Canada

Opinion piece by David McLaughlin. a former clerk of the executive council and cabinet secretary in the Manitoba government.

It’s time to embrace “peace, order and good government” as the governing leitmotif for the turbulent year ahead.

It was the British Empire of the day that granted us this phrase. Today we are confronted by three contemporary strands of imperialism that threaten this notion for Canada in the form of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Xi Jinping. Their imperialistic grasps are purveying intercontinental economic and military insecurity and disruption to friends and enemies alike.

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In the narcissistic personality cult [Trump] inhabits, compromise is impossible. The man who names a class of naval warship after himself while attaching his own name to garner the lustre of a beloved president’s cultural icon, is not one to go quietly into the night.

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Putin faces literally deadly choices in his war against Ukraine next year. Does he continue to try to grind Ukraine down at extraordinary costs to his people and economy or does he settle for a ceasefire and perhaps even a U.S.-imposed peace agreement?

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Xi Jinping shows no signs of abating his own ‘China Shock’ [as he] is relentlessly pursuing state-sponsored dominance in the domains of advanced technology, AI, patents, biotechnology, batteries, and critical minerals. Leveraging a deliberately undervalued Yuan currency, Chinese exports continue to grow at the expense of domestic manufacturing in the U.S., Europe and Canada. Xi keeps investing heavily in the People’s Liberation Army, building its capacity and lethality. He has refused to moderate China’s military posture against Taiwan and other nations in the South China Sea.

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Canada has its own share of bellicose politicians. They are not imperialists trying to grow their country but separatists trying to shrink theirs. The threat is no less potent, though. There will be a Quebec election in 2026 with a resurgent Parti Québécois likely to win. It is led by a hardliner committed to a flat-out independence referendum.

In Alberta, a citizens-initiated referendum question on secession has been approved by Elections Alberta, asking, “Do you agree that the province of Alberta should cease to be a part of Canada to become an independent state?” It now moves to the next step of gathering sufficient signatures to become official, all but guaranteeing a separation referendum in the province.

The coming year offers too many inflection points for things to go wrong, for Canadians to be complacent or comfortable. Secessionist referendums will sap our internal strength. Trade wars will sap our economic strength. Military threats will sap our financial strength. We are not suitably prepared for any.

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A middle power caught in the middle, Canada cannot acquire the resilience it needs to persevere by indulging in political games abetting more economic risk and social upheaval. Yet, we are inviting just that. Steadiness of purpose — national purpose — is required to get us through this moment. Take the temperature down and lift the country up is what Canada needs. Citizens need to ask this of their governments and leaders and, frankly, of each other.

We could do worse than demand a little more “peace, order and good government” in these troubling times and embrace the new year in true Canadian style.

[Edit for adding "Opinion" to the headline.]