You don’t have to support the government to support the country. And you shouldn’t have to hope Canada fails just so your political side can win.

Something strange has happened to politics.

Somewhere along the way, too many of us began confusing Canada with the government of Canada.

They aren’t the same thing.

Governments come and go.

Prime ministers come and go.

Political parties win elections, lose elections, change leaders and eventually pass into history.

Canada remains.

And right now, that distinction matters.

Our relationship with our largest trading partner is going through a serious period of upheaval. New U.S. tariffs have been imposed. Canada has responded with counter-tariffs. Trade negotiations have become more uncertain, and Canada is simultaneously trying to expand access to other markets, reduce barriers within our own country and get major infrastructure built.

None of that belongs to the Liberal Party.

It doesn’t belong to the Conservative Party either.

It belongs to Canada.

Yet watch our politics for five minutes and you could be forgiven for thinking national success has become something Canadians must first run through a partisan filter.

If the government proposes a pipeline, somebody opposes it because of who proposed it.

If Canada reaches a new trade agreement, somebody immediately searches for the reason it must secretly be a disaster.

If a major project moves forward, the first question isn’t always whether it benefits Canada.

It’s often:

Who gets the credit?

And sometimes the uglier question:

Who gets hurt politically if this actually works?

That is backwards.

You can oppose the government and still want Canada to succeed

Democracy requires opposition.

Pierre Poilievre’s job is not to agree with Mark Carney.

Premiers should challenge Ottawa when they believe federal policy harms their provinces.

Journalists should scrutinize governments.

Citizens should protest bad policy.

And governments should be thrown out when voters believe someone else can do better.

None of that is un-Canadian.

It’s democracy.

But there is a difference between wanting a government policy to change and wanting the country implementing it to fail.

If Carney negotiates a trade agreement that genuinely benefits Canada, Conservatives shouldn’t have to pretend it’s bad.

If Poilievre proposes something that would make Canada stronger, Liberals shouldn’t have to pretend it’s bad.

If Alberta develops an idea that benefits the federation, Ontario hasn’t lost.

If Quebec builds something brilliant, Alberta hasn’t lost.

If Saskatchewan prospers, Canadians in Nova Scotia haven’t lost.

We’re on the same side.

At least we’re supposed to be.

So why are so many Canadians angry at Canadian progress?

There isn’t one answer.

And not all opposition to progress is actually opposition to Canada.

A major project can create jobs while still raising legitimate environmental questions.

A pipeline can strengthen energy security while still raising legitimate Indigenous-rights and land-use questions.

Government investment can produce valuable infrastructure while still costing taxpayers too much.

Regulatory reform can accelerate construction while still requiring scrutiny.

Disagreement isn’t the problem.

Refusing to acknowledge good news because the wrong political party delivered it is.

Our political culture increasingly rewards outrage more effectively than compromise.

Social media makes that worse.

Anger travels faster than nuance.

“Government announces complicated policy that may produce benefits but contains legitimate risks” isn’t particularly exciting.

“THEY ARE DESTROYING CANADA” is.

So every disagreement becomes existential.

Every opponent becomes an enemy.

Every compromise becomes surrender.

And eventually people stop asking whether something is good for Canada.

They ask whether it is good for their team.

Canada doesn’t have the luxury of that anymore

For decades, Canadians could afford a certain amount of complacency.

We have enormous natural resources.

We have extraordinarily deep economic ties with the United States.

American markets are right beside us.

The relationship was never without disputes, but many Canadians became accustomed to treating broad access to the American economy as something close to permanent.

Recent events have reminded us that it isn’t something Canada should simply take for granted.

In September, the Bank of Canada specifically identified new U.S. tariffs and Canadian countermeasures as sources of economic uncertainty.

Canada has responded not only with counter-tariffs, but with a broader effort to diversify trade, reduce internal barriers and accelerate major projects.

Whether those policies succeed remains to be seen.

But the underlying lesson is already difficult to ignore:

Canada needs options.

The United States will pursue what its government considers American interests.

Our responsibility is to pursue Canadian interests.

That means diversifying trade.

It means strengthening east-west economic connections inside our own country.

It means deciding what infrastructure Canada actually needs and finding responsible ways to build it.

It means developing our natural resources while protecting the extraordinary country those resources come from.

