Those who seek to lead the country need to start taking working people seriously. Enough of never taking full account of the downstream effects of top-down policy design. It is always working people who carry the load in a war, real or symbolic, and in the end benefit the least when not taken into account.
—Jim Rushton
“Elbows Up” is not without mishits. You might not notice a teammate skating up from behind.
It is now twelve months since Ottawa, provincial legislatures, and the media were obsessed with phrases such as war footing, wartime budget, and boardroom mobilization. The rhetoric wasn’t uncalled for or over-the-top, given the situation Canada and the world face.
Over that period, some of the divisive issues that Canada routinely wrestles with had started to fade from the public’s attention. More recently, they are rising back to the forefront — and pushing the wartime narrative aside.
It is starting to feel as though the resolve is weakening, and the opportunity to reimagine Canada is slipping away, as three ever-present existential concerns rise again — national unity, climate policy, and Reconciliation.
Competing priorities
The separatist Parti Québécois has a real chance of winning this year, after twelve years out of office. Alberta’s long-marginal separatist movement is now influencing provincial and federal politics. Barely a newscast passes without the politics of both provinces front and centre.
Climate policy is clouding the discussion on increased oil production and export options. It now appears that increasing exports to or through the United States is at least as likely as a new pipeline route directly to Asia — ironically undermining the diversification strategy for our most valuable commodity.
The country is still conflicted about whether Canada can or should rebuild the economy around becoming an energy superpower while simultaneously seeking to lead the developed world’s democracies on climate initiatives.
British Columbia and the federal government continue to speak as though aligning with UK and EU climate import rules is achievable and relevant. The data says otherwise, as goals remain in place while policies are retreating in the face of a changing world.
Technology, geopolitics, the critical minerals required, and the basic cost of living are impediments unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. Canadian working people cannot be expected to accept the sacrifices those targets demand. Yet the federal government, still committed to aspiration, is negotiating with the oil industry as though none of this is the case.
Climate policy is undergoing a rethink across the world — not questioning the causes of climate change, but accepting that energy security is, above all else, a short-term imperative.
(Sources: Climate Scorecard, Climate Action Tracker, World Resources Institute, IEA Global Critical Mineral Outlook 2025)
The progress made on Reconciliation — particularly on the economic front — may be in jeopardy, as the full impact of British Columbia’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act begins to be felt and debated.
Negotiations are difficult for all participants, as each has a constituency to represent. For political parties, it is particularly challenging — they are accountable to both partisan and public interests, and in today’s political climate, it is difficult to strike a balance, or even distinguish between the two. The First Nations negotiating a framework are accountable to some 200 Nations.
Distractions
Meanwhile, Ottawa, the political epicentre of the country, is absorbed in floor-crossings, Poilievre’s future, and what a Carney majority would mean. The BC Conservative Party, the governing NDP, and First Nations are stalemated on the path forward.
Twelve months ago, what seemed like a focused, all-hands-on-deck consensus to successfully diversify our trading relationships and secure our territorial and foreign policy sovereignty feels weakened today.
The weight of the moment has become intense. Reconnecting on Reconciliation, softening national unity frustrations, and finding compromise on climate policy all depend on meaningfully reducing our reliance on the United States. We can’t do it without driving our economy ahead together.
History lessons
Coming together at the federal level, resolutely and under this much pressure, doesn’t happen very often in Canada.
One time it did — and it offers a valuable lesson for the country today. It involved placing the country on a wartime footing, reshaping the economy, and overcoming a profound threat to national unity, in a hurry.
In 1911, Robert Borden’s Conservative Party was elected with a majority. In 1914, Britain entered WW1, and Canada was obligated to participate. The federal Liberals supported the war effort, as did Quebec. With the Conservative mandate nearing its end, Conservatives and Liberals together passed an amendment to the British North America Act in 1916, extending the Borden government until 1917.
The parliamentary coalition survived three years, until it was broken over the issue of conscription. French Canadians were not willing to be mandated to serve in what they considered a British Empire war.
An election was held in 1917. Borden ran under the banner of the Union Government, won an increased majority, and passed conscription. Laurier’s Liberals swept Quebec.
The lessons learned are profound today. Canada entered the war with an agrarian economy and emerged with a genuine industrial base. But conscription became a festering wound driven into the heart of national unity that remains today — it took matters of life and death to break the coalition. That coalition wasn’t formal. In fact, members of Laurier’s Liberal Party voted with Borden’s Conservatives — in the best interest of the country.
Coalitions are not necessary—Except when they are
The situation today carries a frightening resemblance to the competitive tensions in Europe in 1914. World War I was triggered by a single act — the assassination of an Archduke by an obscure handful of radicals. It is not hard to imagine a similar moment amongst today’s chaos, with consequences just as devastating.
An event like that may not happen. But nothing will prevent it from happening either. Canada must get itself on an actual war footing — not as a slogan, but as a governing reality.
That means finding the balance between Reconciliation, national unity, and climate policy that frees the country to do what is immediately essential — diversify trade, increase productivity, and reclaim the comparative advantage of our abundant natural resources and easier access to Asia.
Raising the living standards of working people does the same for everyone. That is not an equity argument — it is an economic one, and it is the foundation any coalition must be built on.
Coalitions aren’t necessary. Except when they are.
Jim Rushton is a 46-year veteran of BC’s resource and transportation sectors, with experience in union representation, economic development, and terminal management. Reach him at [email protected].
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