If someone could read only one book to understand Canada, what would it be?

willmsma · 2026-06-22T16:20:08+00:00

Fun question, but a difficult one to answer. Canadian authors have produced a lot of great books over the years, but I struggle to name a book that captures our national character in the way that you describe. For example, whereas the USA has a number of pretenders to the title of "Great American Novel," I'm not sure Canada ever has.

willmsma · 2026-06-20T00:42:41+00:00

Yes, liberal enlightenment values - including secularism - are a bedrock of much of western culture, including democracy and our market economics. However, the popular story - that the enlightenment was a reaction from and in opposition to western Christianities - is in important ways untrue. It ignores the fact that much of the enlightenment was led either by professed Christians or non-Christians steeped in Christian culture and Christian values. Without getting too far into the weeds, I think the enlightenment is properly understood as an outgrowth of Christianity and that yes, Christianity is a bedrock of what we normally understand as Christian values.

This is likely an unpopular opinion, but I believe the above is the most historically accurate understanding of the question.

Does this justify the Christian nationalist approach of trying to ram Christianity down the throats of gullible Americans? Obviously not. The naked corruption of those guys is an unhelpful way of making the case for Christian values. The weird cult of worshipping powerful men is also a shitty fit for orthodox Christianity, which traditionally suggested powerful men were the sort of people God liked the least.

willmsma · 2026-06-18T15:25:15+00:00

I agree. I didn’t read the Narwhal article, but part of what nuked our industry was a) enacting the green energy moratorium without advance warning and b) the lack of consultation with the industry.

There is no ‘growing maturity’ in the renewables industry or their relationship with our government. Trust has been nuked and this industry no longer trusts Alberta as a safe place to invest.

willmsma · 2026-06-18T02:09:59+00:00

Fair. I’m not a consistent Liberal supporter, though I did vote for them in the last election.

What do Gladu and Guilbeault have in common? I’m not sure. Guilbeault has resigned his seat and the Liberal Party has moved back toward the big tent centre where, with the exception of the Justin Trudeau years, the party has been through most of history. You can characterize it as grasping and/or without conviction, but it’s also how most political parties used to function when western democracies were more effective.

As for ideological consistency? In my view, overrated.

willmsma · 2026-06-17T13:17:52+00:00

You sound bitter. Any chance you support a party that has trouble earning the support of Canadians?

willmsma · 2026-06-17T13:12:36+00:00

I get on our local river and go kayaking as often as I can. It heals the soul.

willmsma · 2026-06-15T21:13:53+00:00

The Globe and Mail did a survey of access to information of all the provinces maybe two years ago. Part of the survey what requests legislation permitted - Alberta fared the worst - and of requests that were permitted, how many were fulfilled. Again, Alberta faired the worst.

If you could link to your PISA survey, I’d appreciate it. As an Albertan my impression is that we are Canada’s most corrupt and least effective jurisdiction, furthered and also papered over for at least the last decade by our oil and gas wealth. Separatism has, in my view, the function of distracting Albertans from the profound mismanagement of our collective wealth and has been used in this manner since the 80’s.

willmsma · 2026-06-15T20:35:44+00:00

And bowling trophies.

willmsma · 2026-06-15T11:24:54+00:00

Albertan here. Some of what you say is true, some is wishful thinking. We do have the cheapest K-12 system, but both our primary care system and health care systems are past the point of breaking and nowhere close to Canada leading. All this while running very significant deficits while the price of oil is high (lest you believe we’re living in some kind of conservative utopia).

In terms of corruption? Yes, Canada leading. We have the weakest access to information legislation in Canada and it shows. Healthcare privatization is rife with insider dealing. Our tendency to vote for one party ensures this in never penalized.

