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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.
He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.
In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.
Global Real Estate Project
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Canada Day six years laterReturning each year to my reflections on Canada, this time I'd like to note an unusual feature that makes this country so resistant to any political assault from within. This feature is the remarkable ability to turn those who oppose it, those who consider themselves its 'enemies' into friends, or at least into partners. Taking over their ideas, originally crafted to express their opposition to Canada, this nation gets stronger, not weaker; it becomes more inclusive, and therefore less vulnerable in face of the next assault. Since the first day after the British officially took control over New France in 1763, this process of turning the natural enemies into loyal subjects became part of the DNA of the new entity. At first, it was done in order to accommodate the majority, by definition foreign to the basic vales the new rulers represented. Later, once the mechanism was tried and proved successful, it was applied each time some new 'dangerous' ideas came to assault the national building. At the end, these new ideals became part of the building itself, making it stronger and less vulnerable in face of the next 'enemy'. Two events from the earlier history and two from some recent events show well how this mechanism works. In the 18th century, even with the European Enlightenment, it wasn't easy to find a country or a colony ruled by Protestants or Catholics where the large majority of the population represented the other Christian denomination. Brief remainder, it was precisely for this reason that the United States decided not to allow the Congress to pass legislature establishing official religion in the federation in the late 18th century (Bill of Rights, First amendment). So the catholic majority was, objectively speaking, a big problem after the British took control over New France. They could either decide to forcibly convert the population, or to expel it, or to convert the new British administration into Catholicism; all these measures seem either absurd or unpractical. So, the solution was found in guaranteeing the religious rights of the French colonists almost two decades before the U.S. Bill of Rights. The Catholics became loyal subjects instead of potentially disturbing elements. Instead of big problem they became part of the solution; in fact, the Catholicism was the reason why these French colonists refused to join the American Revolution in fear of Protestant domination. Another example from the past was the assault of the democratic ideas during the 19th century. For historical reasons, the British North America defined itself as loyalist and royalist as opposed to the republican United States since the late 18th century. Originally the United States weren't democratic, but since the 1820s they became democratic, forcing the British North America to cope with this changing political reality. The revolts of 1837 showed that the colonists, both the English Protestants and the French Catholics preferred having responsible not absolutist government. During the years ahead, the British North America would absorb this democratic assault; by the time of the World War I, it would be ready to go to war to make the world 'a safer place for democracy'. Two recent events showed that the mechanism of turning enemies into partners or friends is still alive. The 400th anniversary of the City of Quebec this year, celebrations that local French-speaking separatists tried to turn into manifestation of their national rights to an independent statehood were taken over by Canada; they must now represent the birth of the country, free, bilingual, and united. This event follows the line of the recognition of the 'Quebecois nation', a group of French-speaking persons in the province of Quebec with close ethnic tied. Instead of denying their existence and thus strengthening their resolution to break away from Canada, Ottawa decided to incorporate their national symbolic into the national body. Another problem became part of the solution. Now, after almost two and a half centuries since the New France has gone for good, being a Catholic, or a democracy loving person, or a French-speaker, or even a separatist doesn't make you less Canadian.
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