It means respecting Indigenous rights not as an obstacle to development, but as part of how modern Canada develops responsibly.

It means strengthening Arctic sovereignty.

It means building competitive Canadian industries.

It means buying Canadian when it makes economic sense.

And it means recognizing something embarrassingly obvious:

A country of more than forty million people accomplishes more when its citizens aren’t spending all their energy trying to defeat one another.

Patriotism doesn’t require agreement

This is where patriotism can become dangerous if we’re careless.

Standing up for Canada must never mean:

Don’t criticize the government.

Don’t question authority.

Don’t protest.

Don’t investigate.

Don’t disagree.

Quite the opposite.

A confident country can tolerate disagreement.

Canada isn’t strengthened by blind loyalty.

It’s strengthened by citizens who care enough to demand better.

But criticism should have a purpose.

Make the country better.

Not burn everything down because the person holding the steering wheel belongs to the wrong political party.

Conservatives are Canadian.

Liberals are Canadian.

New Democrats are Canadian.

So are Greens.

So are Bloc voters who identify deeply with Quebec.

So are people who don’t trust any political party.

So are Canadians in Alberta who are furious with Ottawa.

So are Canadians elsewhere who don’t understand that anger.

So are Indigenous and Métis peoples whose relationships with Canada include treaties, rights, partnership, conflict, promises kept and promises broken.

Canada has never required us to be identical.

That’s one of the remarkable things about it.

A fisherman in Newfoundland and Labrador doesn’t live the same life as an oilfield worker in Alberta.

A farmer in Saskatchewan sees the country differently from a software engineer in Waterloo.

Someone living in Nunavut experiences Canada differently from someone in downtown Montréal.

And yet somehow this enormous, complicated, argumentative collection of regions, peoples and histories became a country.

Not a perfect one.

Ours.

We should be capable of cheering for Canada

If a Canadian company succeeds internationally, celebrate it.

If a Canadian worker gets a good job because a worthwhile project opens, celebrate it.

If an Indigenous community becomes an equity partner in a successful development, celebrate it.

If we find another market for Canadian wheat, lumber, minerals, energy or technology, celebrate it.

Then ask the hard questions.

Was the deal good?

Was the environment protected?

Were taxpayers treated fairly?

Were Indigenous rights respected?

Could we have done better?

That’s citizenship.

Cheer for the country.

Then hold its government accountable.

Those things aren’t contradictory.

They are supposed to happen together.

Canada is going through something

Maybe we won’t fully understand this period until years from now.

Our relationship with the United States is changing.

Our economic assumptions are being challenged.

Old arguments about energy, trade, defense, sovereignty and federalism are being reopened.

Canada’s governments are trying to reduce internal trade barriers, diversify international trade and move major national projects forward.

Whether they choose the right projects — and whether those efforts ultimately work — deserves rigorous scrutiny.

But Canadians are also being forced to think seriously about how much of our economic future we want to be capable of controlling ourselves.

That can frighten us.

It can divide us.

Or it can remind us of something.

Canada has faced difficult moments before.

Different governments led us through them.

Different political parties argued over how.

Canadians disagreed bitterly.

And the country continued.

So criticize Carney.

Challenge Poilievre.

Question Smith.

Challenge Ford.

Question every premier.

Demand receipts from every one of them.

That’s what North of Polite intends to do.

But when something genuinely makes Canada stronger, perhaps we can do something increasingly radical:

Admit it.

Even when the other political team did it.

Because governments don’t own Canada.

Political parties don’t own Canada.

Politicians certainly don’t own Canada.

We do.

And whatever colour we mark on a ballot, whatever province or territory we call home, whatever language we speak or political argument we had yesterday—

when this country faces outward toward an uncertain world, there shouldn’t be thirteen provinces and territories pulling in thirteen directions.

There should be Canadians.

Not Liberal Canadians.

Not Conservative Canadians.

Just Canadians.

Canada is bigger than your political party.

Right now might be a very good time to remember it.

© 2026 North of Polite. Original reporting, analysis and commentary. All rights reserved. 🍁

NORTHOFPOLITE

@NorthOfPolite

Unapologetically Canadian. We stand for a strong, sovereign and united Canada. No party owns our loyalty. If you make a claim, bring the receipts. We will too.