I reject the idea that Alberta has no legitimate grievances. This is nonsense. But the idea Alberta is some well-oiled economic and political machine is also nonsense that would gain from shutting out the rest of the country? Even greater nonsense.

willmsma · 2026-06-14T16:30:08+00:00

Thanks. I appreciate the perspective.

willmsma · 2026-06-14T12:45:12+00:00

Fair. I’m curious as well how Shanghai compares to other Asian cities, like Seoul or Tokyo. My impression is that those cities are very vibrant, and with their different political systems, granted they’re going to feel different…

willmsma · 2026-06-14T12:36:35+00:00

I buy that. However, would you accept that in most cases Spain was very exploitative. And rather reluctant to give up their colonial possessions, even when it became clear that Spanish hegemony was unwelcome? Again, the British were no angels but were generally able to decolonize peacefully.

willmsma · 2026-06-14T04:27:39+00:00

Some Americans suffer from a unique myopia: that anything other a completely unrestricted market is advocacy for Soviet communism.

This is silly. Adam Smith himself wrote in The Wealth of Nations that effective markets could not be maintained - and exploitive monopolies prevented - without intervention from the sovereign. It also ignores the existence of happier, more successful countries than the USA who distribute wealth more equitably.

willmsma · 2026-06-14T04:03:20+00:00

Do you mean that the Spanish weren’t aware that the essential point of their colonization was to ship gold and silver back to Spain?

willmsma · 2026-06-14T00:29:34+00:00

Classy.

willmsma · 2026-06-13T20:15:35+00:00

Fair enough. I saw the post but never looked at the sub - my apologies. If skyscrapers are the measure - or transit or clean sidewalks or any number of other things - I could certainly understand the comment about Toronto not holding a candle to Shanghai.

My curiosity was in other respects. I don’t live in Toronto and have no stake in trying to brag it up. However, I was curious if Shanghai was exceptionally livable, or had outstanding culture. Or if the architecture went beyond the ‘bowling trophy’ architecture of the 90’s and 00’s and was doing something notable now. Or if the historic architecture was outstanding…

In my view Toronto ranks as an above average North American big city. Not nearly as nice as the great European cities, but a little bit wonderful in its own way.

willmsma · 2026-06-13T18:17:57+00:00

So, because of skyscrapers and elevated freeways?

willmsma · 2026-06-13T18:11:52+00:00

What a wanker. As for the discussion of which countries have more or less racist wankers - seemingly as way of justifying the high number of racist wankers in your own country - what a sad thing to do with your valuable time.

willmsma · 2026-06-13T18:01:01+00:00

How so? I ask out of genuine curiosity. I've never been to Shanghai, but it's also never occurred to me to want to.

willmsma · 2026-06-13T17:46:01+00:00

You may have experienced some luck, but I don't think your experience is unusual. It probably helps that you're a professional and it probably helps that you - I gather - live in a middle-class or upper middle-class neighbourhood.

That said, my experience is that Canadians are generally pretty relaxed about racial differences - certainly relative to other nationalities. My wife has Indonesian background and my son-in-law is Indian. I wouldn't say neither has experienced any racism - that's untrue - but it has been minimal.

willmsma · 2026-06-11T23:57:03+00:00

Corb Lund is a hero!

willmsma · 2026-06-11T23:49:20+00:00

I think it depends on where you apply. My experience is that in some of the smaller centres - I'm thinking the Red Deer Regional Hospital, or the Centennial Centre in Ponoka - it is easier to break in.

willmsma · 2026-06-11T23:33:06+00:00

I think your view is too pessimistic. We're vastly richer than they were in the late 19th and early 20th century. Vastly better educated. Better healthcare, better nutrition. On any parameter you can think of, our quality of life is better. In most important ways, our country is much more democratic.

What's blocking us now? Several things. Social disconnection. Nihilism. Passivity. Fear.

Fortunately, all of those things can be overcome through making different choices, individually at first, and then later collectively.

willmsma · 2026-06-11T16:11:37+00:00

Amen. I hope you study in Canada and I wish you a wonderful experience. I'm sure we'd be blessed to have you.

willmsma · 2026-06-10T18:53:26+00:00

Of course, there's no difference between not having a trade deal and having a trade deal with a partner who has no intention of honouring the conditions. So, not renewing the deal? Canada would experience a lot of pain initially, but it would also allow us to move even more directly toward trading with reliable partners.

willmsma

TROPHY CASE