Aren't we wonderful?
William Watson - National Post - January 6, 2005
To those countries and their citizens who are so much the subject of our prayers and our concern, we say simply that in Canada, you have the most caring of friends and strongest of allies." This was Prime Minister Paul Martin on Sunday, announcing that his government's contribution to tsunami disaster relief would be hiked to $80-million. He continued: "We will be there to comfort, to assist, to help in any way we can. Not simply for a week or a month or even a year, but for as long as it takes and for as long as you need us, because that is the Canadian way."
"The Canadian way." It almost makes you want to throw up. The Canadian way, indeed. Never miss an opportunity for self-praise. Never pass up a chance to raise our own fragile self-esteem. Never fail to remind the world what wonderful people we are.
Does anybody read this stuff before the PM speaks it? "To those countries and their citizens who are so much the subject of our prayers and our concern, we say simply that in Canada, you have the most caring of friends and strongest of allies." Are we more caring than the Swedes or Italians or Australians or the dozens of other peoples who have dug deep as we have and have actually managed to show up? Are we stronger allies than the Americans, who have 12,500 military personnel in the region, an aircraft carrier, field hospitals and helicopters?
It turns out helicopters -- helicopters that can actually fly -- are useful things in a disaster. Even Bangladesh has sent helicopters and, of all things, two C-130 transports. Military aircraft are a shameful extravagance for such a poor country. But for a country like Canada that aspires to be a player in the world, the soft power of good intentions and eloquent resolutions is not enough. The hard power of helicopters is what people really need.
I wonder if past recipients of our aid would testify we have been there for "as long as it takes." They would be wise not to count on us "simply for a week." It takes us a week to get there.
Is there a more self-conscious country than contemporary Canada? There's nothing we don't do without worrying about what it means for our Canadianness. Do you suppose the Prime Minister of Sweden justified help because "that is the Swedish way"? Does Jacques Chirac have to justify aid on the grounds that it exemplifies "the French way"?
Anne Kingston's Tuesday Post column was headlined "It's Always About Us" -- referring to our disproportionate focus on Western victims of the disaster. Why the obsession with (the always carefully pronounced) Phuket resort? That failure of empathy doesn't really surprise or bother me much. Most of us simply can't identify with impoverished, illiterate Sri Lankan fisherfolk. The tourists provide a psychological point of entry.
What is irksome is the unrelenting self-consciousness of our response. Thus Pierre Pettigrew flies back from Paris to explain why it was OK to stay in Paris. Now, because the government has seemed not to care sufficiently about Canadian victims, no fewer than three Canadian ministers will visit devastated areas. Just what their governments need: more VIP visitors to manage. How much helicopter space will they take up that could be better used for food, water or body bags?
The government reaction I have liked best was Quebec's. It has pledged just $100,000 of assistance and is under fire for being stingy. A spokesman, doubtless soon to be replaced, has argued that Quebecers on their own have been very generous and, besides, a good part of Mr. Martin's $80-million comes from Quebec taxpayers. But in this high-stakes caring game, such a small contribution is not politically seemly, so it is bound to be raised. Saving face is easy with other people's money.
Unless governments have assets, such as aircraft carriers and helicopters, which private aid agencies don't, I don't actually see why they need to be involved in relief at all. The usual rationale is the free-rider problem. Help for the victims relieves us all of worry and concern but it's even better for me if you pay for it, so I may simply free-ride and let you do all the giving. Thus, government has to pick up the slack because in fact many of us aren't as caring as we claim.
Mr. Martin's pledge to match whatever Canadians give on their own suggests he believes roughly half of us will act like churls. My own bet is that in one of history's worst disasters most Canadians won't free-ride. Instead of all the slaver about the Canadian way, a better message from Ottawa would be "Give or be ashamed of yourself."
© National Post 2005