A commentary by a former ­journalist in Nanaimo.

The future has arrived for Canada.

Voters alarmed by a shambolic and threatening administration in Washington, D.C., have delivered a mandate for a new Parliament to deliver security and stability.

Stability may be elusive for some time, and apprehension among Canadians about the chaos emerging out of the United States has so far focused on economic issues.

But for Canada to survive this unfolding crisis we will need more than economic transformation.

Strengthening and improving confederation and our constitution, and supporting the role of culture and the arts in regard to national identity, will be as crucial as managing economic upheaval. A new vision of Canada is required.

That the worries of Canadians have so far coalesced almost exclusively around economic issues is consistent with the insights of that profound study of Canadian nationalism published in 1965, Lament for a Nation by the late George Grant.

Briefly, Grant maintains that, beginning in 1963, Canada sacrificed its autonomy and identity to become a full member of the emerging U.S.-led global economic order.

For Canada to function according to the doctrines........

© Times Colonist