Change from the Old Canada to a New Reality

Stephen LeDrew

May 7, 2020

As Canadians start to anticipate the beginning of the gradual end of the lockdown, it is appropriate to think about changes that can and need to be made in the reconstruction of our society and economy. We need to rebuild anyway, just as we would after a devastating
war, so why would we not take this opportunity for a national discussion on how to make a better Canada?

That said, it will be impossible to rebuild Canada exactly as it was, because of the new realities imposed upon us by the changed world order.

For example, Canadians were shocked to discover that critical pharmaceuticals were being manufactured overseas—and will not tolerate that status quo—we must become masters of our own health.

Similarly, the massive tourist ships of 6,000 passengers may very well be a thing of the past—and provide new tourism opportunities for Canadian business.

The tremendous shipping and transportation industries are in for an overhaul–we could be a world leader in air transportation, beyond the multi-billion dollar bailouts that will be part of keeping major carriers such as Air Canada viable and competitive,

The debate over the Canadian oil and gas sector is not over, but it is coming to a head as a result of falling world prices exacerbated by the Saudi-Russian oil war. Coupled with the massive Canadian government debt we are going to find ourselves shouldering, a
sustainable political answer must be hammered out in the near future to allow Alberta, Saskatchewan as well as Newfoundland and Labrador to prosper once again.

Canadian leaders need to seize this unprecedented opportunity to rebuild Canada not just in the likeness of its old self—but better. Political and business and technology and academic leaders must provide options for change in more sectors than just business. We need economic and social change.

Change from a Canada where individual owners of franchises bank millions of dollars at low tax rates, made on the backs of employees working hard for minimum wages, struggling to make ends meet.

Change from a Canada where a New Brunswick refinery must import oil shipped from halfway around the globe because it cannot receive oil from Western Canada because we don’t have sufficient pipelines across our country, specifically the Energy East project strenuously opposed by Quebec and eventually killed off by the Trudeau government.

Change from a Canada which has driven investment out of our nation, and alienated half of its population, because of a political system which fails to make policy based on consensus and evidence, but instead upon its narrow political agenda.

Canadians have realized a startling number of uncomfortable truths about themselves and their country as a result of the pandemic, and they must be acted upon.

For example, if there is one startling fact that has become so obvious to every single Canadian as a result of the disproportionate number of deaths in nursing and retirement
institutions, it is that we have not caused nearly the sufficiency of resources to be spent in this growing field. It is a shocking and scandalous failure of governance at both the provincial and federal levels.

Every citizen could compile a list of things which should be revisited and refined.

The point is that this is the time to address that list of shortcomings—and make alterations.
Canada will not be exactly a blank canvass when we are out of this mess—we are a nation- with a history of successes.

And we are a culture, and we have certain natural limitations, so this is the time to have a national discussion on where we want to go, to be, and how to get there.

Already some municipal interest groups are sending out what amounts to manifestos on how they want to become the power brokers to recreate Canada in their image of their own woke selves.

We should not be swayed by these narrow, self-serving folk. We need a broad-based national debate that involves all people, that encompasses and engages all citizens, that results in a realistic vision for the next century.

We can create a national plan that addresses the new realities of delivering health care.

We can address the fact that our education systems are no longer up to providing what is needed to vault ahead on a world scale. We can better understand what we want to be as Canadians, with a renewed sense of nationalism and citizenship.

We can and should take advantage of what this pandemic has thrown our way—to simply try to get back to the old ways ,without addressing the problems of the old ways as we invest and rebuild, would be to miss this great opportunity to turn this misery and loss and confusion into a renewed , re-invigorated, and dynamic society based on a renewed commitment to social justice and freedom.

Stephen LeDrew, a former president of the Liberal Party of Canada, is a Toronto lawyer.