Some questions are their own answers. Right now, the question is: Should Canada exist as a sovereign nation? Therein lies the answer; if a state’s political legitimacy can be called into question, it has already failed.

What is “Canada?” Ostensibly, it’s a settler-colonist Anglo-French state which inherits its ethics and institutions from the British Empire — and unlike the USA, it never broke off from that empire through violent action. Most state-building myths rely on military victory; consider the semiotic importance of the American Revolution and its function as a wellspring for American political ideals. American politicians are expected to ask themselves, What would the founding fathers say? But what do Canadians ponder? America traditionally considers itself a shining city on a hill, a universal model that illuminates the world by its refulgent wealth, might, and virtue. Canada does not.

If there is no high universal calling which Canada pursues, the only answer left to the question: What is Canada? is: the land of Canadians. Unlike America, then, Canada must rely on a nativist rather than idealist sentiment to justify its sovereignty. And maybe this is the cause of the navel-gazing apparent in Canadian nationalism: when trying to drum up patriotic fervour, Canada does not present cawing eagles or soaring fighter jets — you’re instead reminded of something called “Tim Horton’s”, ice sports, and critically that they are not Americans (you must believe them, really).

But if nativism is the point, the state should be nativist. Well, it isn’t. With essentially no economic autonomy from the USA, the world’s most easily abused immigration and welfare policies, and an increasingly impoverished population, it is hard for the modern “Canadian” to think “my country cares for me.” The second the average “Canadian” no longer sees a point to the political entity known as “Canada,” it has failed. 

Is there a Canada beyond that represented by its moribund federal government? Is there a Canadian beyond a holder of Canadian citizenship? It’s entirely possible. But there used to be independent Texans — and there still are Texans — but they’re now American too. 

Thus, the Canadian must ask himself: Am I well-served by this political entity calling itself “Canada?”