privileged. As he used to say, “We have all the 
access to American experience without the 
commitment to American goals.” Canadians 
because of our famous “weak” identity, were not 
burdened with these huge—identities can be huge 
burdens. I mean imagine growing up in Germany, 
with a national identity, or with a sort of weighty 
tradition that you almost can’t get out from 
under. But Canadians had a kind of freedom, we’re 
not hung up on big national myths, we’re not hung 
up on the weight of history. As someone once said, 
“we have a lot of geography, not very much 
history.”