I really like your work, loved your book on what I prefer to call "The Social Floor" (safety nets are for those who've fallen; floors support us all).
But i have to offer an additional definition of "culture" and "nationalism" that changes the discussion.
It's from author Neal Stephenson, a real STEM techie type, who pleads for our side of CP Snow's division: that "Culture is how you feed, clothe, house yourself, provide education and medical care and transportation and safety. The rest is funny hats and clog dancing."
Canada has a distinct culture in how it provides medical care and public health; a superior one during the pandemic, when we suffered fewer casualties, not just compared to America and the UK (1/3rd as many!!) but compared to all of Europe save Norway and Denmark.
I'm pretty sure the pandemic results mean something. Canada lost 1100 lives under the age of 50. America, over 70,000 - more than 7X as many young victims per capita. We're clearly, clearly different, if you measure with the right ruler.
And we need to fight for it. With organization. American culture is to bully. Ours is to organize smaller nations into a group. With a group that all tariff in return if any one is tariff-bullied, we can stop the bullying. Without using escalating force. That's Canadian.
I'll disagree with Stephenson's characterization of the rest as funny hats and dancing, but I do think there's a need to highlight public institutions as both a means of producing culture and a collective good worth preserving (worth radically improving, really).
It's one of the reasons I first reacted negatively to Nora's statement of not caring if Canada continued to exist. In a no-context vacuum I would actually agree that I don't care, and I think part of that is the very lack of culture she is pointing out. But when the context is an imminent annexation by the United States (probably as an unrepresented territory or a puppet state), I would vehemently prefer Canada continue to exist, because despite its many flaws, the state remains a political and legal venue for the humans living here to build a material lifestyle that wouldn't be possible under Washington's boot or pitted against the voters of red states.
(I also just think it's morally important to deny resources to fascist regimes.)
But looking beyond the current existential threat, I think public services like healthcare and education are not sufficient to create an enduring sense of identity, even though they can be an expression and subject of identity. Those institutions are vulnerable to capitalist misrepresentation and dismantling, either from multinational corporations or from domestic interests seeking to enrich themselves or attack vulnerable demographics; and our appreciation of them still often rests on comparisons to the US, which can become fraught because our view of the US is necessarily partial and imperfect. In the absence of a justification rooted in things like identity, culture, and values, the maintenance of our public institutions rests mainly on how the public feels about the competing spreadsheets politicians put forward, and whether they feel those accord with their lived experience.
I think there's an important component of culture and identity that is very much silly hats and dances (and songs and clothes and media and consumer products) - features that aren't about optimizing outcomes, but are the paraphernalia of daily life that cements our individual experiences and facilitates shared trust, and from there shared values, and from there, collective democratic expression through public institutions.
In that sense, I think this essay is a good exploration of how Canada created an exclusionary national identity in the past and now fails to cultivate much of a national identity at all (even the right-wing national identity feels largely like an American import). I think the public institutions you mention are at the top of a pyramid of identity and culture which needs intentional support and cultivation from its foundations all the way up, and the lack of that intentionality feels like the important highlight here.
As an aside to the main message, I was struck by the question at the beginning:
"what did you say to get a message like that?"
It sounded like, if you said something that bad, then maybe you deserved death threats. It's exactly the same question when they ask, "what were you wearing?" after you are assaulted.
If you want to try to define Canadian culture (or its absence), fine - but right off the bat, exclude "consumer culture" like *things* or regional stuff like poutine - " MacDonald knew that he needed to marshall the forces of cultural production (church, music, literature) in the same direction as the economy (small enterprise and massive projects alike)."
So there's church, music, literature that are culture, and business and infrastructure that are not. Do you really agree with that?
If you don't think that the way Canada approaches business or infrastructure is distinct, ask an American about the Health Care Industry.
