| AMERICANISM MEANS SEPARATISM IN CANADA |
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| Robert Morpheal, Bob Ezergailis, Morphealism (morpheal@yahoo.com) |
2008/12/08 22:16 |
AMERICANISM MEANS SEPARATISM IN CANADA
It can readily be seen that Quebec separatism tends to gain ground in
direct relation of the continued Americanization of the rest of
Canada. As English speaking Canada becomes more Americanized, Quebec
tends to move away from it, and towards Europe. In some regards the
movement away from English Canada is a movement towards Europe. When
we look at what American leadership has done to the world as a whole,
we cannot blame Quebec separatists from their renewed interests in
surprising that that realization came from France. It is also not
surprising that Derrida has fallen out of favor and is very
unfashionable now in America. America does not want difference.
America wants Americanism, and it wants to promote Americanism in
Canada, as it has been doing for decades, ever more aggressively and
more totally since the Trudeau era. In some regards the difference of
that era and its opposition to Americanism has led to increased
American aggressiveness, which seeks to Americanize Canada, by any
means it can use, and no matter how long it takes.
Americanism has gained more ground in English Canada partially because
they both share a common language. That makes for easier bedfellows,
even if reluctant ones at a shotgun wedding. It is more difficult to
Americanize Quebec. It is a different language. Language is a big
factor in relation to political manipulation. Manipulation is more
readily achieved where the language is the same, and more difficult
when the language is different.
factors. Language is one of those factors. Catholicism is another.
Protestant, English speaking, Canada again tends to be more accessible
to American influence. The deeply rooted Catholic tradition in Quebec
is less vulnerable to Americanization, being more ideologically
divergent from Americanism and in some regards more conservative than
the loose and tenuous connections between the varieties of
Protestantism. Catholic and American ideas about spirituality and the
role of the spiritual in a nation, do differ significantly. Even if
Anglican does have some prominence in the protestent, English Canada,
tradition it has not been particularly active and certainly has not
voiced very strong dissent in regard to political trends. That may
change, but in recent decades the Anglican voice has been unusually
subdued when it comes to vital questions of Canadian national
identity. Protestantism has been relatively quiet on most political
frontiers, tending its own backyards rather than venturing far enough
parochial issues have predominated, and in some regards those matters
themselves turned attention largely away from the bigger questions of
Canadian identity, Americanism, and the unity of the nation.
Catholicism, on the other hand, has served as a bastion helping to
hold Quebec together, even if somewhat separately from what is
predominantly English, Protestant, Canada. In some ways the divergent
religions of English Canada have been more consumed with small
matters, having less energy to expend in larger national issues. I
think that has been more deliberate than chanced, but foreign
manipulations are often difficult to prove. The Catholicism of Quebec,
has been more resistant, due to its beliefs, its long experience, and
its numbers.
Then too we have the unique relation between French cultures, even if
divergent themselves, helping to connect Europe and Quebec. There is a
magnetism there, for some. France was a leading nation in Europe, and
French culture and its cultural wealth in philosophy, the arts, in
letters, cinema, performing arts, and sciences remains a force to be
reckoned with. To have a linguistic, as well as cultural, connection,
no matter how tenuous that might sometimes seem, to French tradition,
is certainly something more attractive than the insipid, cultural
emptiness that America more often appears to be and clearly is
increasingly becoming. So there is that influence as well, steering
Quebec away from Americanism, and towards European roots, ever more
cultural emptiness. So too the seeming emptiness of an increasingly
Americanized English Canada. It is no coincidence too that we see more
emphasis on continuity in Quebec with a culture of crafts, and things
made uniquely. We see a decline in emphasis on craftsmanship and
uniqueness wherever Americanism is making greater inroads, but in
Quebec we find artisan and craftsperson more likely to be holding
their own. Clearly a difference from much of the rest of Canada where
crafts and artisans are finding themselves under increasing siege and
increasingly in doubt as to Canadian identity versus making some
pretty things to sell in any market.
Then again, the metropolis of Montreal does not look west to Toronto
for its main competitor in North America. It looks to New York City,
in the United States. The contrasts between Montreal and New York
remain a reality, as is the case with cross border competitions from
differing cultures. So the Montrealer and the American, though
definitely conscious of their differences. That moreso than the
Torontonian who finds it more and more difficult to distinguish what
is really different between Toronto and New York. The Canadian to
American difference is much more eroded in that instance than in the
instance of French Montreal and American English New York. Montreal is
still more European, in everything it does, and how it does it, while
New York is decisively American. Toronto has become a follower of what
lies across the American border, more often than not. That difference
of interests is immensely important. In some ways Toronto has been
made to feel inferior, whereas Montreal, being larger and culturally
feelings of inferiority have made it somewhat more a victim of
Americanism, and this is not coincidental to the fact that America is
particularly sensitive to contrasts between what used to be called
contrasting of cities, cross border, has led to a condition of
increased siege, where the goal is to eliminate much of the contrast
that led to the comparison.
