John Bolton - A Glimmer of Hope For Canada To Escape Its Mediocrity

00:00:00.000 A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran.

00:00:11.640 Hi, it's John. Welcome to the channel. It is 4.49 a.m. Saturday, February the 28th with the big blue

00:00:18.080 mug of coffee. Winter back with a vengeance here in Calgary. We got, oh, I don't know, maybe 10

00:00:23.520 centimeters of snow last night, I would think. I'll have to get out there and clear it out later.

00:00:28.300 Now, despite the clip I showed off the top of this video, this is not a commentary on the United

00:00:36.480 States attack on Iran. But that attack is inspiration for today's video, which I think is a video of hope.

00:00:45.720 A lot of you are tuning out right now. God, the last thing we want, John, is hope. Where's the bad

00:00:51.160 stuff? Yeah, if it bleeds, it leads. I understand that 100%. I don't do videos here to drive up

00:00:57.700 views. It's nice when a lot of people watch my videos, but I do videos here because I've got a

00:01:01.640 different perspective on things. And this is certainly a different one today. Two totally

00:01:05.840 unrelated things that I think lead me to my conclusion today. I read this article first

00:01:11.220 thing this morning. Breaking U.S.-Israel launch attacks on Iran as Trump urges uprising.

00:01:17.620 I was reading an article about two o'clock this morning, laying in bed, and it was about what

00:01:25.540 would happen to Canada and repercussions for Canada if the United States attacks Iran.

00:01:31.340 Then I got a notification from my email saying the United States had attacked Iran. And then I read

00:01:37.900 this article right here. And when I read this article, I thought there were a number of things

00:01:41.440 good that can come out of this. You destroy a totalitarian regime in Iran. You and a state

00:01:50.920 sponsor of terrorism, the number one in the world. And you free a lot of people who want freedom within

00:01:56.320 Iran. We've seen uprisings recently. There were uprisings during the Obama administration.

00:02:01.320 Barack Obama chose to do nothing about it. Donald Trump is. So I thought this could turn out quite well

00:02:06.400 for the world. But the second thing I thought about leads me to today's message of hope.

00:02:16.880 I'm getting here in a little weird way, but stick with me here.

00:02:21.480 The second thing I thought was, I wonder how many Canadians saw this story or heard this story

00:02:27.700 and started rooting against the United States of America. That's the second thing I thought about

00:02:34.760 today. And they're rooting for Iran to win because orange man bad. Now this is a message of hope. Okay. 0.68

00:02:44.420 So the next story I read in the national posts this morning was this, which really got my,

00:02:50.040 got my attention. Jeff Russ, there is nothing morally superior about a silver medal at the Olympics,

00:02:58.980 but it was the sub headline that really got my attention. It's highlighted in blue. Can we banish this cult

00:03:07.380 of mediocrity? And when I read that, I did a facepalm. Oh my God, finally somebody at a national level

00:03:15.280 is talking about this. Thank goodness they're pointing this out. It's something I've been talking about

00:03:21.420 for quite some time here. Now, it was not my intention to go back to this topic again today.

00:03:26.880 I'm not trying to milk this for all I can, but I first brought this up 11 months ago talking about

00:03:33.760 this issue. And I think we need to point it out. This is a message of hope after all. And this is

00:03:38.820 a good thing, but here's what I showed you just the other day talking about something else.

00:03:45.520 Canada, land of mediocrity, accept it, normalize it, perpetuate it, and vote for it. And that's what

00:03:53.680 Canadians are doing. It's this whole attitude that Canadians have since Donald Trump came back,

00:03:59.640 floated out 51st state, and imposed tariffs on this country. It's the same attitude that gets people

00:04:06.200 rooting for the Iranians against the Americans after that attack this morning. And I have no doubt 1.00

00:04:11.380 right now people are rooting against Donald Trump, Orange Mad Bad, and the United States right now. 0.99

00:04:16.960 It's kind of sad and pathetic. Let's go back to Jeff Russ's article. This is a message of hope 0.97

00:04:22.460 after all. And this is fantastic. Link in the description. Just a bit of it here.

00:04:27.240 Too many Canadians are comfortable with second place, even to the point of celebrating it.

00:04:32.340 In the final showdown of the men's ice hockey tournament at the Milano Cortina Olympics,

00:04:37.620 the United States beat Canada in overtime to take the gold medal. A normal mature country would

00:04:44.740 recognize the game as a painful defeat, a source of short-term anger, possibly long-term bitterness,

00:04:50.800 and a cause for self-reflection. Some Canadians did that, but others tried to pretend that a silver

00:04:56.540 medal was some sort of moral victory for the country. Quote, I'd rather be a Canadian with a

00:05:03.640 silver than an American with a gold. Unquote. A quote that Bruce Croxon, a former CBC presenter,

00:05:10.920 approvingly posted on X as he tried to turn second place into a sort of deranged sacrament.

00:05:16.960 Let us be serious. Taking pride in being the runner-up is reserved for underdogs.

00:05:25.820 Look into my face. I don't know who said this.

00:05:31.140 If you come in second, you are the first loser. I don't even think at the original Olympics they

00:05:38.920 had second and third place. I think giving second and third place at the Olympics is akin to

00:05:43.980 a child's soccer game where you don't keep score and you hand out participation medals at the end

00:05:49.700 of the game. That's what second and third place is. But Canadians have this defeatist 1.00

00:05:55.500 mediocre attitude. And again, it is sad and pathetic. Let's get back to the article and read a little bit 1.00

00:06:02.460 more of this. He expands out from this, even bringing Western Canada into this in just a moment.

