This year marks the 60th anniversary of Canadian philosopher George Grant’s Lament for a Nation: The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism, a seminal work that reshaped Canadian political discourse. Published in 1965, Grant’s critique of American cultural dominance and technological modernity challenged Canadians to reconsider their national sovereignty and identity. To mark the occasion, this summer, The Hub will feature a series of essays from big thinkers exploring the book’s enduring legacy and how its insights remain vital to understanding Canada and its relationship with the United States today.
Leading journalist, author and thinker David Frum spoke with Sean Speer about Lament for a Nation, and what role he thinks the book still plays in today’s political climate. See the transcript below for Frum’s remarks.
SEAN SPEER: The Hub has launched an essay series marking the 60th anniversary of George Grant’s famous book, Lament for a Nation, which is often characterized as the last gasp of conservative nationalism in Canada, before the full integration into America’s cultural and economic sphere.
There aren’t many ‘Grantians’ left, though, interestingly, the book has recently received positive attention from some on the so-called “post-liberal Right” in the U.S., including Patrick Deneen. With the benefit of hindsight, how do you think about the book and its relevance today?
DAVID FRUM: Yeah, I haven’t read it in a long time, so I need to be careful what I say. As a young person, I was impressed by the poetry and force of Grant’s writing and vision, and also, even at the time, just the weird, wild, demented anti-logic of Grant’s thinking.
Grant was someone to whom concepts of material well-being and economic reality—they were just impertinent annoyances to him. But the thing I would say for Grant is that he was clearly a tolerant, benign person. He was not someone who would have relished the thought of sending political adversaries into some kind of camp. The people who are emulating him—they’re not so nice.
