated constitution may be heresy, but nothing lasts forever. Canada must change. 

I my critique is accurate, Pierre Trudeau’s flaws were to disrespect First Nations, alienate the west, and fail to modernise the constitution. All three of these issues are now back with a vengeance. All three will make Mr. Carney’s job nearly impossible.  That is why it is time to re-imagine Canada.

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You have been listening to Canada Re-imagined, season three: After the Cataclysm

I’m Patrick Esmonde-White, totally responsible for this podcast. My theme music is by Tom Plant. My thanks to the Harbinger Media Network for their support.