Canada geese refusing to fly south for the winter. #Resistanceisreal

Friends from overseas are asking me to explain “elbows up”, to discuss how Canadians feel about being threatened by the great orange virus, and what we’re doing to safeguard our independence. Much ink has been spilled on all the manifestations of a newly revitalized Canadian pride so here are just a few items that caught my attention.

Driving through the BC interior this past weekend we passed a large delivery truck painted with a slogan I have not seen before. It read:

We deliver to postal codes, not zip codes. Proudly Canadian since 2017.

Sales of Canadian flags are setting new records and, bear in mind, we are not traditionally a flag-waving nation. Maybe a demure flag waved around at the July 1st fireworks, but very rarely a front porch flagpole. Yes, we do sew Canadian flags on our backpacks but that’s strictly to avoid being mistaken for Americans.

Canadians with second homes south of the 49th are scrambling to sell them, afraid the 15% tax withheld on sales will simply be lost by a decimated IRS, or that homes owned by Canadians will be expropriated in yet another fit of presidential pique.

Every grocery store owner I’ve spoken to is being pressured to find alternate suppliers who can stock Canadian, Mexican, Peruvian or Klingon products, anything but “Product of USA”.

American alcohol is being pulled from Canadian liquor store shelves and no more will be ordered. BC’s Premier, David Eby, noting that TRump wants our water, commented, drily, we’ll happily send back your watery beer instead.

Canadians are cancelling trips south of the line in droves; at last count cross border tourism was down a whopping 40%. People are still going to visit friends and family (many of them holding their noses) but conference business, stags and stagettes, concerts and other non-essential travel is taking a nose dive. Sure the weaker dollar is part of it, but the accumulated symbolic actions of staying north of the border are being felt.

Our Canadian complacency, often disguised as decency and good manners, requires a tune-up in these anxious days.

I was on the local ferry the other day when a car alarm began to blare. This is not even barely unusual despite BC Ferries’ attempts to summon the offending drivers back to their vehicles to SHUT THE DAMN THING OFF.

In this case, the alarm continued to sound repeatedly, despite one polite announcement asking for the owner of the white F-150 on Deck 4 to come back and turn it off. The request was completely ignored and it occurred to me that this is the kind of permissiveness and lack of follow-through that has plagued Canadian social policy and public behaviour. We seem to be stuck in a 50s Ralph Kramden “Why I oughta…..” style of diplomacy. The knuckle sandwich that never lands.

We’re reminded that a mouse can’t fight an elephant, but if a mouse can find the soft tissue to bite into, and gnaw on, I think Mr. Mouse can do a lot to bring that elephant down. Ontario’s Premier, Doug Ford, clearly has his teeth firmly sunk into the soft tissue of the scrotum of the eastern seaboard by first putting tariffs on electricity exports and being willing to shut those electricity exports off altogether. Like other tariffs, Ford’s are on again, off again, like the lights in your bathroom. The fact is, he has the power (pun intended) and I hope he has the jam to use it.

Of course the question becomes what does Ford do with the power that is no longer being sold and the revenues that are no longer flowing into his coffers, and I am not in a position to answer that, but I’m sure there are better minds than mine who could imagine how that electricity could be used closer to home. For example, to replace fossil fuels in the North where they rely on diesel when their own hydroelectric generation freezes up. Transmission over such vast distances is, of course, a massive challenge but so was Canada, at one time. As Gordon Lightfoot mused, “there was a time in this great land when the railroad did not run”.

Just like charity, transmission and distribution begins at home.

And while we’re on the subject of apropos songs, Woody Guthrie’s American anthem, “This Land is My Land” comes to mind, with the advice to STAY IN YOUR LANE.

Ours is a country of clever people whose reaction to adversity is often to make fun of it, to invoke hockey metaphors that only we all understand, to be self-effacing and optimistic. I believe that might be changing. It’s the perfect time.

Check out more from Jesse McFaul.

Until next time, vacation local, shop local, buy Canadian. Be Canadian, only angrier.

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