‘Come now let us praise famous men and our fathers that begat us.’ So reads a line in the Apocryphal Book of Ecclesiasticus (not to be confused with the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes.) Sensitive as always to the times, let us expand that to praising famous women as well..And then, for heaven’s sake let’s do it..That is, this Canada Day, as the Liberal government tries to erase national memories and symbols with new anodyne passports devoid of inspiration, renamed roads and institutions and more seriously yet, a suite of new laws that undercuts the very values which the symbols represent and always made Canada a 'good' country, let us indeed honour those who came before. For, they created a country that people wanted to come to, not to flee from. . 1867 book cover .We are indebted this month to Dr. Mark Milke's new appraisal of this country, 'The 1867 Project - Why Canada should be cherished, not cancelled.' Milke has got together twenty of the most astute observers of our national life today, public intellectuals, academics, journalists, that taken together, 'make the case for Canada.'.And what is that case? (See video.) It is that if Canada is not perfect it is still a good country and those who demand utopia — Milke cites several examples including Marx, the French Jacobins and Savonarola — end up creating types of hell. The better path then, is to recognize that what we enjoy today, even if it is not perfect, is nevertheless built on the work of those who went before and that Canada is therefore 'an ongoing project, not a utopian destination.' Let not the perfect then, be the enemy of the good as Canadians today construct Canada's future history..Which takes us to the trashing of Canada's past, an endeavour in which the present Liberal government excels as in no other branch of public policy. Milke writes, "A common impulse among current history-vandals is utopianism directed at the past." Because our 19th-century forbears didn't think like 21st-century progressives — Milke mentions Sir John A. Macdonald, Egerton Ryerson and BC judge Sir Matthew Begbie from among a legion of toppled reputations — they must not only be erased but condemned and execrated.. Egerton RyersonEgerton Ryerson .Milke does not say it, but it is worth noting that to assume good faith on the part of the utopians is to assume too much. There is political power to be gained by creating hatred and division with charges of 'privilege' or 'systemic' racism or anything else. We ignore this at our peril and those who warn it may already be too late to restore the general enthusiasm for Canada that was celebrated to the full in the glorious centennial of 1967, may turn out to be right. The left is dangerous, destructive, ambitious and wants a Canada that the majority of Western 'Canadians' want no part of. Food for thought then, on the great plains..When activists pull down statues of Macdonald, they choose not to acknowledge that when he was prime minister, four small and widely dispersed British colonies had only to look south to see the single most powerful army in the world, hardened by combat and triumphant in a war that advanced military science a generation in just five years. This army was at the disposal of a reflexively anti-British president. Macdonald's accomplishment in bringing Canada into existence at all, places him in the company of the world's great leaders. It was job one; there is nothing more important to which he could have given his attention. And, while he is condemned for his support for residential schools, it is conveniently not mentioned that he actually saved thousands of indigenous lives on the plains through his humane and generous actions..A similar appraisal of Ryerson, Begbie et al can lead to one conclusion above all others: These men, like MacDonald, had to play the cards they were dealt. Ryerson founded a public education system, where there had been none. Begbie had to bring justice before law and order had been established..Back then, to Dr. Milke's argument. "Ponder the problems wrought by utopians today. They look back and accuse farmers, soldiers, nurses, and nuns, long-dead immigrants and their progeny today of privilege when poverty for most was the norm. The critics assume that the previous Canada compares easily with today's more tolerant, opportunity-rich country.."Instead, the relevant comparison is; how did other peoples in other nations fare in 1867, or 1960, and in any other year? On that comparison, Canada and its peoples were mostly ahead of much of the rest of the world, on matters relating to slavery, women's rights and rights for minorities, often in eras and in nations where slavery, the oppression of women, and top-down racism from those in power was considered 'normal.' ".Quite..It is a book for the moment. And, as the leftist threat is not going anywhere soon, it is for the years to come. A nation that does not praise its famous men — and its famous women — nor understands that what they have today was the work of people who came before who did their best with what they had, will not — cannot — long endure..Dr. Milke and his fellow writers deserve high praise for putting together an account of where Canada has been, and where it could go. What remains is for Canadians, in the east and in the west, is to decide whether the values described in its pages will inform and guide them, or whether they will trade the freedom and security they have, for some utopia based upon a lie..It is to be hoped that the country as one comes together for freedom. .And if not, that the spirit of Canada's greatest men and women will at least continue to animate the West.
