Trudeau graces the world stage as Canada has a moment: Aaron Wherry

"Listen," JustinTrudeausaid, nearing the end of his first address on the world's actual stage,"Canada is a modest country."

To demonstrate as much, he added three qualifiers for those before him at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday afternoon.

"We know we can't solvethese problems alone," he said. "We know we need to do this all together.We know it will be hard work."

But then, a slightly immodestconclusion, a presumptive rallying cry that dares suggest we have something to offer the world.

"But we're Canadian," Trudeaudeclared,"and we're here to help."

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With that,Trudeauseemed to invert Ronald Reagan'snine most terrifying words("I'm from the government and I'm here to help");the progressive standard-bearer of the moment tweaking the conservative icon's swipe at the utility of the state.

Taken at its most literal,Trudeau'soffer might apply to meaningful action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, funding for foreign aid and a new commitment to peacekeeping operations.

But then our humble outpost is presently noted for far more than mere contributions to UN activities. Now we have symbolic import.

Put on your finest denim jacket, for the world (or its press) is gazing upon us.

A model of liberalism and diversity?

We are emerging, to quoteone dispatch, as "a champion of liberalism." Set against the ethnic anxieties and nationalism that has arisen in the United States and Europe, we are amodel of diversity and integration.

Some of this is about the prime minister. For one, he is basically nice-looking and seems friendly. But also, as the BBC'sGavinHewitt observed, JustinTrudeau"understands the power of small inclusive gestures."

The social media era magnifies both the outrageous and the inspiring andTrudeauis easily shareable: greeting refugees, celebrating gender equity, marching in Pride parades. And all of itcontrasts perfectly to Donald Trump. (Which is not to diminish theimportance of inclusive gestures.)

The story to that point writes itself.

Trudeau is also blessed to have inherited a mostly stable and sturdycountry.

"Whether a man must be a friend or foe he knows that he must admit that there are today in Europe thousands and thousands of men who had never heard the name of Canada eight years ago and who today, every day, turn their eyes towards this new star whichhas appeared in the western sky,"WilfridLauriersaid in 1904, part of his declaration that the20thcentury would belong to this country.

If Canada is experiencing something like that now, it's due in no small part to what occurred in the intervening 112 years.

We have been basically well governed.Our political institutions, whatever their shortcomings, have not fallen into wretched disrepair. Our public finances are not incrisis. Our economy was not as badly wounded as others by the most recent global recession.

We have fused together two linguistic cultures.And we have somehow come to accept and settle successive generationsof immigrants.

'Not perfect, but right'

"In Canada, we got a very important thing right. Notperfect, but right,"Trudeautold the United Nations. "In Canada, we see diversity as a source of strength, notweakness. Our country is strong not in spite of our differences,but because of them."

Whether by fate or by design, we have come to understand ourselves this way.Forty-three per cent of respondents to a recentEnvironicspoll, for instance,said "multiculturalism" or "diversity" when asked what makes Canada unique.

If a nation is the story it tells itself, we might do well to re-read this bit on a regular basis.

We are perhaps lucky tohave so far not suffered the crises or shocks that have tested other countries. As AndrewCoynenotedthis week, it is a mere reality of our location thatwe have not experienced the rush of migrants that is felt in the Middle East and Europe or the illegal immigration that challenges the United States.

But, in the best-case scenario, our diversity has become asort of self-fulfilling prophecy, or at least a built-in obstacle to anyone who would try to divide voters along simple condemnations of immigration.

The electoralimperativeof new Canadians

At last report, 20 percent of Canadians were born in other countries.Ahead of last year's election, Michael Adams ofEnvironicsand Andrew Griffith, a former official in the Citizenship Department,arguedthat the so-called "ethnic vote" was an "electoralimperative."

And that might explain why no prominent Conservative has yetlined up behindKellieLeitch'sproposed screening of immigrants for "anti-Canadian values."

"Let me put it this way, the Conservative Party cannot form a government unless it is doing very well, and Ithink ideally is the party of choice, amongst new Canadiansand members of our cultural communities," JasonKenneytold theCBC'sRosemary Barton in an interview on Tuesday.

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We can haggle over the politicalinclinations of various communities and polls might show support for values screening or banning theniqab, but we might hope that there is at least some built-inhesitancy to going down that path.

Our reflexive anti-Americanism might even make us mindful of trying to maintain some sense of moral superiority.

Complacency, of course, would be a rather immodestmistake.

Trudeau argues economic prosperity is the key, but others arguethe troubles with immigration in other countries go much deeper than that.There is surely some responsibility to be consciousof existing and emerging anxieties and mindful of resettlement and integrationpatterns, not to mention stories of Syrian refugees using food banks.

To help the world on this front,Canada must remain a symbol by succeeding in practice.

In the meantime, we might act as a little pick-me-up in the world'sFacebookfeeds.