To the Editor:
As pundits debate whether the views of Canadians have shifted to "the right" during the past seven years of political turbulence, many public opinion polls suggest Canada remains solidly anchored in "the centre" with strong, durable support for such things as the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, multicultural diversity, and key social initiatives like medicare and pensions.
The values that animate Canadian nation-building have been in the making for 146 years (not just the last seven), and what we have built together is a truly remarkable country.
With our vast landmass, we are the second biggest nation on earth, spanning five distinct regions across six time zones. We have fantastic geography and topography to admire and to challenge us from coast-to-coast-to-coast.
We have a small, but complicated population, beginning with Aboriginal peoples, and then Norse and French and English explorers and settlers, and then wave-after-wave of enriching immigration. We now include every ethnicity, colour and creed, two official languages and many cultures - the diversity of the whole world - mixed together unevenly, not in a melting pot, but as an intricate mosaic, strung out sparsely along thousands of miles of American boundary.
Out of such complexity, how have we forged our nation? It's through the application, I believe, of those typical Canadian values that have stood the test of time - never perfectly, but by and large successfully.
Like a sense of fairness and justice. A spirit of generosity. Compassion. Tolerance. Sharing. Open hearts and open minds. Pride in our vast diversity. We have practised the art of creative compromise and accommodation - to make room for each other, so the overall result for all of us can be more, not less.
We have always had the patient willingness to listen to each other. To reach out. To bridge differences. To try hard to understand one another.
And once we have listened and understood, Canadians have always been prepared to take action with and for each other together. Not because it's in the self-interest of some comfortable majority. Not because we HAVE to. But because we WANT to.
Canada is thus a triumph of the human spirit. We have been built and are held together, not by the force of law or the force of arms, but by our common will. And that kind of nation-building - the Canadian way - is a never-ending process. Canada is and always will be a precious "work-in-progress" that we dare not take for granted.
Let's recommit ourselves to those generous values that have shaped us, and renew our resolve to keep on building this wonderful country, in all of its complexity, always and forever, together.
Ralph Goodale, MP, Wascana, SK.
