Former prime minister Stephen Harper urged the Liberal and Conservative parties to take on the challenges of our time together as the country stares down two potentially existential threats to its sovereignty: an imperialist president to the south and separatist movements in Alberta and Quebec.
Speaking at an event Tuesday where his official prime ministerial portrait was unveiled on Parliament Hill, Harper said while the two major parties may differ on some matters of policy, those issues should be secondary to keeping the country together.
“In these perilous times both parties, whatever their other differences, must come together against external forces that threaten our independence and against domestic policies that threaten our unity.
“We must preserve Canada, this country handed down to us by providence preserved by our ancestors and held in trust for our descendants. We must make any sacrifice necessary to preserve the independence and the unity of this blessed land,” he said.
Former prime minister Stephen Harper unveils his official portrait
In his own remarks to the crowd assembled for the unveiling, a who’s who of Canadian politics past and present, Prime Minister Mark Carney praised his predecessor for always being mindful of regional cleavages.
On Harper’s watch, popular support for a Quebec referendum on independence was at its lowest point in decades and western alienation was a marginal issue.
“Prime Minister Harper consistently understood that Canada’s strength has always come from holding together a country that stretches from coast to coast to coast,” Carney said.
“He spoke directly to Western Canada’s sense of contribution — the responsibility not as a region to be managed, but as a core pillar of our national project,” he said.
Harper calls parties to come together ‘in these perilous times’ for Canada’s independence, unity
On Monday, Harper and former prime minister Jean Chrétien jointly called for a revival of Canadian patriotism and a greater focus on national unity.
Speaking together at an event marking 20 years since Harper formed government, Chrétien said it’s clear Trump looks at Canada and “would like to take it over.”
“But we stand on guard, don’t worry,” he said.
Chrétien said Trump’s erratic foreign policy is the sign of “a big shift.”
“Beginning of the end of the American empire and it has to come — all empires change — now it’s accelerating,” Chrétien said. “We’re in a very good position because we have the land, the best educated people in the world.”
While there are separatist movements in both Alberta and Quebec, Chrétien said the country has faced such unity crises before and can prevail again, especially because the Clarity Act is in place — federal legislation his government passed that makes it more difficult for any province to secede.
“We have managed quite well to survive and, at this moment, our friend from the south has created a movement that Canadians have never been so proud to be Canadian,” he said.
FULL SPEECH | Stephen Harper speaks at his official portrait unveiling ceremony
“Everybody would give everything they have for the privilege to share our so-called miseries.”
Harper quipped that he “didn’t sign the petition,” an apparent reference to the document circulating to prompt a referendum on Alberta independence.
Chrétien interjected and said, “any Tories did?” to which Harper replied, “I’m told not.”
