The Canadian Question: Letter 1

Letters to Editors and Commentators

Here is a letter I wrote to Peter Brimelow of VDARE, regarding the elusive Canadian identity:

Dear Mr. Brimelow, I would like to start by thanking your for the seminal book that your wrote, The Patriot Game, regarding Canada’s past and future. It was written with wit, insight and I think a love for a country you briefly inhabited. It should really be a blueprint for all Canadian politicians, but unfortunately, as Harper has demonstrated, truth gets to be too much. Harper won the expected minority government. I think his mistake was avoiding the real conservative issues: abortion, same sex marriage, sky-rocketing immigration and the Quebec question. Making deals with the Devil often is the road to failure – although failure often comes as a surprise. The ultimate irony is that a Western Canada politician should open up Quebec’s further detachment from the country as Harper did. He, in Machiavellian fashion, was trying to “unite” the federation instead by reaching out to the Quebecers. But with his promise of elected senators, revamping the federal transfer of payments, and more provincial autonomy, Quebec may yet learn to become the independent province it needs to be to fulfill its destiny. Die-hard Western secessionists must be smiling in their graves (or in their homes watching the elections). But, we should remember that Harper’s roots are actually Ontario. Ever since I immigrated to Canada twelve years ago, [after living many years in England and France, and]after several years of education in the United States , the Quebec question and the general splintering of the country has always been obvious to me. From the start, a feeling I never had in the United States, I have always been trying to pin down this elusive “Canadian Identity” through my various career and other endeavors. I must admit, it is getting harder every year. I am sorry to say that even rooted Canadians have been unable to properly define it for me. Perhaps it will happen when Quebec finally leaves (or gets kicked out in true gutsy fashion), the Western Canadians can be left in peace to enjoy and prosper with their oil riches, and Ontario becomes the Liberal haven of its dreams. Still, in this complex interaction of egos and geography, I think Canadians are doing the best they can. Who said Canadian politics were dull! Sincerely, Kidist Paulos Asrat

---