Sunny Ways? Canada’s Rainy Days

"Dangerous doctrines taught by dangerous men, enemies of the state, poison and pollute the air."

—Arthur Meighen, cited in Canada in the 1920s.

On being elected as prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau famously announced his intention to bring “sunny ways” to Canada, and, in his Open Letter to Canadians, pledged “to serve all Canadians,” to build “a strong and growing middle class,” and “to invest in growing our economy.” Sunny ways, indeed.

He plucked his lying shtick from a speech by Liberal leader Wilfrid Laurier, who governed Canada between 1886 and 1911. As O.D. Skelton observes in Life and Letters of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Laurier had proposed that a diplomatic “sunny way” would work better than forcing a policy solution via threat and bullying, using as an illustration Aesop’s fable in which the sun and the wind hold a wager to see who can remove a traveler’s coat. The sun’s warm rays prove more effective than the wind’s bluster. Laurier first used this metaphor in a speech he delivered in Morrisburg, Ontario, on October 8, 1895. “If it were in my power,” he said, referring to the French-English school crisis in Manitoba, “I would try the sunny way…the sunny way of patriotism.”

Trudeau’s replacement Mark Carney has no time for heliotropic metaphors. A sunny fellow he is not, and he is probably among the most hypoglycemic personalities ever to occupy the chair of state. Herb Pinder writes in the Western Standard, “The new Prime Minister has revived a sense of adult gravitas after the frivolity of his predecessor.” But this is a chestnut that may as well remain in the fire, for Carney’s regime leaves us almost nostalgic for the lamentable Justin.

What can we say about the policies and commitments of this filamot prime minister?

• He has conceded aboriginal rights over the construction of pipelines—to tribes that have gone years without filing audits. Little will get done.
• He remains committed to Bill C-69, the “No More Pipelines Act,” which even the usually complicit Supreme Court said overstepped the federal government’s constitutional authority.
• He is forcing EVs on a low-population, geographically vast country subject to six months of brutal cold, which EVs are incapable of handling. An inadequate infrastructure and the flammability of lithium-ion batteries render these vehicles unsustainable, as potential buyers generally agree.  
• He has failed to present a budget for this fiscal year.
• Carney has retained the hated carbon tax by hiding it in the industrial sector. 
• He intends to recognize Gaza as a Palestinian state.
• He is sending billions of borrowed dollars to Ukraine. 
• His often-stated intention to build a prosperous, united Canada demonstrates that he appears to have no idea that Confederation is made up of thirteen bits and pieces—ten provinces and three Territories—that have been somewhat discordantly Katzenjammered together over the years. Moreover, its two founding “races” (as they were called) have always split the country from its very inception—and Carney’s French is downright embarrassing. Given its akimbo formation, a unified Canada was never in the cards without a thorough reconsideration and a sea-change of attitude.
• He has seriously botched tariff negotiations with the U.S., putting Canada in a worse position than it was in before he entered the game. His elbows-up game is now knees-down.
• He says he plans to belatedly and moderately reduce immigration levels, though, as Brian Lilly writes at Yahoo News, “the Carney Liberals have been hiding immigration data from Canadians for months,” and their bona fides is suspect. Liberals have plainly broken the immigration system. The National Citizens Coalition “pointed to a backlog of 291,000 asylum claims, many flagged as fraudulent, with thousands of claimants put up in hotels at taxpayer expense.” Renaud Camus in You Will Not Replace Us may be right. The UN, the World Economic Forum, and the globalist Left want heritage citizens replaced by third Worlders in order to eliminate Western culture and create a “Davocracy” in its place. It is a campaign against the present demographic. In any case, the cost of rampant immigration on lost housing for young families, on joblessness and on the economy at large is critical. 

In light of the above, several planks from then opposition leader Robert Borden’s Halifax Platform of August 20,1907 would be a counter-thesis to Carney’s governing practice and sensibility and eminently applicable in Canada today, though I doubt if Mark Carney knows the first thing about the man who was to become one of our most important heads of state. Additionally, Carney is surely unaware of the Platform, though it is his job to know the salient aspects of Canada’s political history. 

The general purport of the Platform, with its emphasis on improving public life, focusing on both the honesty and transparency of government, and restoring prosperity to the nation makes it a perennial document, with its emphasis on Advancement by Merit (Plank 2), Honest Elections (Plank 3), Civil Service Reform (Plank 4), and National Ports (Plank 9). But two elements in particular are absolutely crucial, Provincial Rights (Plank 16) and Immigration (Plank 6), both having to do with finding a sunny way for Confederation and improving the social and economic outlook for the country.

When it comes to provincial rights, Plank 16, in particular with regard to Alberta, Canada’s problems are massive. Ottawa has been diligently invested in stalling vital commercial and industrial projects in the energy sector in order to presumably repristinate the environment while reducing ordinary people to hard times and low aspirations. Given the tension between an environmental autocracy centered in Ottawa and a political and economically exploited provincial West, as has been the case since the fledgling days of Confederation, the future looks increasingly dim. Absent a serious and effective reorienting of Confederation, a fractured Canada is eventually probable. 

Plank 6 specifies a “more careful selection of the sources from which immigration will be sought, a more rigid inspection of immigrants.” Conservatives at the time were grumbling about Canada being “the dumping ground for the refuse of every country in the world,” and Henri Bourassa, a major ideological founder of Quebecois nationalism and publisher of the Francophone newspaper of record Le Devoir, demanded that Canada should not become “a land of refuge for the scum of all nations.” The language is not nice, but the critics may have had a point. Obviously, the number of foreign freeloaders in Canada today is frankly unsustainable, with their strain on housing, public infrastructure, social services, health care, employment and education. Taxes go up, revenues down.

Borden’s doctrine clearly does not define Canadian political life. It exists as an ideal. According to Michael Bliss’ Right Honourable Men, it was put into practice to a decent extent by Mackenzie King’s administration and would need to be restored, however tentatively, if Canada were to enjoy any prospect of occasional sunny ways.

In the last analysis, any government that intends to do its job properly would recognize that Canadians have more than marked regional differences. The difference between regions can be radical and deep, not merely a matter of context, heritage and character. Political and economic issues between West and East were divisive from the start, increasing as energy and agronomics grew in importance while cooperation, consensus and conciliation—Borden’s virtues—were neglected and abandoned by the powers that be and their successors in the current imbroglio.

One could wish that Borden’s Platform could be brought back today and, perhaps, if not sunny ways, at least intermittent sun-and-cloud might return to offer the nation better weather. But Carney’s rainy days now threaten to become what is called an “atmospheric river” from which the nation may not likely survive as a coherent entity. In any event, the implicit message to Canadians is clear. Forget about sunny ways. Pack your waterproof gear for the coming rainstorm. And don’t waste your breath complaining. After all, you elected the man.

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