I rather liked the term UI -- it had the virtue of honesty about it. (Though it would have been more honest still had it been UE -- "unemployment ensurance": it ensures that you remain unemployed. :p)

I think that Canadian unity is more secure than it was in, say, the late Mulroney years.

But I actually consider myself one of those cosmopolitan sorts that the PM runs ad campaigns against -- I'm a member of the English-speaking peoples of the world, whatever our political boundaries happen to be at any given moment. (The funny thing is, I strongly suspect that Harper thinks that way, too -- just look at his speeches about England or Australia, or just about the Queen. Or what he had to say around the time of the beginning of the Iraq war.) Things made more sense in the 1930s, 1940s, or 1950s, when our citizenship status took note of that, and we could move just about anywhere in the Commonwealth or get a Green Card at a moment's notice. (For you non-American Canadians.)

I think that Canada will continue because other arrangements make much less sense. And when we travel abroad, we do truly feel Canadian.

Do we need more cash from the feds (i.e., ourselves) to feel more Canadian? I doubt it. Will those arguments get tossed around? Probably. Does it matter so much for our unity in the long run? Unlikely.

Another phenomenon at work that is sapping Canadian nationalism is a world-wide trend of "glocalization", a term which I think roughly means "the ease that local entitites and persons can act and relate to international issues, non-local issues, non-national issues and generally behave as if national borders don't exist." An example might be you in Kingston watching Stephen Colbert (in LA or NYC? I don't know) one night and then posting about it on a Nova Scotia-based chatroom. Another example might be the University of PEI and the University of Malta having an agreement to work on research projects together and offer student exchanges. Technology, local interests, ease of travel are all part of the equation. So what does this mean for Canada?
Canada has always had identity issues. Trudeau was the only leader who put forth a viable (if imperfect) vision of the country since the old Imperial British Dominion thing but it has been under contstant attack by Quebec separatists and jealous right-wingers.
Unfortunately, noone has come up with any better alternatives of a national identity for Canada and I don't have any ideas myself. There are lots of great things about the country in all areas of our society but a cohesive vision and leaders with the desire and ability to bring such a vision into focus is not there.

Do we really need leaders to do it?

I think a national identity is something that just <i><b>is</b></i>.

A culture develops, people write stories, people talk about things... and then when you go elsewhere, you notice that you have things in common with other folks from "back home"...

I have a certain something in common with those hippies out in BC, and they have something in common with those Bluenoses.

The Newfs are slightly different, I'll grant you that, but they're new. Still, they're all moving to Alberta anyway, so we'll cross-pollinate.

And as for Quebec, well, we all have friends who went to McGill and had a much more fun time at undergrad than we did, and we much admire the women there... :p

Ben, if we are confusing politics with identity and culture, what is it that is inherent Canadianness without politicians? And if it exists independently, can't politicians reflect it back to us?

And Albertans are moving to Newf in the new economic reality.

Hibernia!

Alan, you're the one who spoke of Canada as a whole, and of its future (and possible break-up). That's identity and culture as much as it is politics.

Well, there's a certain accent, a certain enunciating of vowels... a liking for curling and hockey, a rather indirect way of speaking (those who don't care for it call it passive-aggressive, those who do call it politeness), a distaste for open arguments, a social-libertarian view of other people (there was only one cross-burning, and in the end the couple just moved to the city and married -- we just don't get bothered about other people, unless they're causing trouble), and... a few other things. A bunch of novels, too.

Why can't the politicians reflect it back? I think they do. Harper, Ignatieff, Layton -- all three are very</strong> Canadian figures. Even good ol' Gilles Duceppe, in his traitorous ways, is.

I'm reminded of that Richler-Salutin debate during the free trade election, when Salutin said that Canadian culture would end with free trade, and Richler said (a) he was being silly, (b) we would always have tales to tell each other, and (c) much of it should die -- how many bad Niagara wines did he have to drink for his country?

Canada will survive.

After my recent trip to BC I seem to have redeveloped a facination with the land that was previously a little Central Eastern north of the 401 Ontariocentric. Now I'm heading out to do a series of projects across northern Ontario by Bushplane, one in Nunavut and one by end of year in Alberta. Al quick visits but I will report back after they are all over if I am still longing to retire in Yorkshire.

In the mean time, it is very Canadian to smile, feign indifference and disparage flag waving (but do it once a year, occasionally in the middle of the week for some crazy reason). If we were to become all Hooray for Canada, we'd be less Canadian if that makes much sense.

The powerplay inspired my favorite Canadian political cartoon of the year

I've little doubt about Canada's survival, but I've gained an ever greater appreciation for local/regional identities. At one time I might have thought that they existed despite or in suppression of the "national" identity; I've come to realise that they simply signify complexity and richness of identity. I've also become progressively more Nova Scotian, for whatever that might mean. Toronto never feels quite right anymore, to say nothing of elsewhere in Ontario.

Anyway, we're doing fine, but lately that's despite our federal politicians - certainly not because of them. The amateurish way the isotope/Chalk River/AECL issue is being handled shows that in spades and - to be fair - it's the culmination of many years of neglect.

Josh! Good points and interesting to see that we have traded places being a NS expat in Ontario. In fact, you may find, if you review the archives, that I when a law student was a terror of the med students at Dal on the soccer field. Other than that we are in complete sympatico.