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And, believe it or not, reasoned public discussions about national values have already occurred in the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and other civilized countries, where citizens do not fear difficult debates.

The fact is, national values are easily measured with social-science techniques.

And I suggest people who are not ready to believe residents of different countries often hold different values are people who are not really prepared to embrace “diversity,” which means “difference.”

How can we appreciate members of a multicultural society if we adopt the mawkish cliché that everyone is essentially the same under the skin?

Or, if we are willing to admit ethno-cultural differences exist, who are we to assume, as many Canadians do in a patronizing way, that immigrants will eventually become “just like us” anyways?

How can we learn from members of another ethno-cultural group if we aren’t curious about them?

The World Values Survey can help.

The WVS conducts polls in nations across the planet, probing for core beliefs. The United Nations and the World Bank use it to track diversity.

The WVS has discovered, for instance, more than 83 per cent of residents of France, Britain and Canada take seriously “tolerance.” So do 80 per cent of Taiwanese.