Sensible Centrist Podcast – Episode 7: Philosopher in the Oil Sands

SCP#7

In this episode I discuss Canadian history and politics with Philosopher of the Oil Sands, who’s first name is Ethan, a Canadian patriot currently living in Alberta.

We discuss Canadian nationalism, the Canadian constitution and Carl Schmitt’s ‘constituent power’, centralisation vs decentralisation, Canadian politics compared to British and American politics, and the cancerous influence of American liberalism.

• Introduction – 00:00 – 03:16
• Why I call myself a ‘Sensible Centrist’ rather than ‘right-wing’ – 03:17 – 04:01
• I identify three strands of Canadian DR national thought. Ethan discusses the mainstream Canadian binary between left-wing nationalism and right-wing pro-Americanism, and wishes to create a right-wing Canadian nationalism – 04:02 – 07:37
• How Fortissax made me understand Canada a lot better in his reply to me – 07:38 – 08:47
• The foundational question: Why does Ethan NOT think Canada should be annexed by the United States? – 08:48 – 11:16
• Pierre Trudeau’s attack on traditional Canada, and the Woke 1982 Canadian Constitution and ‘Charter of Rights and Freedoms’- 11:17 – 19:31
• I invoke Carl Schmitt’s concept of the ‘constituent power’, Pierre Trudeau as a ‘Woke Caesar’, and if, and how, another ‘state of exception’ can be created? Ethan doesn’t think the 1982 constitution can be repealed by an Act of Parliament, but that the ‘notwithstanding clause’ in the ‘Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ can be used to reduce judicial power – 19:32 – 29:11
• Does Canada need a ‘Triple-E Senate’? Can judges be trusted to safeguard subdivision powers, or is equal representation in one of the two chambers the only way? I discuss my article series ‘Was the 10th Amendment Doomed?’ and the threat from judicial activism, as well as my constitutional proposals in ‘What I Believe – Ideology’ and how they could be applicable to Canada – 29:12 – 45:39
• Ethan asks me whether I think judiciaries can be reformed, on the model of the Federalist Society in the United States? I say, even though I admire the Federalist Society, the institution of judicial review is irredeemably corrupt – 45:40 – 48:29
• Why I prefer legislative supremacy over a ‘three-branch model’ in the American fashion (the judiciary becomes supreme), though if we HAVE to have a three-branch model, there’s better ways of designing it, as I explain in Part 2 of my study of the American constitution – 48:30 – 49:58
• Ethan asks me my opinion on conservatives using the same judicial activist tactics. I explain why I think conservative and libertarian judicial activism (Lochner Era) is just as bad – 50:00 – 50:40
• I continue to argue that Canada needs a figure who, with elite and public support, enables the creation of a new constitution. Use of ‘notwithstanding clause’ is good as a temporary measure, but for lasting change, the constitution needs to be replaced, something which will happen if there is a metapolitical shift in historical interpretation of the 1982 Constitution – 50:41 – 55:57
• We compare the British and Canadian Conservative Parties, agreeing the Canadian Conservative Party is way better. Ethan talks about the need for Alberta to refine its own oil to lessen dependence on the United States – 55:58 – 61:05
• We talk about Trump’s tariffs and how this has helped the Liberals and hurt the Conservatives. How Doug Ford’s response gets more respect from both Trump and Canadians, despite Ford being pretty Woke, and Poilievre is a ‘Diet Javier Milei’ and an early 2010s Tea Party Republican who comes off as too American – 61:06 – 67:23
• Mark Carney as the old Governor of the Bank of England, and our thoughts on him. We both agree he aesthetically seems way better than Trudeau, but this makes him more dangerous, as his policies will be just as Woke – 61:24 – 69:22
• The highly elitist and ‘borderline authoritarian’ Canadian political system, electoral system, and party system. Canada is both highly centralised and highly decentralised depending on the metric you’re measuring it by. We compare Canadian politics to both British and American politics. Can the strength of the Canadian Prime Minister be a good thing? Can he be a Yarvinite ‘CEO-Monarch’ in a way the American President cannot? – 69:23 – 74:29
• As elites are inevitable, is a strong party elite better than the American dominance of special interests? Has it contributed to Canada being able to get universal healthcare through? Canada as ‘Alexander Hamilton’s America’ – 74:30 – 76:34
• We discuss Canadian and British healthcare compared to the American, and the Canadian welfare state. We also discuss Trump’s tariffs and whether tariffs are a good thing – 76:35 – 78:35
• We return to the subject of the Canadian Prime Minister as a ‘Yarvinite Monarch’, and Walter Bagehot’s distinction between the ‘efficient’ and ‘dignified’ government. A Prime Minister should be a ‘Monarch of the Efficient Government’ – 78:36 – 81:30
• If the ‘Old Canadian System’ of the British North America Act 1867 was so great, why was it able to be subverted? Ethan blames the United States, particularly John F. Kennedy. We also both express admiration for the Red Ensign, that it was by far the nicest of the Dominion flags and stood out from Australia and New Zealand by being red and having interesting heraldry – 81:31 – 87:20
• I discuss Joseph Chamberlain’s ‘Imperial Federation’ idea, and whether Ethan would have preferred a Canada integrated with Britain rather than a Canada integrated by America – 87:21 – 88:54
• We both agree American liberalism is ‘absolute cancer’. I condemn American liberals both for its ideological substance, and for being particularly and deeply anti-British. Ethan argues that Canadian identity is dependent on its relationship with Britain, and without that, there is ‘no reason for us to have a country’ – 88:55 – 90:56
• Closing – 90:56 – 91:12