Tories the top dogs in blowing Canada’s horn
Conservative MPs love to say this is the ‘greatest country in the world’
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, a former Liberal MP. “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 originated with thenprime 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 MP 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 the U.K., Prime Minister David Cameron can occasionally be seen mounting podiums to declare Great Britain the “greatest country on Earth.”
Australian politicians have made the declaration almost routine.
Indeed, in a 2006 University of Chicago study ranking countries by national pride, Australia placed second. Canada ranked sixth and the United States was tied for first place with Venezuela.
Conservatives have accounted for all the “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.”