Canada isn’t joining the European Union. We aren’t becoming the 51st American state. And no, despite the recurring fever dreams of winter-weary pundits, we aren’t acquiring the Turks and Caicos.

I can’t believe we’re doing this again.

​It doesn’t matter how many breathless op-eds are written or how many “what if” polls are commissioned by firms looking for easy engagement. These ideas are geopolitical fan-fiction; unrealistic moon shots that deserve to be treated like the junk mail piling up in a country where the national mail service is currently debating whether it even wants to walk to your front door.

​The problem isn’t just that these ideas are implausible; it’s that they are a dangerous distraction.

​By fixating on external fantasies, often triggered by externalities entirely outside our control, like the chaos of a Trump presidency or the simple desire for a warmer beach, we’ve blinded ourselves to what Canada actually has to offer. Worse, we’ve blinded ourselves to what needs to be fixed.

​We’ve become a nation of short-sighted daydreamers, perpetually seeking the “easy out” instead of tackling the grueling work of nation-building.

​The blame is a closed loop.

​We can start with the media, which treats these stories as low-hanging fruit, presenting them as plausible alternatives to our current reality without ever interrogating the logistical nightmares or the loss of sovereignty they would entail. Then there are the politicians, happy to let the discourse degrade into “what-ifs” because it keeps the heat off their own failure to deliver on domestic files. And finally, there’s us – the voters – for putting up with this cycle over and over again.

​While we debate the merits of becoming the EU’s next member – Ukraine undoubtedly standing by wondering, “What the Fuck?” – our actual reality is a series of stalled projects and systemic crises.

​Merits aside, we are a country that seemingly cannot execute a simple gun buyback. We watch as the fentanyl crisis continues to ravage our communities with no end in sight. We have an entire generation of young Canadians who view the housing crisis not as a policy challenge, but as a permanent ceiling on their futures. We are staring down the barrel of AI-driven job precariousness and a rapidly realigning global order, yet we’d rather talk about anything else.

​Canada is a great country, capable and deserving of greatness. But that greatness isn’t found in the addition of new territory, or a change of address down south or to across the ocean.

​Folks, it’s time to get serious. So long as we focus on unrealistic moon shots, we’ll keep looking outward and backwards, rather than inwards and forward.

​Stop looking at add-ons or moving. It’s time to fix the house.

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Kvetch with Jon Liedtke is a podcast of all of my radio interviews, reporting, commentary, media interviews, and more!