But also think about, say, German culture. Would you agree that it exists, in a way that Canadian culture allegedly doesn't? Most would, at least most Canadians would. What defines it? If you can read a German book, listen to German music, look at German art and say "this is German" - can we not say that about Canada? Can you read M. Ondaatje, Munro, Leacock and think it's transposable anywhere else? Or look at paintings by Thomson, Kurelek, Carr, M. Lewis, A.Y. Jackson, or Krieghoff and say that it could have come from just anywhere? Does the music of I&S Tyson, Cohen, Lightfoot, Mitchell, Young, Burton, or 90s CanRock sound like what was coming out of anywhere else at the time, or could not be Canadian?
And if you write off, say, poutine as "not Anglo", does that mean Oktoberfest isn't German because it's actually Bavarian?
"You wonder why Canadian society is so polarized? Look to see if you can find any art that brings us together that isn’t cheesy or corporate. In a way that you want to consume it. See if you can find anything." Sounds like someone needs a lesson on where virtually all "classic" art came from. Were the Medicis or the Vatican not corporate enough?
The measure of a culture isn't "can cops define it precisely". Maybe it's "can the output of a nation be identified, even out of context?" I'd say yes to the above. But if you're looking for some sort of homogenized outlook from a country as big and diverse as Canada, you're not going to find it. If the Belgians can't manage it, we surely can't.
How does one create a unifying national culture when we are a nation of immigrants of all cultures.
For me, as a west coast British Columbian, my culture is the respect of the art and traditions of First Nations, and the privilege of living in their unceded territory.
It is the reconciliation of grievances, the choice to move forward correcting the mistakes of the past. Of caring for and supporting each other. Of striving to treat all people with care and respect regardless of the culture they come from. It is about tolerance.
Culture evolves over time. We are a comparatively young nation. Other regions have had a thousand years or more to build their cultures and are often built on the blending of values brought to the table by immigrants.
It seems to me that the issues you write about have more to do with living next to a noisy, economic giant mired in its "exceptionalism" than an actual void of culture in Canada.
I could go on but that's enough. Thank you for causing this moment of reflection.
So what do you have if it isn't Mounties In Red and lumberjacks? It's a modern cosmopolitan country, and isn't that better? Was it better when you could say "Canada is a country of white protestant people that export wood and fur"?
The real question is: what kind of culture would she accept as "genuine Canadian"?
Does she want the modern equivalent of Bob & Doug or Lawren Harris? Can't have it both ways - do you want a well-defined culture that's based on foundational history, in which case you get white guys in the woods; or do you want a reflection of modern Canada, which can never be considered homogeneous enough to have any unifying symbols beyond abstract things like "freedom"?
This was haunting me the whole read. Canadian culture is indigenous culture, and reconciliation and collaboration with indigenous peoples is the only way to ensure that Canada isn’t just another white colony. Most of the parallels between Canada and the US are due to colonialism and capitalism. The origin of the idea of ‘whiteness’ itself was as much about class as it was about colour… an us v them population control tactic. And it’s still working. Culture is a connection to your ancestors and your roots; A culmination of common experiences lived. Perhaps if Canada was less concerned with what sets us apart and focused more on what we have in common, our communities would be able to thrive and grow into something distinct and cohesive rather than a scattered series of pockets. When I think of different cultures, I immediately think of food. How spaghetti is iconically Italian even though tomatoes were brought from Spain during Europe’s own colonization. Canadians are salmon and bannock. We’re rye and salal berries and fried herring roe. We’re moose burgers and crab with prairie butter. We’re all the ways our unique cultures have blended and fed each other to create a unique fusion of flavours. These flavours are hard to appreciate if you’re used to Tim Hortons and Denny’s. But they’re delicious, and they’re out here for those wanting to be a part of something that is bigger than their individual identity; And, ironically, much more culturally significant. The first step is acknowledging the unbiased truth of our history, pre and post colonization, and working together to heal that trauma.
I think you make some great points about our culture and creative industries. For a long time now, to be considered a ‘successful’ Canadian in a creative field, you had to find success outside of Canada. We’re happy to claim the ones that basically became Americans in order to succeed, after the fact. You hear about Brain Drain, but there isn’t really a phrase for losing so many of our best creatives to another country, due to government neglect. Creativity needs space and support, in order to flourish, and we’ve lost sight of why that’s important. Without our stories, who are we, really?
