In a world where geopolitical dynamics are constantly shifting, understanding the interplay between natural resources and national identity is crucial. This is the first in a series of three bulletins that will explain the potential of natural resource development in Canada in the context of the current challenges the country is experiencing in its relationship with the United States. This first bulletin provides the context for the role natural resources play in nationalism on both sides of the border.
Historical context: on 60 years of "Lament for a Nation"
2025 marks the 60th anniversary of the publication of George Grant's essay Lament for a Nation: The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism (Lament). This book was recognized on its 50th anniversary as one of Canada's most important books ever written. For anyone who thinks that current US presidential politics impacting global affairs and threatening Canada's independence is unprecedented, think again and read Lament. The subject matter of the book was the 1963 defeat of the Diefenbaker Conservatives by the Pearson Liberals. The election was fought on the central issue of placing American nuclear missiles on Canadian soil, which Diefenbaker strongly opposed. The election took place in the immediate aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, which most people may remember. What Canadians have likely forgotten is that there was the "Canadian Missile Crisis" that occurred at the same time.
Diefenbaker's continued nuclear resistance, combined with his disdain for America's war in Vietnam, earned him the loathing of President Kennedy, who intervened in Canada's election in support of his friend Pearson, who supported the installation of US nuclear missiles in Canada. Pearson won the 1963 election, resulting in Canada's acceptance of American nuclear missiles as part of its joint defence commitments to the United States. In the wake of the 1963 federal election, Lament declared, "Canada has ceased to be a nation, its formal political existence will not end quickly. Our social and economic blending into the empire [the United States] will continue apace, but political union will probably be delayed." Lament triggered a wave of Canadian nationalism that crested in the 1970s, and did not subside until the mid 1980s, that brought the negotiation of the original Canada-US Free Trade Agreement.
Hillbilly elegy and the threat of annexation
Americans have their own book of lament written by their current vice-president. The title of the book is Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis (Hillbilly Elegy). Originally published in 2016, the book is a deeply personal and emotional account of the economic, cultural and social devastation wrought by the deindustrialization of America's heartland and the fear and insecurity it brought to millions of Americans. Unlike Canada's Lament, Hillbilly Elegy is not partisan. To the extent Hillbilly Elegy reveals any partisanship, it vaguely favours the Democrats by including some passing praise for President Obama, who was just finishing up his last term in office. Just as Canada's Lament stoked nationalism in the years following its publication, Hillbilly Elegy provided the intellectual foundation for a political movement promising a return to a golden age, with the ultimate goal of making America the greatest civilization in the history of humanity. Achievement of such a goal would require massive resource wealth, which can be acquired by conquest or contract, but both of these means have proven to be unsustainable in the long run. Political union is needed to secure the resources required for such a grandiose national vision.
One might question why the Republicans would ever be interested in accepting Canada into a political union since success would likely lock in Democratic domination of America's institutions of governance for decades. The Democrats would seem to be the more logical party to invite Canada into the American union. However, this misses the point that nationalism is not a partisan issue in America. No president, regardless of orientation, would declare the United States a post-national state.
Looking ahead: Energy nationalism
This concludes the first instalment for a trilogy of Lament bulletins. The second bulletin will examine the role Canada's energy resources, and its oil and gas resources in particular, might play in the face of the existential threats to Canada's nationhood, and the complexity that will come with this. The third bulletin will provide a road map and time frame required to address the current challenges Canada faces and will conclude with a discussion of the risk to Canada if it does not have the will, or does not find a way to pivot.
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