Tag: Postnationalism

This is what a postnational multicultural state looks like. And while the Liberal Party can try to back away from Wang’s message, her appeal to identity politics is straight out of the Liberal playbook and echoes the politics and policies promoted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In late 2015, Trudeau was interviewed by The New York Times magazine about his vision for Canada. And forget about our constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy — arguable the most successful form of government in human history — or our commitment to Western liberal ideals. Instead, Trudeau said “there is no core identity, no mainstream in Canada… those are the qualities that make us the first postnational state.” The race-based message from the Liberal candidate mirrors this type of thinking. For instance, in her WeChat message, Wang does not call herself “Canadian” or even “Chinese-Canadian.” Instead, she identifies as “Chinese” and calls Singh “Indian.” Just like Trudeau said, there’s no mainstream, no core identity in Canada. It’s no surprise, then, to see politicians pandering in different languages to various ethnic communities. Trudeau’s fixation on identity politics led him to appointing cabinet positions based solely on gender. The next logical step is to expand this thinking to other identities, like ethnic background and language groups. Instead, our nationalism is defined by patriotism — a love of country and commitment to our heritage and shared values.