For a long time, we have been defined by "Not American". Not a great unifying story.
We have lost much of what did bring us together over the last 40 years. In Alberta, it was the Service Clubs. Rotary, Elks, Kawana's & the Churches that brought us together. It was the small town business community, the schools, and the sense of community. It was going to the community supper where the whole community came to the Gladys Community Hall and had a big pot luck dinner.
That was what made Alberta a great place. It was forged in the 1930's when no one had any money, and a Hobo could count on being fed at any farm house provided that they helped to feed the chickens. At that point, everyone was in the same place, and needed their neighbors. Race, religion & class took a back seat to survival. The small town church in Okotoks fed the hobos off the trains, because they saw themselves in the hobo.
We became prosperous & lost that.
There's another story which is still being told, which was the story of Alberta being the hinterland. The place that Toronto / Ottawa did not care about. The story of people who could not get loans for their farm, business or oil company from Bay Street, so they went to Houston & got it. The story of going to Toronto, and being told that they were just a "Red Neck".
Why is this relevant? Because, if Canada wants to remain a nation, it needs to have Federal Governments that act in the best interests of all of Canada, not just the select few. The Prime Minister needs to understand that he / she represents the interest of the people who live in Okotoks, Cape Bretton, and Yellowknife, not just the few in Ottawa that they consider important..
Somethings broken that won't let me "like" but thank you.
i heard about that Alberta from my mother, who grew up in coal-town Drumheller through the Depression. They were dirt poor, but her mother helped hobos.
I keep telling myself that less than you think has changed since then. My grandmother's compassion was taught down through the generations, and is still there. We just need to organize.
Sadly I think the Alberta you refer to is also long gone. It's no small feat that the powerful few in Edmonton have convinced the people of the prairies to not only stop caring about the other provinces but to full on hate them (particularly those out east). Good luck ever having a conversation about building a resilient national project with an Albertan, they just get angry about transfer payments their government agreed to. I've met plenty of people like this in interior BC who come with their oil money and selfish attitudes
Culture is nourished and experienced and lived through institutions and universities and festivals and galleries and museums and operas and cinemas other creative spaces that require funding and protections that just haven't been prioritized in Canada. We barely even attempt to measure the economic value of our cultural industries the way other developed countries do. I remember returning to Vancouver for a visit a few years back and coming upon the space where the legenday Ridge theatre – an neo-art deco masterpiece and revered cultural gathering space – had once stood and reacting in total shock and bewilderment at the ugly condos in its place. (Anti-culture brain can only build ugly as it rejects the cultural nature of the architecture discipline entirely, reducing it to ornament). And of course, the parking lot across the street was left intact. In much of anglo-Canada, cultural communities haven't just been starved and neglected and inadvertently destroyed, they've been actively targeted for extermination.
OH how I wish I had this piece back when I was in an undergrad Canadian geography class arguing with some bro-dude about how Canadian identity is simultaneously impossible to define, racist, and kind of a joke.
And as someone who moved from Sudbury to Prince George I can 100% confirm they are the same. Just swap out a giant nickel for a giant wooden (?) man.
While I agree there is an absence of a national identity and culture from my observation there are local cultures. From a perspective of a Winnipger I would say there is a local culture. For instance there is a whole school of film making that comes out of the Wpg film group/cinematheque that is distinct. Most notably Guy Madden but recently Matthew Rankin has made several stelar films. I would imagine if you were to look locally you’d probably find other examples in other cities. So I don’t think we are starting from square one just disconnected pockets. Winnipeg is probably also a good example of a place that still has a thriving culture that is related to life still being relatively affordable compared to Toronto or Vancouver. I also think we can’t discount how much the left spends time online and are thus further disconnecting themselves from a wider society.
