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The past is a foreign country, as the novelist said. Photos of the Canada that I grew up in just four decades ago already look so alien that my childhood might as well have been four centuries ago. What we’ve lost is irretrievable. But that wasn’t my reaction to Poilievre’s historical references. For those who didn’t hear his speech, he appealed explicitly to the memory of the people who built this country and never gave up on it. But Poilievre didn’t recall this history just so we could admire it; it was meant to inspire. His message was that these pioneers worked hard to build the country we inherited, and if we fail today, we don’t just fail ourselves, we dishonour our ancestors—one of the gravest sins a society can commit. His point, as I heard it, was that the people who came before us, who built the institutions and infrastructure of the country quite literally out of solid rock and unforgiving soil, had it harder than us, but that didn’t stop them working to build a better country. What excuse do we have? If Canada is mediocre today—and if it’s heading in the wrong direction fast—that is on us. Our forebearers wouldn’t have accepted it, and neither should we. That was coach Pitino’s point: the sooner the Celtics and their fans realised that the ghosts of championships past couldn’t help them, the sooner they could get on with building a new dynasty. We know Canada can be better because it was, especially before Trudeau’s decadent decade of experiments in delusion. There is nothing more radicalising for young Canadians than seeing videos of their cities in the 1980s or the 1950s and learning that the Canada they want—optimistic, patriotic, with good jobs, affordable houses, beautiful civic buildings, and high-trust neighbourhoods—not only existed, it did so within their parents’ and grandparents’ lifetimes. No wonder younger Canadians are more likely than older voters to disagree with the statement that “Canada is heading down a road that will leave a better place for future generations”—by double digits. All they have to do is plot the past and the present on a line to see that the future trajectory does not lead to a pretty place. The Canada in those old photos and films may be gone, but it’s worth fighting to rebuild. Not as it was—that’s impossible—but newly conformed to the old expectations of civic pride in clean streets, parks, and public squares, strictly enforced laws, attractive human-scale buildings, and neighbourhoods and towns where it’s easier to raise healthy families. If all this is possible—and it is—but our governments are not offering it, then it’s up to us to insist on it. Like consumers in a marketplace, if what you want isn’t on offer, demand it, and if no one delivers, then make it yourself. That’s what Eric Lombardi (of this parish) is trying to do with his bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Ontario, and it’s what some young British men and women are doing with a new organisation called “Looking for Growth.” Looking for Growth, or LFG, attracted national attention last year with its work to remove graffiti from London Underground trains. Under the slogan “You don’t need permission to make a difference,” volunteers armed with cleaning solution started removing spray-painted tags from inside Underground carriages and posting videos of the results. Unbelievably (scratch that, quite believably) Transport for London, the body whose job it was to keep the trains clean, first accused LFG of making the graffiti and removing it as a stunt, before apologising and hiring new staff to do what it should have been doing all along. New LFG campaigns tackle safe and clean streets, defending local fairs and festivals, energy abundance, and making it easier to build. It’s a model Canadians frustrated with the status quo should follow. Peter Lougheed isn’t walking through that door. Allan Blakeney isn’t walking through that door. Frank McKenna isn’t walking through that door. Perforce, Sir John A Macdonald, Wilfrid Laurier, and Louis St. Laurent aren’t walking through that door either. The past can inspire us, but it can’t help us. The sooner Canadians realise that we are on our own and that it’s up to us to demand better policy or do it ourselves—to build our own future days of yore—the better.