Two months of rolling crises in Canada have been a challenge, to say the least, for the government.

But all of the crises, in their own way, have been a powerful argument for the idea of government, too — specifically, that the state does have a role in the lives of Canadians.

If there is any upside to the ongoing blockades, strangled rail lines, the threat of a virus pandemic, even the struggle between environment and economy in Canada these days, it is this — very few people are arguing for the government to get out of the way.

Smaller government hasn’t looked like the answer to any of the problems besetting Justin Trudeau’s Liberals in early 2020. Less politics, maybe, but not less government.

It’s a trend worth watching as the Conservatives start the process in earnest of choosing a new leader later this year. The familiar, smaller-government refrain from the right seems to sit at odds with all the demands being made this year for Ottawa to do more, not less, to fix the crisis of the day.

Even that ardent Conservative, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, was musing this week about getting the government involved in financing the oil industry.

“I’m here to tell you today, as the premier of this province, that we are prepared to do what is necessary to ensure a future for this province’s economy,” Kenney said in a major speech to the Edmonton Business Association. “We will not be passive. We will do what is necessary.”

As Macleans magazine noted in a headline, “look who’s statist now.”

That was just the latest instalment in a series of dramas in 2020 that are putting the government at the centre of prospective solutions to what’s ailing Canada.

Start with the two international dramas that beset the government in January — the Tehran air crash and the outbreak of a new virus in China. In both cases, Ottawa was called upon to run to the rescue of citizens in countries with which Canada has strained diplomatic relations.

Even in places where diplomatic ties are good, the federal government normally has very limited power to help Canadians who fall into trouble abroad — legally and practically. This is sometimes a surprise to citizens who find themselves arrested, detained or even falling ill while travelling outside Canada’s borders.

Global Affairs even warns people about its constrained abilities outside this country. “Global Affairs Canada will discuss your justified and serious complaints about ill-treatment or discrimination with the local authorities,” its website says. “It cannot, however, ask for special treatment for you, try to spare you from the due process of local law or overrule the decisions of local authorities.”

Despite this reality, the federal government has been very active this year in countries outside its jurisdiction — flying Canadians out of virus-affected spots in China and elsewhere, assisting families of the air-crash victims on the ground in Iran.

Again, no one was telling the federal government to mind its own business and let the private sector sort this all out.

Back here at home, the trend to more government involvement continues. It turns out, for instance, that we do need the federal government to keep the rails running, or so Trudeau’s critics have been saying. Chances are that until CN shut down all its lines in face of Indigenous protests, many Canadians weren’t aware of how much their lives were touched by train transport, whether for passengers or propane or de-icing chemicals for airlines.

This past week, we learned that the federal government had been working quietly behind the scenes to get CN trains running on rival CP tracks, in a bid to avert total paralysis of train transportation. It would have been interesting to see the reaction if Transport Minister Marc Garneau had simply shrugged in the face of the blockades and said this was a matter for the private sector to settle.

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Meanwhile, as the virus in China has been morphing into the threat of a global pandemic, pressure is building on the federal government to protect citizens. The markets may be freaking out, but the state is expected to be calm and non-panicky — and watching out for us. Rugged individualism is all well and good when we’re faced with paying our taxes, but perhaps not entirely our approach when it comes to safeguarding our health and lives. Questions are beginning to be asked as well about how the government will act to shore up any economic havoc wreaked by the virus scare. As the headline said, look who’s statist now.

Government is based on the premises that citizens need the state. Sometimes it takes a crisis or two to remind us of that simple idea.

Susan Delacourt is a columnist covering national politics based in Ottawa. Reach her via email: sdelacourt@thestar.ca or follow her on Twitter: @susandelacourt

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