Neo liberalism is a wave that swept across the planet, Devouring culture and tradition and replacing it with commodification and distraction. Canadian culture isn't destroyed but it has been hurt. We need to recognize and reembrace those elements of genuine culture that extend beyond whiteness as well as those cultural traditions that did come from Europe. We are a multilingual vertical mosaic and that vertical mosaic must be leveled to create a picture of Canada where all of her cultures share the same map.
So many places do capitalism better than us by investing and incorporating and supporting cultural industries and allowing creative individuals the pride of thriving as creative professionals. No fan of capitalism, but it doesn’t need to be this rotten, festering, parasitical husk that it’s devolved to in Toronto and across much of Anglo-Canada. Somehow I’m still hopeful there is life beyond the Lib-Cons.
I've only recently given any thought to either Nationalism or Patriotism. I found I had to do some reading to figure out the difference. And then there's culture. I'm just going to throw this out there to see if I've reached a better understanding. Culture is a reflection of the things we, as Canadians, value most. Patriotism is the love we feel for Canada and our fellow Canadians, and all the ways we show that in our culture and our way of life. Nationalism is something like proclaiming that we are better, different, apart from other nations and cultures, and the idea that we choose our nation over all others. From what I've read Nationalism didn't always mean that but that is what it has come to.
Defunding of public health care, while not erasing it's white supremacy and colonialism, also part of defunding a positive idea of a national identity that cares for each other.
As a writer and someone involved on the back end of writing (with a national org covering copyright) as well as a union member, and, I guess, as a Montrealer, I've been fascinated to watch events unfold after Trump's idiocy. I used to say Quebec *was* Canadian culture but even in Quebec that has become confused with language and nothing else to the point where the file is a fetish and not an actual cultural touchstone. All sense of culture in this country grows weaker as soon as you cross the Ottawa River moving west. But even that, in a world of global blandification, may no longer be true.
I really like your work, loved your book on what I prefer to call "The Social Floor" (safety nets are for those who've fallen; floors support us all).
But i have to offer an additional definition of "culture" and "nationalism" that changes the discussion.
It's from author Neal Stephenson, a real STEM techie type, who pleads for our side of CP Snow's division: that "Culture is how you feed, clothe, house yourself, provide education and medical care and transportation and safety. The rest is funny hats and clog dancing."
Canada has a distinct culture in how it provides medical care and public health; a superior one during the pandemic, when we suffered fewer casualties, not just compared to America and the UK (1/3rd as many!!) but compared to all of Europe save Norway and Denmark.
I'm pretty sure the pandemic results mean something. Canada lost 1100 lives under the age of 50. America, over 70,000 - more than 7X as many young victims per capita. We're clearly, clearly different, if you measure with the right ruler.
And we need to fight for it. With organization. American culture is to bully. Ours is to organize smaller nations into a group. With a group that all tariff in return if any one is tariff-bullied, we can stop the bullying. Without using escalating force. That's Canadian.
I'll disagree with Stephenson's characterization of the rest as funny hats and dancing, but I do think there's a need to highlight public institutions as both a means of producing culture and a collective good worth preserving (worth radically improving, really).
It's one of the reasons I first reacted negatively to Nora's statement of not caring if Canada continued to exist. In a no-context vacuum I would actually agree that I don't care, and I think part of that is the very lack of culture she is pointing out. But when the context is an imminent annexation by the United States (probably as an unrepresented territory or a puppet state), I would vehemently prefer Canada continue to exist, because despite its many flaws, the state remains a political and legal venue for the humans living here to build a material lifestyle that wouldn't be possible under Washington's boot or pitted against the voters of red states.
(I also just think it's morally important to deny resources to fascist regimes.)
But looking beyond the current existential threat, I think public services like healthcare and education are not sufficient to create an enduring sense of identity, even though they can be an expression and subject of identity. Those institutions are vulnerable to capitalist misrepresentation and dismantling, either from multinational corporations or from domestic interests seeking to enrich themselves or attack vulnerable demographics; and our appreciation of them still often rests on comparisons to the US, which can become fraught because our view of the US is necessarily partial and imperfect. In the absence of a justification rooted in things like identity, culture, and values, the maintenance of our public institutions rests mainly on how the public feels about the competing spreadsheets politicians put forward, and whether they feel those accord with their lived experience.
