A word from a member of the Silent Generation. Born between 1928 and 1945, we are the Canadians most severely attacked by COVID-19 and are grateful recipients of the vaccines. We have lived through epidemics of poliomyelitis, measles, and influenza and survived – some of us with lasting complications. We developed and received vaccines against these deadly diseases with appreciation and celebration.
The selfish, arrogant disregard of those who refuse the COVID-19 vaccinations and yet insist on full participation in society and the right to put others' lives in danger when they contract the disease is unacceptable, and so is the cowardly tolerance of vote-seeking politicians to allow it to persist.
But that is just part of our concern for today’s Canada. Our disappearing generation, presently numbering 2.8 million citizens (seven per cent of Canada’s population), is sandwiched between the larger populations of the Greatest Generation and our children, the Baby Boomers, who are the senior current drivers of our nation’s destiny.
Coined the Silent Generation by Time magazine in 1951, we were described as a "still, small flame" compared with our parents, who suffered and then reshaped the world after having endured the Great Depression and the Second World War.
Raised during rationing, a global slaughter and economic crisis, we have been thrifty. We have a reputation of being respectful to the point of taking pride in our politeness. Loyalty and determination to succeed made us the most prosperous generation of the past 125 years. We can also be described as boring.
We have had six Silent-Generation-born prime ministers – Clark, Chretien, Turner, Martin, Mulroney, and Campbell. U.S. President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister John Major, and Chancellor Helmut Kohl were the only leaders in their countries to be born during this era.
Our generation’s time in managing Canadian affairs started shortly after the Korean War. Our impact on world affairs focused on our peacekeeping roles and our pride in our leadership positions with the United Nations. We created our own flag. We ceased to be a political colony of England. Our world-class Avro Arrow was politically scuttled, but our leading scientists continued to underpin the age of space travel, computerization, and miniaturization of technological instrumentation by moving south of the border.
We avoided the Vietnam War. Nation-wide bilingual education was implemented, along with the Quebec Quiet Revolution. We introduced polite tolerance for politicians who strove to fracture our country. We survived and prospered by quietly becoming an economic and (except for Quebec and the Maritimes) cultural colony of the U.S. We even had a TransCanada Pipeline debate that sunk Canada’s Natural Governing Party and brought to power our first Prairie-born prime minister. The Liberal Party has yet to forgive the West.
And so we come to Canada today with the resurgence of Quebec selfish segregation and the impending collapse of our parliamentary federation put together by Sir John A. MacDonald and George-Etienne Cartier. The country’s affairs are now loosely co-ordinated by the Prime Minister’s Office, taking marching and spending orders from provincial premiers and First Nations politicians.
Ottawa’s Parliament has become redundant. The principal measure of success of this form of governance has been the stumbling management of the COVID-19 pandemic and the mood of our country – awash with cynicism and dysfunction.
We of the Silent Generation say, "Enough, already." This is not what one in 10 of our parents went to war for, and 45,000 died to preserve. Get vaccinated and think about it when you vote this fall.
Dr. Alan Murdock is a local pediatrician.
