Fatherly Advice - Canada Day Special

The following is a special edition to the Fatherly Advice LinkedIn series that shares the wisdom and business lessons I’ve learned from my father. On Canada Day long weekend, I wanted to offer a special column sharing some of my Dad’s observations about our wonderful country.

When leaving India, almost forty-four years ago, my parents could have chosen England where both had ties or United States where my Dad could have continued his journalism career with the New York Times, but thankfully the pull of family in Calgary brought us to Canada.

My Dad loves Canada. 

From the moment our family arrived from India he made sure that my brother and I understood how lucky we were to have come to such a peaceful, compassionate, and welcoming country. Apart from his children and grandchildren, I can’t think of anything that my father is prouder of than our country.  

They say tough love is the hardest to give even though it comes from a good place. Living up to the full promise and potential of Canada is so important to Dad that he gets visibly frustrated if he thinks that anyone, especially my brother and I, are taking it for granted. As I’ve written before, his rule at home when we were growing up was we had to always give our best effort – and he holds all Canadians to that standard like his extended family. 

Two things have always been top of mind for Dad when it comes to Canada realizing her potential. First, is the notion of hunger and he didn’t mean for food. Rather, he means the hunger to excel, to compete and to be relentless pursuit of being the best one can be. Complacency is unacceptable. Second, is the acceptance and at times celebration of mediocrity in Canada. He would argue that we are not going to get ahead if we continue to pull down those who succeed rather than find a way to help bring others up. His is an argument for merit above all else.

It pains him to see Canadians squander the blessings bestowed on our country and isn’t shy about calling people out on it. For example, he despairs at what he sees as short-sighted short-termism and is known to lament the fact that “the only thing that we Canadians look forward to is the weekend.”

My father will also portray his lack of patience when we waste time fretting over trivial things, saying “the problem in Canada is we have no problems, so we make them up!”  (First time I heard him say this was around our decades long debate over distinct society. Today I expect he would say the same thing about our inability to get our natural resources to not just other markets but even to Canadians!)

I don’t know anybody who is more fiercely patriotic than my father. He’d be quick to fight anyone who said Canada wasn’t the best country in the world but would just as quickly to fight everyone who says it can’t be better. He’s not unlike a Team Canada Olympic hockey coach – pushing a gold medal roster to work and practice harder and leaving it all out on the ice. There is nothing more Canadian than that.

Happy Canada Day!