Canada Doesn’t Know How to Party<br />Nationally, Canada has been spared the populism that has swallowed the rest of the Western world because there is not,<br />and has never been, such a thing as a “real Canadian.” Kevin O’Leary — Canada’s supposed answer to Donald Trump — ended his campaign for the leadership of the Conservative Party, even though he was leading in the polls, because he couldn’t speak French well enough to win an election.<br />Mr. Trudeau has described the country he leads as “the first postnational state,” with “no core identity, no mainstream.” He may be right.<br />None of what I have written should be taken to imply that Canadians don’t love their country, or that I don’t love my country.<br />The historical moment we will commemorate next Saturday is Confederation — a bunch of old white guys signing a document<br />that bound a loose collection of provinces controlled by the British Empire into a vague and discontented unity without the slightest consideration of or participation by the First Peoples.<br />America at the moment seems full of dedicated, flag-waving patriots who love their country passionately,<br />vociferously; they just can’t stand their fellow citizens or their government