What we see in this is a gradual erosion, by the continued
Americanization of English Canada, of both Canadian unity and of
Canadian identity. Whereas Quebec is doing much better at maintaining
its own identity, English speaking Canada is not doing near as well.
English speaking Canada has increasingly been willing to give up what
is uniquely Canadian, and to adopt American ideas, and American ways.
It has not done well at standing up for its own, and holding its own
ground. No doubt English Canada has not yet learned to clearly know
itself in distinction from what speaks to it from across the American
border. It remains lured and deceived as readily as not. It is easier
when the language is the same.
Some of the politicians who have come to power, in recent decades,
have shown decisively American tendencies and a love for American
ideas. Perhaps the fascination with obvious power and perceived wealth
across the nearby border. Sometimes simply the effects of clever
Canada has been increasingly Americanized, but gradually enough that
it has hardly noticed the incremental changes across a span of
decades, subsequent to the years when Pierre Trudeau was Prime
Minister and Canadian identity was receiving renewed intensive
attention. In some regards I think that Trudeau recognized the
dangers, but unfortunately men of his talent in national leadership
are relatively scarce and in the day to day business details of
running a country, there have been few real visionary and inspiring
moments, sufficiently powerful to fuel both unity and nationalism, by
fostering a strong sense of national Canadian identity that can appeal
to both French and English Canada sufficiently, much less equally.
Certainly Canada has not tended to form sufficiently strong relations
with other nations, other than America. The Commonwealth is hardly
mentionned. The EU is largely ignored. Russia hardly gets a word.
China is a trading partner, but it is largely only a very superficial
commercial interaction, not a deeper understanding. America, however,
it is the only other country in the world that is worthy of any real
attention. Clearly Americanization is winning out.
To maintain national unity in Canada will require reassertion of a
unique Canadian identity that takes the best of both worlds, old and
new, to build a unique society that is decisively distinct from
America. The nearer Canada moves towards Americanism, the greater the
disunity will become. Unity requires a clear vision of a uniquely, un-
American, Canadian identity. That identity is not ultimately a matter
of what language someone speaks, but it is a matter of a culture,
society, politics, and economics that are Canadian, not American. We
must define and assert the difference between Canadian and American or
there will be no more Canada. The slow but steady influx of
Americanism during recent decades, bringing trends towards American
style privatization of national and provincial services has taken its
immense toll. Similarly the erosion of labor laws, and the changes as
to entitlement legislation related to vacations, holidays, overtime
limitations, benefits and the destruction of reliable pension plans,
has given cause to look to France for a different approach to that of
Americanized English Canada. Those are other reasons why French
Quebec tends to feel it must look to alternatives to living in this
Americanism. France is choosing another direction in all of the areas
of life where English Canada is moving towards becoming more American.
France has long been involved in politics that are decisively un
American, and that too is becoming more attractive as America
demonstrates its various failures. This is not insignificant and those
of the more nationalist Trudeau era could have warned of this danger.
Partially such dangers do come from long alliances against mutual
adversaries, as was the case in the Cold War, but in the subsequent
quest for lasting peace new directions must be followed and it is
unwise to continue down the same old road. To follow the same old road
can lead to the same old result. We must question how we, Canadians,
have wandered so very very far from the real goals of a uniquely
Canadian society and culture, and from our maintaining a national
There are other areas, of Canadian life, where Americanism has
infiltrated, invaded, co-opted, influenced, diverted, manipulated,
controlled, overwhelmed, and sabotaged in its continuing conquest of
Canada. Quebec would certainly leave if English Canada continued to
fail to recognize and clearly oppose that destructive and damaging
trend, coming from both the subtle and the more obvious invasion from
across the United States border. It is an invasion of ideas, and a
conquest of culture, of arts and literature, as well as of economics
and social practices. It does not recognize any clear barriers but
permeates into everything, as long as there is no concerted and
unified opposition, bringing with it a clear vision of Canadian
difference. That is of Canadian identity, clearly distinct from
American and Americanism.
Robert Morpheal
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