Alan Aubut is a retired geologist, based in Nipigon.Canada Day. Not that long ago, it was, for me, an important event. It was more than a statutory holiday, a barbecue, or a few fireworks at the end of the evening. It was a reminder that we were fortunate to live in a country that, while far from perfect, was orderly, productive, decent, and free enough that most people could build a life if they were willing to work for it.But that feeling has faded. It did not disappear all at once. It was chipped away piece by piece, first under Trudeau the younger and now under Carney, by a federal political class that seems determined to make life more expensive, less secure, and less hopeful.The year 2017 should have been a high point. Canada turned 150. That should have been a national celebration, a moment to look back with gratitude and forward with confidence. Instead, it felt hollow. Trudeau had already told the world Canada was a “post-national” country, whatever that actually means. In practice, it meant we were no longer expected to take pride in a shared inheritance, a common history, or even a national identity. That one phrase did real damage. It deflated the national ego, and I do not think it ever recovered.For a brief moment, the Trucker Convoy in 2022 brought some of that old feeling back. Average Canadians who had been ignored, insulted, and pushed around finally stood up and said enough. I supported them, as did many others. For a short while, it felt, to borrow from the subtitle of the first Star Wars movie, like “A New Hope.”That hope did not last. First came GoFundMe blocking the donations, followed by public blowback and refunds. Then came the invocation of the Emergencies Act. For anyone who, like me, lived through the October Crisis and remembers the War Measures Act, that was astonishing. The Emergencies Act was supposed to make sure the old overreach did not happen again. Yet there we were, watching a government use extraordinary power against its own citizens, not because the country was at war, but because working people had become inconvenient..Since then, the national mood has darkened. Canada has taken on the air of a country populated by addicts. I do not mean that literally, at least not in every case. I mean the blank stares, the listlessness, and the lack of concern about what is happening right in front of us. Meanwhile, our politicians behave like addicts of another kind, addicted to OPM, other people’s money. When the bills come due, they do not cut waste, reduce debt, or admit error. They raise taxes, borrow more, and spend again.To compound the matter, actual addiction has become more visible and more destructive. Governments describe supplied drugs as “free,” as though money magically appears from nowhere. It does not. The taxpayer pays. The families pay. The neighbourhoods pay. The people trapped in addiction pay the most of all.Everywhere one looks, the pressure is building. Food costs more. Housing costs more. Energy costs more. Jobs are harder to find. Productive industries are shrinking or leaving. Investment looks elsewhere. Taxes rise, regulations multiply, and the same politicians who helped create the mess tell us the real problem is Donald Trump, or climate change, or greedy businesses, or anyone other than themselves.A quote that fits the current situation is, “Socialism is the sharing of misery.” That is what Canada increasingly feels like: not a country lifting people up, but one levelling them down. The promise used to be that hard work could lead to stability. Today, the promise too often seems to be that if enough people are struggling, then struggle itself must be fairness.I am thankful I live away from the major cities. In smaller communities, the damage takes longer to arrive. People still help each other. There are still neighbours, volunteers, tradesmen, small business owners, and ordinary families trying to hold things together. But distance is not immunity. The same forces eventually reach everywhere..I am also fortunate to have a pension that covers my expenses. Many do not. And while politicians grant themselves salaries and benefits far beyond what most Canadians will ever see, seniors are expected to be grateful for small increases that never seem to catch up to real life. On paper, everything is indexed. In the grocery aisle, at the gas pump, or when opening a heating bill, it feels different because it is.We used to have a country in which we had much to be thankful for. It was populated by hardworking, generous, friendly people who did not need to be lectured every day about who they were supposed to be. Many of those people are still here. But they are tired. Jobs are disappearing. Industries are disappearing. Confidence is disappearing. A sense of hopelessness is settling in.None of this inspires many of us to spend a day waving flags and pretending everything is fine. And speaking of pride, why do some groups get a month to celebrate theirs while the country itself is reduced to a single day that fewer people seem eager to mark? Weird, but also telling.So no, I no longer have much energy for Canada Day. Not because I stopped loving the country that was, but because I have not stopped noticing what is being done to it.Alan Aubut is a retired geologist, based in Nipigon.