I think there's an important component of culture and identity that is very much silly hats and dances (and songs and clothes and media and consumer products) - features that aren't about optimizing outcomes, but are the paraphernalia of daily life that cements our individual experiences and facilitates shared trust, and from there shared values, and from there, collective democratic expression through public institutions.
In that sense, I think this essay is a good exploration of how Canada created an exclusionary national identity in the past and now fails to cultivate much of a national identity at all (even the right-wing national identity feels largely like an American import). I think the public institutions you mention are at the top of a pyramid of identity and culture which needs intentional support and cultivation from its foundations all the way up, and the lack of that intentionality feels like the important highlight here.
Thank-you!
Keeping in mind that Stephenson himself is a *novelist* and undoubtedly imagines himself a part of "culture".
The humourous characterization was just to clap back against those who would confine the world "cultcha" down to opera and oil-painting.
As an aside to the main message, I was struck by the question at the beginning:
"what did you say to get a message like that?"
It sounded like, if you said something that bad, then maybe you deserved death threats. It's exactly the same question when they ask, "what were you wearing?" after you are assaulted.
Talk about blaming the victim.
If you want to try to define Canadian culture (or its absence), fine - but right off the bat, exclude "consumer culture" like *things* or regional stuff like poutine - " MacDonald knew that he needed to marshall the forces of cultural production (church, music, literature) in the same direction as the economy (small enterprise and massive projects alike)."
So there's church, music, literature that are culture, and business and infrastructure that are not. Do you really agree with that?
If you don't think that the way Canada approaches business or infrastructure is distinct, ask an American about the Health Care Industry.
But also think about, say, German culture. Would you agree that it exists, in a way that Canadian culture allegedly doesn't? Most would, at least most Canadians would. What defines it? If you can read a German book, listen to German music, look at German art and say "this is German" - can we not say that about Canada? Can you read M. Ondaatje, Munro, Leacock and think it's transposable anywhere else? Or look at paintings by Thomson, Kurelek, Carr, M. Lewis, A.Y. Jackson, or Krieghoff and say that it could have come from just anywhere? Does the music of I&S Tyson, Cohen, Lightfoot, Mitchell, Young, Burton, or 90s CanRock sound like what was coming out of anywhere else at the time, or could not be Canadian?
And if you write off, say, poutine as "not Anglo", does that mean Oktoberfest isn't German because it's actually Bavarian?
"You wonder why Canadian society is so polarized? Look to see if you can find any art that brings us together that isn’t cheesy or corporate. In a way that you want to consume it. See if you can find anything." Sounds like someone needs a lesson on where virtually all "classic" art came from. Were the Medicis or the Vatican not corporate enough?
The measure of a culture isn't "can cops define it precisely". Maybe it's "can the output of a nation be identified, even out of context?" I'd say yes to the above. But if you're looking for some sort of homogenized outlook from a country as big and diverse as Canada, you're not going to find it. If the Belgians can't manage it, we surely can't.
Just some thoughts.
How does one create a unifying national culture when we are a nation of immigrants of all cultures.
For me, as a west coast British Columbian, my culture is the respect of the art and traditions of First Nations, and the privilege of living in their unceded territory.
It is the reconciliation of grievances, the choice to move forward correcting the mistakes of the past. Of caring for and supporting each other. Of striving to treat all people with care and respect regardless of the culture they come from. It is about tolerance.
Culture evolves over time. We are a comparatively young nation. Other regions have had a thousand years or more to build their cultures and are often built on the blending of values brought to the table by immigrants.
It seems to me that the issues you write about have more to do with living next to a noisy, economic giant mired in its "exceptionalism" than an actual void of culture in Canada.
I could go on but that's enough. Thank you for causing this moment of reflection.
A good point. What it WAS no longer exists.
