Imagining Canada

It is obvious to the entire Canadian population that we are in serious and urgent need of strong Leadership that can guide the Nation through these days of uncertainty.  We require 'an appropriate and compelling Vision' for the Nation that possesses sufficient strength and stability to enable us to deal with current challenges and crises, while moving us rapidly to the place we must go; a “place” of stability, security, prosperity, hope, safety, and a place of freedom where Democratic Values and Rights and Freedoms are first in our hierarchy of values.

Canada is an extraordinary place where these Values have been planted, nurtured, cultivated and respected.  We may literally be the best hope for the future of the world.  I have explored these ideas in my (previous) essay Our Most Precious Treasures:  The Rights Of Children [Part 2 of 3].  My appeal for Equal Rights for our children is not simply idealistic, it is also pragmatic in that their Rights, as I have argued, are the key to our future.

Canada is a Nation poised on the edge of greatness.  We have managed to develop and maintain a society and culture unlike any other.  We have peace and good public security that respects and protects the Rights of all under the Law, Constitution, and Charter Of Rights And Freedoms.  We have good government at every level and democratic processes to use in governing ourselves.   

We have a Judicial system that sincerely and effectively delivers Justice most of the time.  We have a strong economy, a moderately healthy population, vibrant education systems, excellent communications and transportation systems reaching to all of the world.

For those of us with any significant awareness of what actually happens in the day-to-day lives of citizens of most nations, Canada is an extraordinary Anomaly; a convergence of a special set of people, conditions, values, resources, and sense of fairness.  This is 'Cultures In Collision'.  

We have found ways to diplomatically and democratically co-exist.  Yet this special set of conditions will not remain intact for long.  We have a window of historical opportunity.  We can teach the world our way of living together in respect, and under fair laws that protect the Rights of all individuals. 

The literature of Latin America is a story of dark tyrannical regimes that have made government a blood-sport.  The same truth of despotic and cruel regimes has emerged from places around the world in their literatures.  

However Canada produces a literature of hopeful analysis that has grown in our peaceful society.  All aspects of our National Culture bear the same sweet fruit of human liberty, respect, opportunity, and peace.

In order to share “this treasure hidden in our mountain” we require a good Plan.  This Plan must incorporate and combine some essential components.  The first is economic viability.  So how can we bolster our National Sovereignty and Security while moving rapidly to a prosperous Peace-based Economy?  In a word, easily.    

We already possess all of the resources necessary to move decisively in this direction, and in the process we can share our culture, help the world, and prosper, while we demonstrate to the world that Peace Pays more and better than war.

John Lennon invited us to Imagine, and we have.  Now I invite you to Imagine a new Canada with me.