What makes Canada so cool? It’s not what the NYT thinks
Country has contributed much more to the world than its new ‘social-media-savvy’ prime minister
Canada doesn’t need outside approval to know that it’s cool, but that hasn’t stopped foreign publications raving about the Great White North.
Earlier this week, Canada was named the secondbest country in the world in a survey released at the World Economic Forum, and the New York Times recently declared Canada “hip.”
But Canada has been offering the world more than just beavers and beer, hosers and hockey, since before Confederation.
“I think if you go back, our history is much more complex than moose and maple syrup,” said Mat- thew Bellamy, a Canadian history professor at Carleton University.
While the survey, compiled by U.S. News and World Report, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of business, and BAV Consulting, came off as largely complimentary, the Times piece, written for the style section of the paper, seemed a little forced.
Like a popular kid in high school giving grudging props to the new kid for wearing a T-shirt with an appropriate brand name, the Times published a piece titled, “With the Rise of Justin Trudeau, Canada is Suddenly . . . Hip?”
It went on to describe our “muscular, blue-eyed” new leader as “social-media-savvy,” before listing Canada’s accomplishments as the creators of hockey, the snow blower and Labatt beer.
“The notion that our neighbour to the north is a frozen cultural wasteland populated with hopelessly unstylish citizens is quickly becoming so outdated as to be almost offensive,” the article continues before profiling some of our fashionable and famous.
Canada is hip and cool not merely because of our shiny, sexy celebrities and stereotypes, but because of discoveries and innovations in science and medicine, important contributions to arts and culture and even a role in the global space program.
Bellamy has studied Canada’s longtime influence on the world stage, from the creation of rubber polymer that kept Allied troops fighting during the Second World War to the artisans brewing craft beer across the country today.
“Canadian exceptionalism takes place at the local level,” he said. “Colourful characters who just go about their business without a lot of hoopla are what makes us great.”
“Previously, when a lot of Canadians were considered cool it was basically based on how ‘American’ they could appear,” said Laurie Bertram, a professor specializing in material culture at the University of Toronto. “There’s this interesting shift now, where the idea is that Canada itself is cool.”
One of Canada’s coolest celebrities, George Stroumboulopoulos, said anyone insulted by the Times piece may need to toughen up.
“If anybody is still insecure about being a Canadian they have completely missed the point of being so lucky to be in a country like ours,” he said
Rahul Singh knows how lucky he is. Sharing what makes our country special with others is what really makes Canada stand out, he says.
Singh, the founder of GlobalMedic, an international aid agency that brings medical supplies and expertise to disaster sites around the globe, said Canadians are cool for the same reasons as the water purification systems his volunteers install around the world.
“Things don’t have to be new and glittery and shiny and get 52 million hits on YouTube to be cool,” he said. “They have to save lives, and maybe saving lives isn’t sexy, but it’s important.
“There’s actually nothing cooler than a Canadian . . . hiking up a mountain in Nepal to install a water purification unit that was made and assembled in Canada by Canadians.”