Reflections of a Canadian Patriot

Well, Trump’s tariff threats have been appeased after one heck of a news cycle that saw the Donald threaten to absorb Canada numerous times. When the hoopla first began, I believed Trump was joking and that he was merely trolling Justin Trudeau. Then, the rhetoric became more intense, and the narrative shifted from “Get your border in order or face 25 percent tariffs” to “Canada can become a state if it wants to avoid tariffs.” 

I can’t lie; I was a bit alarmed that the narrative had become so strong in favor of annexing Canada, and I was surprised when speaking to my American friends that many of them were coming around to the idea that giving Canada statehood was a good idea. I also noted a marked increase in “take over Canada” rhetoric online, and it was hard to tell if it was just trolling or the reflection of a general sentiment.

With Trump, you never really know what he is thinking, which is at the heart of his “Art of the Deal” method. So, as outlandish as it seemed that he would even want to go through the headache of literally annexing Canada, one can never be sure what he does, in fact, want. This is one of the many reasons he is so successful as a negotiator.

I love Trump as much as the next red-blooded male—heck, I wrote an article asking if he could be made King!—but the thought of my country becoming part of another country was strange. Some of my American friends asked me point-blank if I wanted Canada to join the United States, and they were surprised when I said no. They couldn’t believe it.

“Don’t you want lower taxes?” they asked.

“Aren’t you sick of Trudeau?”

“Wouldn’t you prefer a great deference afforded to Christians in public life?”

The answer to all of those questions is, of course, yes. “So, what gives?” they wondered.

Well, there is more to a nation than constitutions, politicians, and tax brackets. Military prestige is great; better commercial opportunities are welcome; and the thought of a strong anti-woke leader is a happy thought. But something in my gut kept recoiling at the thought of one day waking up in my bed knowing that my national anthem had changed.

The best analogy I can think of goes as follows. 

Say you have a neighbor, and this neighbor has a nicer house and is really rich; not only is the neighbor wealthier, but the neighbor even has a better overall family with more family spirit; in addition, this neighboring family has more influence in the community and is more respected generally.

Well, one day, your neighbor invites you to bring your family with his family on a great once-in-a-lifetime vacation. You accept the offer, and you have a blast. When the vacation is done, the neighbor says, “You know, we both know you can’t afford a house like mine and to take your family to exotic locations like I can. I think you should become part of our family.” 

You are promised all the benefits of joining that family; and, objectively speaking, many aspects in your financial life and social life will probably improve.

But, when the issue is pressed, you find yourself instinctively declining the offer because there is just something not right about changing your last name, even if it means a better life.

A nation is like a family, and families can be very dysfunctional; but they are still families. Sure, we may not like our cousins or even siblings at times, but we share a history, and when we gather for funerals and weddings, we grieve and make merry together. A nation is like a family, and families can be very dysfunctional; but they are still families. Tweet This

There can be long periods of time when we don’t see eye to eye with our family members, and some of our relatives may be outright scoundrels, but we share blood and soil, and we have for generations.

At the same time, as the threat to take over Canada grew stronger, I prepared to resign myself to the fact that my nation would cease to exist in the way I have always known it. I have read about nations coming and going in history books, and old maps don’t look like new maps. In addition, I accepted the fact that my leaders, and my countrymen, have bought into Marxist lies about diversity and multiculturalism for so long that I can’t be sure if most of my neighbors even share the same patriotic sentiment that I do.

Most Canadians do not want to become Americans in this way, but is it because they love Canada or because they hate the U.S.?

I certainly do not hate the U.S., but I love Canada more.

Do my neighbors who love Canada love the same Canada that I do?

I love the Canada of St. Jean de Brébeuf, Diefenbaker, Duplessis, and the nation Stan Rogers used to sing about. 

I am afraid that Canada no longer exists, or at least it is very hard to find.

We have allowed so many immigrants to come into our country who hate our historical values and hate Christ. So, I thought to myself, “Maybe this is an example of what happens when you reap what you sow.”

If my leaders have done their best to globalize my nation and turn it into a veritable post-national state, can I really be upset when an arbitrary line on a map is redrawn, and I merely pay my taxes to someone else?

In short, I realized that maybe I was saddened at the prospect of losing a nation that had lost itself so many decades ago.

Of course, it does seem that the Trumpian rhetoric was just that. And I imagine now that Trudeau has ritually humiliated himself and publicly pledged his obeisance to Trump, there will be no more threats of annexation. But the whole affair has left me with a nagging melancholy about the state of my country and the transient nature of nation-states in a globalized world.

Who knows, maybe one day the border will be redrawn, and my children will grow up under the stars and stripes rather than the red maple leaf and red ensign. If that happened, I would be very sad, although I would understand why it happened.

In any event, I do hope that Trump’s threats will serve as a reminder to my countrymen that a real country must really exist. And, hopefully, we can see a resurgence of true patriotism for the nation that I was taught to love as a child.

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