00:06:07.840 This losing energy infects our politics, our economy, and the most intimate decisions of

00:06:12.820 middle-class life. One Canadian who does not exemplify this is Wayne Gretzky, the greatest

00:06:17.800 hockey player who ever lived and a winner in every sense of the word. Now he is booed because he will

00:06:22.860 not condemn U.S. President Donald Trump with the same vitriol as bitter men like Globe and Mail

00:06:28.000 columnist Doug Saunders. Upon learning that some rabid Canadians had booed Gretzky at a sporting event,

00:06:33.420 Saunders sneered that it was a small win on X. Rooting against a hero, a sports hero like Wayne

00:06:41.460 Gretzky, not unlike rooting against the United States in a battle against Iran. And people are

00:06:46.380 doing that online right now, just like this guy. 0.88

00:06:50.120 You'll find plenty of posts like that from Slappy, the mediocre Canadian. Lots of that coming from 1.00

00:07:04.980 Canada today. But keep in mind, this is a message of hope. We'll get to the conclusion in just a

00:07:09.640 moment. Back to the article. Again, link in the description. It hurts petty people to be reminded

00:07:14.300 that Gretzky exemplifies true excellence of the sort that scares those who pathologize

00:07:19.500 mediocrity. This same instinct is applied to our economy, especially in Western Canada.

00:07:24.700 For too long, the risk-taking entrepreneurial West has been treated like a fiscal sponge and cast as

00:07:31.260 morally suspect. Alberta is the country's top financial lifeline with a productive culture of

00:07:36.780 enterprise. Yet it is constantly villainized as being too American when they try to reform health

00:07:42.400 care to allow private sector participation, for example. If people want to stick it to the U.S.,

00:07:47.960 this is not the way. Competitors are not defeated by kneecapping the productive and demonizing

00:07:53.560 winners. We can silence critics by building and celebrating our own without punishing them

00:07:59.560 out of a sense of paranoia masquerading as patriotism. I read an article just the other day

00:08:05.100 talking about this growing nationalism in Canada. I call it faux-Canadian patriotism or fake

00:08:11.640 Canadian patriotism. It isn't out of love of country. It's out of hatred for the United States

00:08:16.880 of America. That's what it is. Back to the article.

00:08:22.200 Being satisfied with less is a mental disease. It goes on to talk about housing. We've got less

00:08:27.160 housing here. And again, the healthcare system. We talk about American-style healthcare in this

00:08:32.400 country. Try to change it. Oh, you want to bring in American-style. So instead of striving for

00:08:36.800 better, we accept the mediocrity. The problem is that Canadian anti-American energy often manifests

00:08:43.700 in the worst ways, such as spitefully attacking national heroes, scapegoating fellow citizens,

00:08:49.380 and morally posturing about coming in second. Let there be no more coping mechanisms. Let us grow

00:08:56.160 a taste for winning as citizens, athletes, and as a country. So what's the conclusion here? Now,

00:09:03.120 there is a message of hope coming up in just a moment. I know it's been rather dismal up to this

00:09:07.260 point, but there is a message of hope. So let me wrap it up in a little bow here. Canadians think

00:09:13.340 that they are superior, not because they're the best, but because they aren't the worst. That's the

00:09:18.180 mediocrity. That's accepting second place. That's accepting second place at the Olympics.

00:09:25.340 Canada could do a lot better at the Olympics. In 2010, Canada led the medal count at the Olympics.

00:09:30.800 I believe in golds as well, and it could do it again. Not that I give a damn about the Olympics

00:09:36.180 and medals for Canada. I don't care. Didn't watch a second of it, but this is indicative of what

00:09:41.940 Canada does. We accept mediocrity. We do this with everything. I get it all the time online.

00:09:49.560 Alberta wants to excel, wants to be the best, can be a lot better, but we're held back by Canada.

00:09:55.840 What are you whining about, Albertans? The oil and gas industry made record profits last year.

00:10:02.400 Yeah, but if you'd have just got out of the way and let us become exceptional, we'd have done a lot

00:10:06.960 better. That's why I want Alberta independence. The same attitude creeps into everything.

00:10:11.880 Oh, well, we'll accept second place. At least we don't have to shake Donald Trump's hand

00:10:15.780 with the gold medal around our necks. We'll attack a Canadian hero like Wayne Gretzky because he won't

00:10:21.780 condemn Trump. And we'll root for the other guy when it comes to the United States attacking Iran

00:10:28.840 because we have this settling, defeatist, mediocre attitude, and we don't strive to be the best.

00:10:38.120 We're not as good, but at least we're not the United States. And Canadians have this holier-than-thou, 1.00

00:10:44.480 self-righteous, morally superior attitude. And I'm not saying this to be mean.

00:10:48.860 It brings us to the message of hope here. To get better, you have to acknowledge the problem.

00:10:56.740 And it did my heart good to read this article in the National Post today. Read the rest of it.

00:11:01.420 There's a lot more in there I didn't get into. I didn't want to go on too long. But let me know

00:11:05.260 what you think in the comments. If you like the video, give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel,

00:11:10.060 ring the bell for notifications. I will see you in the next one.

John Bolton - February 28, 2026

A Glimmer of Hope For Canada To Escape Its Mediocrity

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