The inauguration of Donald Trump to his second term following a campaign by which Trump dominated by every electoral metric including popular vote, swing states and overall victory in the Electoral College has been either discounted or not understood by the current Canadian government, and unfortunately too many Canadians. The defeat of Kamala Harris was not just a defeat of the weakest Democratic candidate since Michael Dukakis, but a repudiation, in fact a “smack down,” of Obamaism and the “progressivism” that some have said characterized his politics and policies. Identity politics, bloated government, diminishment of national pride with a commensurate decline in military prowess (real or perceived), lawlessness, open borders, and a threat to core principles of the American Dream have been stopped cold and with Tocquevillian predictability the American state has returned to its aspirational trajectory.
Canadians have coiled in the recent threat to impose an across-the-board 25% tariff on Canadian exports. They understand at a DNA level that such actions would not just be harmful to Canada, but potentially existential. This has left many in a pondering quandary, wondering why Trump has made such bellicose threats and how we might stop them. Some, not gauging to any extent that Canada came to a gun fight with a herring, make ludicrous counter threats such as “everything is on the table” (note here that I completely applaud the actions and statements of Doug Ford, who is doing exactly what the Premier of Ontario should be doing).
I have written tireless volumes on why Justin Trudeau is without measure the worst Prime Minister that Canada has ever endured. He took his father’s penchant for generating national discord and transformed it into a Frankenstein’s monster with real economic effects, most notably for Western Canada, but also for the whole country. His zealous devotion to woke ideology and gender nonsense, coupled with a self-righteous personality makes him a truly loathsome creature. That would all have been tolerable had Trudeau not, on countless occasions, taken the opportunity to take a “progressive” swipe at Donald Trump, his policies and quite frankly the vision of America shared by a majority of its citizens.
Trump’s response, called petulant by some, is completely expected. His call to absorb Canada as the 51st state speaks from Trump’s core values of celebrating victory and displaying trophies. Whether Canada should (less Quebec) become part of the United States I fear is an expanded essay if not a book project in itself. I would simply say that Trudeau’s fundamental and harmful rendering of Canada over the last ten years makes it impossible to dismiss the call to statehood out of hand. My own preference is a common market without a currency union but with unified defence command (Canada would maintain separate units and regiments).
The immediate Canadian tariff crisis is ended with one simple action, namely the immediate departure by the Little Prince from public life. He can retire to Tofino where he has apparently constructed a small palace to enjoy his halcyon years of planned surfing, yoga, and rainbow unicorn pronouncements. Perhaps his recent interviews on CNN and MSNBC were in fact auditions.
Trump is well-advised on Canadian issues and politics. Some of his key advisors have substantial and tangible ties to Canada. Their views are anti-Laurentian elite, anti-woke, anti-bloated government and pro-profit, pro-resource and in many ways pro-Canadian (at least what Canada was and should be again). Once Trudeau has departed – and make no mistake, the Governor General by proroguing Parliament not only failed in her constitutional duty, but also has done great harm to this country – we can get on with repairing our relationship with the United States.
Repairing that relationship must be done in the context of President Trump’s weltanschauung. Canada must enact substantive immigration reform, returning to the Harper-era “points system” and asking forcefully many who came here under opaque reasons to return home. That must be matched with collective federal and provincial action to deliver a swift kick in the ass who think that living off the dole is acceptable (this is what happens when you lock your population in their homes and give them free money). The new federal government must unfetter the energy sector, allowing for the rising tide of being an energy superpower status to float all boats. This federal government has horribly treated Alberta and Saskatchewan and they must be allowed to enjoy the potential fruits of a rejuvenated Confederation. Canada must finally step up a be a true partner in defending the continent and as a “paid up” NATO member. We must repair our relationship with the Five Eyes countries. The announcement that Canada would buy six nuclear powered submarines as part of the AUKUS program is fundamental. We must also commit to being able to field three combat ready brigades with full logistical and counter air support within 5 years. This would be accompanied with a serious increase in pay for CAF members and potential recruits.
But Canadians need to step off of their moral high ground of “middleness.” The demand for compromise and genuflection at the false concept that we culturally and politically occupy the “middle ground” must be jettisoned. We are not Hobbits. Many of us understand that Canada in its current state is not anything close to “middle.” A Laurentian Leviathan has consumed its cultural and societal ethos. As certainly as Leviathan must be stopped, which includes a transformational reduction in the legions of sitting-at-home bureaucrats and a program from cradle to grave (even if you did not ask for them), the Canadian mindset needs to return to what it was once. An appreciation of what it meant to be a Canadian.
When recently asked what a Canadian was, our “don’t let the door hit you in the ass as you leave” Prime Minister answered, “It isn’t being American.” That in addition to being wrong, as you cannot define something as important as national ethos with a single negative, was the encapsulation of everything that is wrong with Justin Trudeau and his smug group of carpetbagging quislings who have wrecked a once great country. Canada very much has a positive ethos and Canadians, and their institutions must reaffirm this. Canada is a country of quiet, polite but resolute action. Canada is a country hewn from a harsh wilderness that should create a population that turns challenge and sacrifice into success. Canadians do not beat their chest in victory (although they should, and maybe in matters of hockey they do) but opt for a quiet, self-assured smile and a handshake with our colleagues. Canada went over the top at Vimy and won a battle no one else could. Canada landed at Juno, shoulder to shoulder with our American and British brothers. Canada hit way about our weight class in Afghanistan. Canada beat the Soviets on their own ice. Canada scored two golden goal medal wins in Olympic hockey. Canada celebrated Terry Fox’s monumental act of selflessness. Canada gave us MacDonald and Cartier who brought two nations into the compact of a single country. Canada has given most of us a place to grow up a flourish in a safe and inspiring place.
My fellow Canadians, it is time for all of us to look in the mirror and to each other and to remember and rekindle a love with this country. If we cannot go back to what the promise once was, only a decade ago, and recommit to achieving it then we have utterly lost this once wonderful place. Donald Trump is not our enemy, he has provided a rare moment of clarity for Canadians to reassess, learn and hopefully embolden themselves to a renewed partnership with the United States on terms of respect and tradition, to once again, make Canada the True North, Strong and Free.
This post also appears on LinkedIn.
