In December, 2015, Justin Trudeau, freshly elected to be Canada’s Prime Minister, offered this observation and vision:
There is no core identity, no mainstream in Canada. There are shared values — openness, respect, compassion, willingness to work hard, to be there for each other, to search for equality and justice. Those qualities are what make us the first postnational state.
It’s the sort of highfalutin rhetoric that makes progressive panties quiver (I’m restraining myself here), but it masks - as progressive folderol usually does - a far more sinister subtext. It points at multiculturalism, the belief that there are no “better” or “worse” cultures and that each should be given equal treatment and deference. In practice, multiculturalism is about denouncing the existing culture and excusing the bad elements of all the others. This is why you don’t hear the Left berating Islam, despite it being a laundry list of beliefs, mandates, prohibitions, and inequities that is anathema to not just progressives, but anyone who believes in a modern, free, and equal society.