LET THE WORLD SAY WHETHER IT NEEDS MORE CANADA, AND NOT DECLARE IT OURSELVES.

In her own “Ode to Canada,” French and English versions of which modestly assume the centrefold, selfdescribed “Entrepreneur-Booklover” Heather Reisman, who runs Indigo, expresses her love for the Canadian values, which are, as she sees them: equality, health care as a right, creatives (sic) punching above their weight in all fields, multiculturalism, caring about climate change, and the fact we’re finally “beginning to embrace the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission … though it took time,” along with several other progressive nostrums. She ends with the thought that “I would love Canada just a little bit more if … we would more boldly celebrate our achievements and the things that make us so special.”

Really? It seems to me we do little else these days than boldly celebrate our achievements and the things we think — perfectly presumptuously — make us so special. Several entries in “The World Needs More Canada” do describe unmistakable acts of compassion — the taking in of Vietnamese boat people, for instance — but then suggest kindness is definitively, maybe even uniquely Canadian, as if the Sermon on the Mount had been delivered in Nanaimo. Swedes do kind things, too, you know. Lots of other nationalities, as well. Even Americans, who in fact give more to charities than we do.

I remember Canada’s 100th birthday and especially Expo 67, which went with it. There was extreme anxiety as the clock ticked down to the April 27th opening about whether we could pull it off and what the world’s reaction would be. And then, when the reviews came in and were almost uniformly positive and it was clear we Canadians had actually achieved something the world admired, anxiety gave way to a thoroughly charming surprise and satisfaction that were based on genuine modesty.

There was a time when we Canadians thought boasting about your country was something Americans did. In the 50 years since 1967, we’ve learned to do it, too, even to the extent of boasting about our modesty. In terms of brand promotion, it seems, we are all Trumps now.

I’m no cultural relativist. I do believe the world needs more countries like Canada: prosperous constitutional democracies with effective if sometimes imperfect guarantees of liberty, in which tolerance is at least given lip service, even if it is not always practised, even by those who profess to value it most. But we should let the world say whether it needs more Canada, not declare it ourselves on the world’s behalf.

A good resolution for the next 150 years would be to spend less time worrying about what it means to be Canadian and more time actually doing it. And to leave it to others to tell us how admirable we are or aren’t.