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“Everybody would give everything they have for the privilege to share our so-called miseries.”
Harper quipped that he “didn’t sign the petition,” an apparent reference to the document circulating to prompt a referendum on Alberta independence.
Chrétien interjected and said, “any Tories did?” to which Harper replied, “I’m told not.”
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While sharing the stage with Chrétien, who championed the ‘no’ side in the 1995 referendum on Quebec independence, Harper said Canadians need to lean into civic nationalism at this potentially perilous moment.
“We are living in an age of nationalism where there is no reason why this country should not be as nationalistic as anyone else. We have a lot to be proud of. It’s a tremendous country. We have a great history, a great land, a tremendous gift of providence.
“Our pride doesn’t just have to be not liking Donald Trump. We should be proud of who we are as a nation,” Harper said. “I love the United States but I’m not American. I think our country is different and worth preserving.”
Harper said he ran into a prominent longtime separatist a few months ago at the Ottawa airport and chatted with this figure about what Trump is doing to international affairs.
Former prime ministers Stephen Harper and Jean Chrétien met for a fireside chat on Monday in Ottawa after the Royal Canadian Geographical Society awarded Harper its gold medal for his career in public service and his tenure as Canada’s 22nd prime minister.
Harper said he remarked to the unnamed separatist, “This is the reason we have to stick together,” and said the person then lowered their voice and replied, “I think you’re right.”
Chrétien said it’s a problem that relatively few Canadians are familiar with the country’s history.
“I’m amazed by the ignorance of the people,” he said, referencing the country’s 18th-century origin story and how Britain worked with, and at times appeased, French Canadians to collaboratively keep Canada separate from the U.S.
French Canadians went from a small complement of some 60,000 in New France to a 9,000,000-strong block in one of the wealthiest countries on earth. “It’s not that bad,” Chrétien said in jest.
Harper made marking and celebrating Canada’s history a focus of the government he led.
The last Conservative government invested heavily in commemorating the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, that foundational military conflict where local, British, French and Indigenous soldiers thwarted American invaders and secured what would become Canada’s independence on the northern half of the continent.
Poking at Carney’s recent mention of the Seven Years’ War during a speech in Quebec City, Harper said he should have invoked other moments of bicultural co-operation.
“The American Revolution, the War of 1812 are probably better examples of Canadian unity than the Plains of Abraham,” Harper said, referring to the British defeating the French in 1759, which brought an end to New France.
“We burned the White House but we will not repeat,” Chrétien joked of the soldiers that torched the presidential residence.
“Part of it is being torn down by the current incumbent,” Harper said in response.
Source: cbc
