Over the last couple of years, there’s been a lot of controversy over how the Stephen Harper Conservatives are supposedly creating a new narrative of Canada and Canadian history that emphasizes the images and values that the Conservatives favour. These include stronger support for the Canadian military, through celebrating Canadian military accomplishments such as the War of 1812, celebrating the monarchy through bringing back the “Royal” designation for the armed forces, celebrating the Canadian North and former Conservative prime minister John Diefenbaker’s efforts to develop that region, and emphasizing Tim Hortons and hockey as major symbols of Canada.
Conversely, the Conservatives are being accused of downplaying other aspects of Canadian history such as the Charter of Rights, Medicare and peacekeeping, which were supposedly played up by the federal Liberals in their narrative of Canada.
In both cases the Liberals and Conservatives are being accused of playing up those aspects of Canada that they feel can be associated with them, while downplaying those aspects that don’t fit their narrative. The parties are also being accused of trying to identify themselves with Canada as a whole, even as they degrade or ignore the elements of Canada that they don’t care for. The Liberals were said to be ignoring Canada’s military history, while the Conservatives were said to be ignoring the development of the social safety net in Canada.
The irony of all this is that many of Canada’s defining elements can be associated with multiple parties and regions. The Conservative John Diefenbaker created the National Council on Welfare, and Conservative leaders like Peter Lougheed played a critical role in the development of the Charter of Rights.
Conversely, it was the Liberals who brought Canada’s military to its greatest heights in the Second World War and who eliminated the deficit and started paying off the national debt in the 1990s. Fiscal prudence and support for the military are not exclusively Conservative values, while social welfare and the development of human rights are not exclusively a Liberal purview. And this doesn’t even consider the impact third parties like the Reform Party and the NDP have had as well.
With all this in mind, I’m baffled as to why we can’t celebrate all of these achievements and successes at once. Where is it written that we can’t celebrate both our military victories and our legacy of peacekeeping? Who says we can’t take pride in both our social safety net and our successes in sports? Why can’t we enjoy both hockey and the fine arts?
The simple answer is that we can celebrate all of these things at once. They don’t belong to any party or ideology. We, as Canadians, can and should be able to take pride in all of them, depending on our own individual beliefs. Downplaying any of them does a disservice to Canada, when often they are all worth celebrating.
Jared Milne is a St. Albert resident with a passion for Canadian history and politics.
