They want to return to a tradition that never existed in the first place.
I also feel this way, but I chalk it up partly to being a Slav out West. I'm not part of the originating ethnic group so I shouldn't be surprised that I feel little connection with Canada's history - despite my naivety and earnestness in youth. I did spend some time in Upper and Lower Canada and it did feel like the people there had a deeper well to draw from. Especially the Quebecois, who can organize themselves around being 'The Old French, in a New Land.'
But to your point, probably the newest, non-retarded nationalist voice out there is Fortissax - and even with him, it's hard to escape the impression that he is playing in a small pond with little to draw upon. The history is certainly there - but it's from a scant population - and that group of people itself is primarily of 'I can make a living in Canada' stock. We're not like the Americans, which had non-economic reasons for their original exodus from Britain. We're not even like the Australians, who can call themselves the 'proud refuse' of the UK. The English portion of Canada is primarily the 'couldn't hack it in Britain' cohort. That is not a basis for differentiation and nationhood. It's not a 'we believe differently (Puritans)' or 'you cast us aside, we flourished' (Aussies). Canada is a 'we never would have left, but the wages were better out here' identity. It was a mistake to ever pretend we stopped being part of Britain. The seed determines the fruit - and we were never a people that wanted to be separate from the Empire, so we have floundered under the idea that we are a nation.
For all Fortissax's conviction, it's telling that he is Anglo-Quebecois and so the drum he beats loudest is... Anglo-Quebec nationalism. See? The pond is so small he primarily has to draw from his own roots for water. The painful thing is that he is right - but that his correct answer is simply insufficient to form a nation around.
And so, like you said, Canadians have to look forward, not back. We have to await or create the event that actually distinguishes Canadians as a coherent nationality.