The pathos of the “victimized giant” is how our southern neighbours have chosen to express their courage. It all adds up to the making of a myth. Drawing on the popular media and a theatrical sensitivity, everybody must see and pay attention.
One wonders at the cultural fate of our Francophone and Indigenous friends if we become the 51st state. The chances of protecting minority language and culture are much greater in a country of 40 million than in a country of 400 million.
Is it possible for a ‘soft’, middle power like Canada to co-exist in the ‘new golden age of America’? Especially when we live next door to a neighbour aroused and aggravated by perceived threats to their markets. If Canada is to survive as a sovereign country, the answer must be yes.
For too long, our governments have focused on big companies and this has been detrimental to Canada’s economy, specifically, to the productivity gains we so desperately need. This has become a world in which noncompetitive and bureaucratic, ‘too big to fail’, legacy firms live on and crowd out the smaller and more innovative enterprises.
Economists always have perfect answers to last year’s questions. They rely on arbitrary methods and stale data and no public input to conclude that big is best. We would be better off with a focus on our heritage of agricultural excellence and small and medium-sized business success, if only for the sole reason that start-ups can be designed to be tariff resistant.
I want to suggest that the experience of middle power Sweden has some clues to our prosperous survival and a return to Canada’s traditional middle power role as mediator and negotiator.
Some years ago I had the wonderful opportunity to run a medium-sized industrial company in Sweden, and to build an understanding of the dynamic complexity and day-to-day decision-making needed to run a successful Swedish business.
After Silicon Valley, Stockholm produces the most million-dollar companies per capita in the world. Small and medium sized enterprises are the source of jobs and ideas. I got to be a ‘new player’ and experience the innovation and growth that comes from working in an unfettered and encouraging free market.
Sweden is the home of only 10 million people and 5,000 nature reserves, and it is the only place on the planet where Swedish is spoken as a national language. To protect the language and culture, Sweden supports a creative and independent film and book industry.
We would be better off with a focus on our heritage of agricultural excellence and small and medium-sized business success
Sweden is the home of multi-billion-dollar tech companies, very large, sophisticated capital pools, and many business success stories. Its smaller population is the global headquarters for IKEA, Saab, Volvo Car, Volvo Truck, Volvo Construction, Scania and several large banks ready to invest in the country.
From Viking times, it has been true that Scandinavians are one people with three quite different siblings. The Danes are the older and more responsible sibling very attached to order and discipline. Norwegians are the younger, brash, wild-child, whose only capital is daring. Sailing to North America with the Norwegian Vikings was courageous or foolhardy—take your pick.
Sweden is like the middle child, private and whimsical, most focused on finding spirituality and peace. For them it is all about creating a better world and doing it together. But do not expect anybody to sit with you on a bus. Swedes need that extra emotional distance to differentiate themselves as individuals.
Swedes love co-creating and working together. They are great co-workers, working best in situations requiring higher-level social skills. In work settings, Swedes work without egos getting in the way. Every negotiation and every escalation is carefully planned out revealing an obsession for fairness and balance. Strong friendships and long-term relationships are prioritized.
I saw many similarities between Canada and Sweden, including the capabilities of people to study and address innovation and productivity in a practical hands-on manner. Best of all it was done with the same sense of the absurd.
Now is the time for patience and a longer term perspective. It won’t be easy but our Canadian values and virtues have a far longer shelf life than the temporary obsessions of our neighbours.