As a Canadian you’re always interested in what Americans say about you. It’s part of having the bulk of our population scrunched against the 49th parallel, and our bandwidth filled with mass production of ‘Merica. So when I was informed about a column by Nicholas Kristof, the longstanding New York Times writer, I was intrigued.
Kristof has concluded that Canada is boring, but becoming “a moral leader in the free world.”
If only.
Canada as a foil
Unfortunately, Kristof’s analysis is the somewhat hidebound American comment that can come from the Right or the Left.
When the Canadian leader sounds faintly ‘conservative’ he is lauded like a distant Republican in buffalo-plaid (see Stephen Harper). When the PM is a more progressive globalist, he is the sexy leader which the Democratic National Committee pines for (see Justin Trudeau).
The fact is that when Canada is viewed as a moral leader by most American pundits, it is to use Canada as a foil for their own party aspirations.
In Kristof’s case, he, unfortunately, lacks the analysis needed to get a good read on Canada’s foreign policy. Kristof can see the way Canada has publicly pressed Saudi Arabia on human rights and faced a public scolding from the Kingdom. Yet the veteran columnist fails to mention that Canada still takes in Saudi oil, and has upheld lucrative defence contracts to that nation (though there is the talk of possible curtailment).
Kristof highlights the Huawei controversy, and Canada’s work behind the scenes in support of Venezuelan dissidents. Maybe he’s on to something. He’s the columnist. I’m just a pastor.
But that is where I think it is appropriate to speak into the claim that Canada is a moral leader in the world. Mr. Kristof is making a moral argument.
That might be something I can talk about.
Moral or Immoral Leadership
You see, when it comes to the moral leadership of Canada, the boring stability of our inherited British parliamentary system has masked a very dark underbelly which Canada has produced all on its own.
Canada has no abortion law. Canada is legally euthanizing the elderly. It’s leadership is clear, but it isn’t “moral” in the sense of being good.
What is also sinister about Canada’s leadership, in what John Paul II famously called the “culture of death”, is that there is almost no public debate about the abortion issue. When politicians or advocates bring up the possibility of an abortion law that has reasonable restrictions, it is denounced as totalitarian and threatening to women’s rights.
Such backlash takes place in every country, but usually it is in response to calls to abolish abortion altogether. Canada is not permitted to even think about limiting abortions for any reason.
This brings me back to the ‘moral leadership’ thesis which Nicholas Kristof makes on behalf of Canada. The radicalness of the “terminators” (as McGill professor Douglas Farrow called them), has cowed even the supposed ‘right-wing’ pro-life politicians. There is no Canadian conservative leader who advocates restrictions on abortions as a main part of his policy platform.
Even the tenure of Stephen Harper failed this test. Now, Harper’s record has been viewed positively for it’s global leadership supporting democratic values, the “moral leadership” I think Kristof is getting at. Harper could have, but chose not to engage in the slightest discussion of restricting abortions in Canada. Such a position in the US would make him not a Republican, but likely a left-leaning, less than moderate Democrat.
So the lack of moral leadership is not confined to the current Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, but extends back through successive leaders from all political stripes.
Canada and the most vulnerable
The result of this immoral leadership is that Canada has the ignominy of standing in defiance of the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child (UNCRC). According to the website, WeNeedALaw.ca, the UNCRC preamble states, “Bearing in mind that, as indicated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, “the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth”.
With no abortion law, Canada refuses to protect the most vulnerable people in Canada – the pre-born.
Is it cowardice or just some combination of ideology and pragmatism?
There are many reasons why Canada’s glory is merely gilded. The pastor in me thinks that the absence of any abortion law is a Canadian way of psychologizing an atonement for our sins.
By not even talking about the slaughter of the innocents, Canada can be at peace. To speak about the sins is to deny the psychological atonement that is held onto so desperately. Canada, therefore, is reconciled with itself, blotting out of its collective mind any of its sins. But it cannot remain good.
Any such leadership is propaganda at best and tyranny at worst.
An Invocation
Finally, in the spirit of Kristof’s prayer-like invocation, “Thank God for Canada!”, I too wish to thank God for his grace to Canada and his mercy. It is evident how God has blessed Canadians with people of warmth and welcome and lands of expansive beauty. How long will God withhold the application of his just verdict against our sins?
The only moral hope for Canada is in the blood of the Lamb slain for sinners like us. In His goodness alone can we be truly good.
