The Canadian weakness for flattery from the rest of the world being the persistently infantilizing national character trait that it is, we lap it up. It is, unfortunately, the same world Canadians are increasingly admonished to embrace, engage with and be open to. Bonus: recent immigrants tend to express similar degrees of quality-of-life satisfaction as — dare I use the term — “old stock” Canadians. But if we’d applied that standard from the beginning, we’d never have admitted the English or the French. And whatever sort of country would have come of that, it wouldn’t be the country we’re all boasting about right now.

Source: National Post November 02, 2016 21:22 UTC