During my lifetime, there have only been a handful of times that quote unquote Canadian nationalism has been a potent force of any kind.
I was one when the US-Canada Free Trade Agreement was signed in 1989, so I missed out on most of those debates.
Then there was the Turbot War in 1995, when Canadian coast guard vessels fired on Spanish trawlers that were illegally fishing off the Grand Banks. That inspired a strong, though short-lived, wave of nationalist feeling. But though my mother tells me that I was smarter than the average six-year-old, I wasn’t quite smart enough to be able to follow the ins-and-outs of an international fishing dispute.
The first, actual wave of Canadian patriotism I ever encountered was in the year 2000. That’s when Molson put out their “I Am Canadian” ad.
You know the one I’m talking about.
And for many people, that kind of came to encapsulate what it meant to be Canadian. Even though, at the end of the day, they’re paper-thin slogans from a beer company’s advertising campaign.
And to tell you the truth, that’s kind of what I’ve been feeling about the surge in Canadian nationalism over the last few months. Aside from most people agreeing that Trump is a bastard and we don’t want to join the United States, this much-vaunted, much-discussed nationalistic wave lacks substance. It’s paper-thin.
It’s Mike Myers, a guy who hasn’t lived here in three decades. It’s shopping at Loblaws instead of Walmart. And, weirdly, it’s loosening regulations on mining and oil companies in the name of patriotism.
But I do think there could be another way. There have been moments in our country’s history where we really wrestled with what it should mean to be Canadian. When different political parties and social movements put forward their own visions of nationalism.
That’s why I wanted to talk to Luke Savage. Savage is a long-time journalist and one of the smartest thinkers on the left in Canada. He’s been one of the people I’ve been reading throughout the last few months to try to figure out how this moment of nationalistic fervour fits in with the rest of Canadian history.
In our conversation, we cover a lot of ground, including Mark Carney’s cynical deployment of patriotic sentiment and why the left should once again embrace nationalism.
And we spend a good amount of time talking about the most important Canadian political book every published, Lament for a Nation, which came out sixty years ago, but is still incredibly relevant today.
Featured in this episode: Luke Savage
To learn more:
“Why a 60-year-old surprise hit about the fall of John Diefenbaker is the most important Canadian read of 2025” by Luke Savage in The Toronto Star
“Canadian Nationalism Is Back. Now What?” by Luke Savage in The Walrus
“Canadian socialism against US domination” by Luke Savage on Substack
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The Hatchet is a podcast and newsletter dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. We deliver important, original and fascinating journalism about how this country actually works.
Music: I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque
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