I AM CANADIAN January 22nd 2026

      It hasn't been easy being a patriot here in this corner of my home and native land for the last few years.  But that started changing last spring.  The upheaval came some time ago really.  

    The natural shelf life for a Canadian government is about 10 years.  So,  just about 10 years ago the Canadian voter decided it was time to move from our decade old Conservative Government to the Liberals.  We are a several party system however there are only two parties that ever formed a government. 

    After a decade, governments just get stale.  Every government has a plan.  And in truth most of them are good plans with the very best of intentions to serve the public.  Now they say every battle plan is thrown out the window when the first bullet is fired, but I don't believe that statement is all encompassing. Running a country is hard.  You can't control the weather.  You don't get to dictate the policies of other nations that directly effect your electorate.  You may be in charge when the the system you replaced collapses completely.  And  being a leader you may have to make the odd very tough unpopular decision that will directly lead to you loosing the next election.  And political leaders just get tired.  They can't muster the charisma for a third or forth campaign.  

   We've been through a lot lately.  In no particular order  there was s major stock market crash, then a very ugly recession.  The price of oil was actually minus twenty bucks a barrel for a while.  Online shopping replaced brick and mortar retail and many jobs.  A new government took us farther left than we had ever been and the green revolution they proposed introduced new taxes and restrictions on carbon based industry.  Then there was a pandemic.  International in scope but something governments all over the world were blamed for by their electorate.  Ugly stuff for any party.  Mass shootings,  regional wars and then what was supposed to be weekend raid to invade a neighbouring country turned into a four year war in Europe.  A massive terrorist set of raids and kidnappings turned into the international spectacle of genocide.  And all those things will somehow be related to what your government did or didn't do. 

   Well it is bad enough when you select a government on your own that tanks your economy.  That they cancel projects that cost your neighbours jobs.  That they come up with policies that make investment by the private sector uncertain,  but when your largest trading partner and closest ally elects a man who decides it is good business to insult you at every turn.  Who threatens your economy every time he opens his mouth.  Who initially jokes, and then suggests and then threatens to absorb you?  

   While Canadian pride is not on the menu of my particular Provincial Government,  I have to say that the American President has managed to unite our somewhat polarized country.  Canadians be they Liberal or Conservative, Left or right, rich or poor, Hockey fan or.........well there aint no or come to hockey.....have found some pride in the maple leaf.  

    And yesterday on a world stage, our Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed a room of potential investors, of world leaders both political and commercial.  He introduced Canada as a leader in a union of the Middle powers.  What working together could do for all of them in the face of America's growing movement to isolation.  He spoke in powerful but simple eloquence about the need for free countries to benefit each other in the area of economic security and defence.  He put our elbows up,  and had the rest of the "middle" powers on the globe applauding and joining him.  

    And best of all?  He told the world that as far as Canada is concerned,  A DEAL IS A DEAL and Canada would never back down on our commitment to Greenland, Denmark, and NATO.  

   His speech has been shared thousands of times.  It has been the headline and the column of the most famous political reporters and columnists around the world.  Australia, New Zealand, and other countries outside NATO are clamouring to get on board with this bold new view on how international super power bullies are handled.    And although our Prime Minister is being identified by name,  and although the credit for this international unifying speech is going to him,  Mark Carney,  most opinion columns around the world are concluding with "Well Done Canada!"  

   It is easy to be frustrated with your country at times.  It is particularly hard at times when you live in the shadow of a massive tree, or elephant, or whatever metaphor one wants to draw.  But we as Canadians have done our bit.  For our own country.  For the world.  And for America.  We were the elite of the allied forces in WW1.  On D Day, Canadian forces advanced farther than any allied forces in Normandy.  We were the birth nation of international peace keeping and in the former Yugoslavia, and Cypress and parts of Africa our brave men and women saved thousands of civilian lives.  We lost over a hundred soldiers in the desert and mountains of Afghanistan in aide to our American neighbours.  We opened our homes and communities to Vietnam refugees at the collapse of the south.  And we did the same for Hungarians, Syrians, Ukranians, and yes Americans at different times in the last century.  

    For what ever reason,  it has been pretty easy to forget that in recent years.  Our Central politicians went too far left.  Our right of centre politicians went too far right.  But yesterday,  Canada returned to its influential example of what Canadians do.  They lead,  they embrace, they protect, and show their respect.   It was a day that made all Canadians proud.  A day that made all separatists upset.  A day that will be remembered for years and that may have given birth to a historical tidbit that Kennedy, or Churchill, or Luther-King could have landed.    " When you're not at the table,  you're on the menu."

    That's Canadian.  It is what we do.  We get through the tough stuff.  Cause we do it together.