I’m trying to understand Justin Trudeau’s idealistic thinking.

When the prime minister says Canada is the world’s “first postnational state,” I believe he’s saying this is a place where respect for minorities trumps any one group’s way of doing things.

‘‘There is no core identity, no mainstream in Canada,’’ Trudeau claimed after the October election. ‘‘There are shared values — openness, respect, compassion, willingness to work hard, to be there for each other, to search for equality and justice.”

The New York Times writer who obtained this quote said Trudeau’s belief Canada has no core identity is his “most radical” political position. It seems especially so combined with criticism Trudeau is a lightweight on national security and sovereignty.

Not too many Canadians, however, seem disturbed by Trudeau talking about us as a “postnational state.”

Maybe they just write it off as political bafflegab. But of all the countries in the world, Canada, with its high proportion of immigrants and official policy of multiculturalism, may also be one of the few places where politicians and academics treat virtually all forms of nationalism with deep suspicion.

Of course, no one defends nationalism in its rigid or extreme forms. Ultranationalism has been blamed for us-against-them belligerence throughout the 20th century, which led to terrible military aggressions out of Germany, Japan, the former Yugoslavia, China and many regions of Africa.

But would it be wise to let nationalism die?

What if our sense of a national identity actually was eradicated? What if borders were erased and the entire world became “transnational?”

We sometimes seem to be heading that way, with the rise of the European Union, the United Nations and especially transnational deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and the looming Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The aim of these transnational business agreements is to override the rules, customs and sovereignty of individual nations and allow the virtually unrestricted flow of global migrants and money.

Such transnational agreements benefit some, especially the “cosmopolitan” elites and worldwide corporations. But the results for others are often not pretty.

Indeed, a case can be made that the housing affordability crises in Metro Vancouver and Toronto is a result of a “postnational” mindset.

Canada’s politicians are failing to put serious effort into protecting residents of Vancouver or Toronto from transnational financial forces.

Before digging further into the influences behind our over-heated housing markets, however, I’ll make a case for healthy nationalism.

Avoid extremes

The first thing to keep in mind is to not judge nationalism by its extremes.

As G.K. Chesterton once said, condemning nationalism because it can lead to war is like condemning love because it can lead to murder.

In recent years many regions have developed generally positive forms of nationalism, Scotland, the Czech Republic, the U.S., Argentina, Japan, Sweden to name a few.

Healthy nationalism encourages diverse people to cooperate.

“Patriotism is what makes us behave unselfishly. It is why we pay taxes to support strangers, why we accept election results when we voted for the loser, why we obey laws with which we disagree,” writes Daniel Hannan, author of Inventing Freedom.