I've always been of the opinion that Canada didn't really become a country until the Suez canal crisis. That was the first time that we took a principled stand

I've always been of the opinion that Canada didn't really become a country until the Suez canal crisis. That was the first time that we took a principled stand on the world stage in defiance of the highly immoral actions of our mother country. We didn't merely quietly disagree with Britain and abstain from public comment. We loudly and publicly lead the international effort against Britain and its allies, and helped peacefully resolve the situation. Mentioning the Suez crisis is actually relevant to this discussion. The architect of the Suez peace, Canadian foreign affairs minister Lester Pearson, had spent his First World War career (and nearly the entire duration of that war) as a volunteer field medic. He spent his formative young-adult years seeing the immediate aftermath of modern battles that result when leaders fail to engage in good-faith diplomacy.