Beating our chest
Conservative politicians now routinely declare Canada ‘the greatest’ land on Earth
When Finance Minister Joe Oliver called Canada “the greatest country in the world’’ in his budget speech last week, it marked the 19th time this year an MP has declared Canada “the best” or “the greatest” in the House of Commons.
Canadians didn’t always speak this way. For most of its history, Canada was a “great” country and a “proud” country, but rarely “the best country.”
But now, thanks to money, Quebec separatism and sheer hubris, Canada is now a firm member of the small fraternity of countries that routinely declare themselves better than the others.
“We didn’t pound our chest in the way you see lately,” said Bryon Wilfert, the former Liberal MP for Richmond Hill. “We just took it for granted that we were good and didn’t shout it from the Peace Tower.”
Although Conservatives account for most “best in the world” pronouncements these days, the practice largely ori- ginated with then prime minister Jean Chrétien.
“I remember the first time he said it, and I thought ‘ Oh, that’s weird,’ ” said Barry Cooper, a political science professor at the University of Calgary.
In 1992, Canada had just earned the top spot on the United Nations human development index, a ranking it would hold for seven of the next eight years.
Faced with a secession-minded Quebec, Chrétien’s Liberals were more than happy to chastise separatists loudly and often with the news that Canada was now the United Nations-sanctioned “best country in the world.”
“People throughout the world wonder why a province like Quebec is not happy to live in the best country of the world,” Chrétien told a Bloc Québécois in 1997.
Of course, there are many other countries that would beg to differ with Canada’s characterization of itself as the best.
South of the border, the words “greatest nation on Earth” are so common in political speeches that they now function as an effective synonym for “United States.”
In his 2013 State of the Union address, for instance, President Barack Obama warned that “the greatest nation on Earth cannot keep conducting its business by drifting from one manufactured crisis to the next.”
And most of Obama’s 318.9 million constituents would agree. A 2010 Gallup poll found that 80% of Americans believed their country was better than any other on Earth.
In the U.K., Prime Minister David Cameron can occasionally be seen mounting podiums to declare Great Britain the “greatest country on Earth.” And as it was with Canada, the rhetoric was particularly heated when a large part of the “greatest country” was threatening to leave.
Australian politicians have made the declaration almost routine.
In 2013, newly elected Australian MP Rick Wilson declared in his first speech to Parliament that he was “a citizen of undoubtedly the best country in the world.” Earlier, the inaugural speech by an MP from New South Wales had upped the ante by declaring that he was a citizen of “one of the most exceptional regions of the best country in the world.”
Even when they are criticizing the Land Down Under, Australian politicians are careful to note that they are still the best.
“I think Australia is a great country. The best country on Earth. But it can be a better country,” former prime minister Julia Gillard famously said during an election debate in 2010.
Meanwhile, there are plenty of wealthy, free countries in which the “best country in the world” moniker is strictly avoided.
Germans are extremely leery of expressing any kind of state superiority or even waving the German flag for fear of bringing back the hypernationalism so characteristic of their Nazi past.
In 2010, Ireland placed at the top of a “good country index,” which ranked countries based on their positive contribution to the rest of the world.
Instead of Ireland doing what Canada did and boast about the ranking, index creator Simon Anholt said he was deluged with emails from Irish citizens declaring that the methodology was obviously flawed.
Conservatives have accounted for 100% of “best” or “greatest” declarations in Parliament so far this year. In fact, eight separate Conservative MPs have uttered this exact string of words: “… protect Canadians against jihadist terrorists who seek to destroy the very principles that make Canada the best country in the world in which to live.”
And the NDP hardly ever say it at all — at least in the present tense.
“Politicians like to use it at election time, because by saying it’s the best country in the world, what governments are really saying is: ‘It’s the best country in the world because of us,’ “said Wilfert.