Connor Shaw is a Saskatchewan-based writer who is seeking practical solutions for wide-spanning issues facing the country.Since the beginning of his tenure as Prime Minister, Mark Carney has consistently evoked the language and imagery of a traditional Canadian identity. Whether it was his allusion to the four founding nations of Canada during the election, or more recently, with a video he published giving praise to Canadian hero Sir Isaac Brock.Mark Carney is attempting to use these icons of our history to present himself as being a unifying figure, drawing from the Canada we remember but have lost. However, these bids to capitalize on nostalgia fall flat when one begins to recall who is to blame for the loss of this identity.For over 60 years, it was the Liberal Party of Canada who were consistently an opponent of Canadian history, identity, and cultural memory. Beginning with Lester Pearson in 1963 and the ignition of the Great Canadian Flag Debate, explicitly for the purpose of globalizing our national character, proceeding to Pierre Trudeau and the institutionalization of “official multiculturalism,” that legacy was continued by his son, Justin Trudeau, who proudly claimed Canada was “post-national.”Under the Liberals, our education system was reformed to obscure the founding peoples of Canada and to villainize heroes like Sir Isaac Brock and Sir John A. Macdonald. It was those same Liberals who advocated for statues of Sir John A. Macdonald to be removed and other important figures in our history to be expunged through the renaming of places and institutions..But now, the Liberals are posturing themselves as protectors of this great legacy, which Canada has inherited. How are we meant to take Mark Carney seriously when the Canadian people have received no apology? No recourse for the assaults which have been made against our nationhood by the Liberals.All of this is not to mention the unchecked tide of immigration which the Liberal Party of Canada has allowed to flow into our country. Swathes of people whom the government has made no attempt to integrate or assimilate into our society, we are now supposed to presume have the exact same understanding of our identity that we do?Though it seems that Carney is attempting to correct course on immigration as well, given that the government significantly reduced immigration targets. Nevertheless, that does not amend the fact that for the previous decade, millions of people entered our country and were emboldened by a Liberal government to shirk our Canadian way of life.For the last 60 years, it has been the Liberal Party’s mandate to systematically deconstruct everything about Canada and its uniqueness as a nation and people. It is not enough to invoke the names of our heroes while continuing the very policies that led to their erasure. It is not enough to speak of unity while presiding over a country more divided, more fragmented, and more uncertain of itself than at any point in recent memory. Words, carefully chosen and neatly delivered, cannot substitute for action — nor can they erase decades of deliberate policy..If Mark Carney wishes to be taken seriously as a steward of Canada’s identity, then he must do more than gesture toward it. He must confront the legacy of his own party, not obscure it. He must acknowledge that what has been lost was not accidental, but the result of conscious decisions made over generations. He must be willing to meaningfully reverse course.That means not simply slowing immigration, but pursuing remigration and ensuring that those who do come to Canada understand, respect, and adopt the values and traditions that define it. Restoring a curriculum that teaches Canadian history with pride, rather than a revisionist shame. Defending our historical figures, not abandoning them at the first sign of controversy. Most importantly, it means governing with the understanding that our nation is more than an economic zone — we are a people.Until then, Canadians have every reason to remain skeptical. We have seen this pattern before: patriotic language without the substance to support it; appeal to tradition without the courage to defend it; promises of unity without any recognition of what has caused our division.To rebuild Canada from the wreck that the Liberals left, it requires conviction and action. If Mark Carney cannot provide that, then his vision of Canada will be no different from that of his predecessors.Connor Shaw is a Saskatchewan-based writer who is seeking practical solutions for wide-spanning issues facing the country.