So what do you have if it isn't Mounties In Red and lumberjacks? It's a modern cosmopolitan country, and isn't that better? Was it better when you could say "Canada is a country of white protestant people that export wood and fur"?
The real question is: what kind of culture would she accept as "genuine Canadian"?
Does she want the modern equivalent of Bob & Doug or Lawren Harris? Can't have it both ways - do you want a well-defined culture that's based on foundational history, in which case you get white guys in the woods; or do you want a reflection of modern Canada, which can never be considered homogeneous enough to have any unifying symbols beyond abstract things like "freedom"?
This was haunting me the whole read. Canadian culture is indigenous culture, and reconciliation and collaboration with indigenous peoples is the only way to ensure that Canada isn’t just another white colony. Most of the parallels between Canada and the US are due to colonialism and capitalism. The origin of the idea of ‘whiteness’ itself was as much about class as it was about colour… an us v them population control tactic. And it’s still working. Culture is a connection to your ancestors and your roots; A culmination of common experiences lived. Perhaps if Canada was less concerned with what sets us apart and focused more on what we have in common, our communities would be able to thrive and grow into something distinct and cohesive rather than a scattered series of pockets. When I think of different cultures, I immediately think of food. How spaghetti is iconically Italian even though tomatoes were brought from Spain during Europe’s own colonization. Canadians are salmon and bannock. We’re rye and salal berries and fried herring roe. We’re moose burgers and crab with prairie butter. We’re all the ways our unique cultures have blended and fed each other to create a unique fusion of flavours. These flavours are hard to appreciate if you’re used to Tim Hortons and Denny’s. But they’re delicious, and they’re out here for those wanting to be a part of something that is bigger than their individual identity; And, ironically, much more culturally significant. The first step is acknowledging the unbiased truth of our history, pre and post colonization, and working together to heal that trauma.
I think you make some great points about our culture and creative industries. For a long time now, to be considered a ‘successful’ Canadian in a creative field, you had to find success outside of Canada. We’re happy to claim the ones that basically became Americans in order to succeed, after the fact. You hear about Brain Drain, but there isn’t really a phrase for losing so many of our best creatives to another country, due to government neglect. Creativity needs space and support, in order to flourish, and we’ve lost sight of why that’s important. Without our stories, who are we, really?
For a long time, we have been defined by "Not American". Not a great unifying story.
We have lost much of what did bring us together over the last 40 years. In Alberta, it was the Service Clubs. Rotary, Elks, Kawana's & the Churches that brought us together. It was the small town business community, the schools, and the sense of community. It was going to the community supper where the whole community came to the Gladys Community Hall and had a big pot luck dinner.
That was what made Alberta a great place. It was forged in the 1930's when no one had any money, and a Hobo could count on being fed at any farm house provided that they helped to feed the chickens. At that point, everyone was in the same place, and needed their neighbors. Race, religion & class took a back seat to survival. The small town church in Okotoks fed the hobos off the trains, because they saw themselves in the hobo.
We became prosperous & lost that.
There's another story which is still being told, which was the story of Alberta being the hinterland. The place that Toronto / Ottawa did not care about. The story of people who could not get loans for their farm, business or oil company from Bay Street, so they went to Houston & got it. The story of going to Toronto, and being told that they were just a "Red Neck".
Why is this relevant? Because, if Canada wants to remain a nation, it needs to have Federal Governments that act in the best interests of all of Canada, not just the select few. The Prime Minister needs to understand that he / she represents the interest of the people who live in Okotoks, Cape Bretton, and Yellowknife, not just the few in Ottawa that they consider important..
Somethings broken that won't let me "like" but thank you.
i heard about that Alberta from my mother, who grew up in coal-town Drumheller through the Depression. They were dirt poor, but her mother helped hobos.
I keep telling myself that less than you think has changed since then. My grandmother's compassion was taught down through the generations, and is still there. We just need to organize.
