If there’s one bitter gift from living next door to a fraud, a bully, and a bloated narcissist, it’s the serene knowledge that for all our lapses and failures we are not Donald Trump. Ours is not, or ever could be, his “51st state”. Our decency, though not infallible, is a beacon against the creeping idiocracy in the gloaming of the American empire.

And perhaps, in some twisted way, we owe the 47^th President of the United States our thanks. He has forced us to remember who we are. Vimy Ridge—Canadians pushing uphill through mud and fire to do what no others could. Juno Beach—storming the Atlantic wall, carving a path through tyranny. “Henderson scores!”—a nation exploding with pride and relief in that final breathless moment. The Marathon of Hope—Terry Fox pounding across the miles, refusing to let cancer claim anything more than what it already had.

These stories define us in sacrifice, courage, quiet strength; the opposite of cheap spectacle. But while Trump’s reign of wreckage is already reminding us of what we stand for—and what we’ll never become—the question remains: What will we become?

Climate change, rising authoritarianism, technological disruption aren’t waiting for us to finish clucking over Trump’s travesties. Nor will these global ministrations be gentle to us just because we are not him. We have our own work to do.

Let’s not kid ourselves. We’ve got cracks in our foundation. Climate change, rising authoritarianism, technological disruption aren’t waiting for us to finish clucking over Trump’s travesties. Nor will these global ministrations be gentle to us just because we are not him. We have our own work to do. Take internal trade barriers—no, really, take them.

In a country that thinks hockey night is a national holiday, why can’t we ship craft brews freely across provincial borders? Why must dairy farmers in one province—who want to sell milk to processors in another—navigate a regulatory maze so convoluted it’s easier to import cheese from across an ocean? (This while our governments call on Canadians to fortify their sense of national unity by buying homegrown goods).

Then, there’s our celebrated healthcare system, which only seems overrated if you’re a family in rural Manitoba waiting six months to see a specialist or an ER patient in Nova Scotia spending 12 hours in the waiting room because the system is so strained it might as well come with a sleeping bag. Meanwhile, federal and provincial governments squabble over funding formulas and call it “universal”.

Public education, we are told, is the sturdy pillar of national prosperity. But tell that to increasingly disenfranchised students in comminutes across the country facing underfunded schools, outdated curricula, and overworked teachers. According to recent provincial assessments, 27 per cent of Grade 3 students in Ontario did not meet provincial reading standards. In Nova Scotia, the number was 32 per cent; in New Brunswick, it was 43 per cent. So much for critical thinking, digital literacy and global awareness.

If we’re going to show the world how much better we are—how we’ve rejected the drooling ignorance that views Canada as America’s attic—we have to prove it to ourselves by performing more of those unassailably virtuous deeds for which we are justly famous.

Of course, people can’t build businesses or raise families if they can’t afford a place to live. Skyrocketing real estate prices in cities like Vancouver and Toronto have locked out an entire generation. Meanwhile, rural areas face a different crisis—crumbling infrastructure and a lack of investment.

There’s no getting around the fact that in the Age of Trump—where lies substitute for facts as smoothly as maple syrup slides off a short stack—truth takes a beating every day. If we’re going to show the world how much better we are—how we’ve rejected the drooling ignorance that views Canada as America’s attic—we have to prove it to ourselves by performing more of those unassailably virtuous deeds for which we are justly famous.

That means embracing a clear-eyed vision for the future. We need an energy policy that balances environmental stewardship with economic growth, showcasing our leadership on climate change without abandoning resource-dependent regions. We need to boost exports in key sectors like technology, clean energy and advanced manufacturing, diversifying away from over-reliance on any one market (especially the U.S.).

This is not a time for complacency. The stakes are too high. We stand at the crossroads of our own future, not America’s. We can’t afford to get stuck in their culture wars or echo their dysfunction. Our path is different. It always has been. But to earn that good future—to truly be the nation we aspire to be—we have to do the work.

The world is watching, but more importantly, so are we.

Alec Bruce is a senior contributor to Atlantic Business Magazine.

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