We need to need each other again. Otherwise known as Community. It is not dead but dormant. I saw it in High River after the 2013 floods
Sadly I think the Alberta you refer to is also long gone. It's no small feat that the powerful few in Edmonton have convinced the people of the prairies to not only stop caring about the other provinces but to full on hate them (particularly those out east). Good luck ever having a conversation about building a resilient national project with an Albertan, they just get angry about transfer payments their government agreed to. I've met plenty of people like this in interior BC who come with their oil money and selfish attitudes
Culture is nourished and experienced and lived through institutions and universities and festivals and galleries and museums and operas and cinemas other creative spaces that require funding and protections that just haven't been prioritized in Canada. We barely even attempt to measure the economic value of our cultural industries the way other developed countries do. I remember returning to Vancouver for a visit a few years back and coming upon the space where the legenday Ridge theatre – an neo-art deco masterpiece and revered cultural gathering space – had once stood and reacting in total shock and bewilderment at the ugly condos in its place. (Anti-culture brain can only build ugly as it rejects the cultural nature of the architecture discipline entirely, reducing it to ornament). And of course, the parking lot across the street was left intact. In much of anglo-Canada, cultural communities haven't just been starved and neglected and inadvertently destroyed, they've been actively targeted for extermination.
OH how I wish I had this piece back when I was in an undergrad Canadian geography class arguing with some bro-dude about how Canadian identity is simultaneously impossible to define, racist, and kind of a joke.
And as someone who moved from Sudbury to Prince George I can 100% confirm they are the same. Just swap out a giant nickel for a giant wooden (?) man.
While I agree there is an absence of a national identity and culture from my observation there are local cultures. From a perspective of a Winnipger I would say there is a local culture. For instance there is a whole school of film making that comes out of the Wpg film group/cinematheque that is distinct. Most notably Guy Madden but recently Matthew Rankin has made several stelar films. I would imagine if you were to look locally you’d probably find other examples in other cities. So I don’t think we are starting from square one just disconnected pockets. Winnipeg is probably also a good example of a place that still has a thriving culture that is related to life still being relatively affordable compared to Toronto or Vancouver. I also think we can’t discount how much the left spends time online and are thus further disconnecting themselves from a wider society.
Neo liberalism is a wave that swept across the planet, Devouring culture and tradition and replacing it with commodification and distraction. Canadian culture isn't destroyed but it has been hurt. We need to recognize and reembrace those elements of genuine culture that extend beyond whiteness as well as those cultural traditions that did come from Europe. We are a multilingual vertical mosaic and that vertical mosaic must be leveled to create a picture of Canada where all of her cultures share the same map.
So many places do capitalism better than us by investing and incorporating and supporting cultural industries and allowing creative individuals the pride of thriving as creative professionals. No fan of capitalism, but it doesn’t need to be this rotten, festering, parasitical husk that it’s devolved to in Toronto and across much of Anglo-Canada. Somehow I’m still hopeful there is life beyond the Lib-Cons.
I've only recently given any thought to either Nationalism or Patriotism. I found I had to do some reading to figure out the difference. And then there's culture. I'm just going to throw this out there to see if I've reached a better understanding. Culture is a reflection of the things we, as Canadians, value most. Patriotism is the love we feel for Canada and our fellow Canadians, and all the ways we show that in our culture and our way of life. Nationalism is something like proclaiming that we are better, different, apart from other nations and cultures, and the idea that we choose our nation over all others. From what I've read Nationalism didn't always mean that but that is what it has come to.
Defunding of public health care, while not erasing it's white supremacy and colonialism, also part of defunding a positive idea of a national identity that cares for each other.
Lament for a nation am I right....
As a writer and someone involved on the back end of writing (with a national org covering copyright) as well as a union member, and, I guess, as a Montrealer, I've been fascinated to watch events unfold after Trump's idiocy. I used to say Quebec *was* Canadian culture but even in Quebec that has become confused with language and nothing else to the point where the file is a fetish and not an actual cultural touchstone. All sense of culture in this country grows weaker as soon as you cross the Ottawa River moving west. But even that, in a world of global blandification, may no longer be true.