Trump vs. Canada
The Great White Northern Embarrassment
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So I’ve had a chance to cool off a little and reflect since my recent somewhat emotional slightly irrational outbursts concerning President Trump and his threats of tariffs and all of that, which culminated into my last piece published in these pages: Understanding Trump.
All I can say is thank God for my core supporters. Some of the people who send messages regularly are far too esteemed and important to be bothering with me, but yet they bother. I have to admit I love that they do.
The emails I received from my core supporters have helped to bolster my confidence. If I was second guessing anything I wrote last week — and I was — I’m not anymore. I’m ok with what I wrote. I wrote it because it was the truth of how I felt at the time. For the most part I have not wavered in my conviction. If anything, I was a little hard on Canadians, and a little brutal in my anger, and I now feel prepared to tone that down slightly.
However, my contention that Trump is dealing with Canada in a way that we deserve, in a way that is of our own making, is stronger than ever. Canada has not had serious leadership for generations. We have been on the wrong path for far too long. We have become a confused mess of a nation. A weak nation. A nation barely interested in the fact that we are thoroughly subverted by countless foreign threats. A nation unable to protect its own interests. A nation like this which shares a massive unprotected border with the Americans cannot be good for the Americans. A nation like we have become is a security and cultural threat to them. As Conrad Black mused in a recent National Post op-ed, you need to be a “trade Wonk” to make sense of all the tariff rhetoric, because of this, it's unclear whether Canada also represents an economic threat to the Americans. Regardless, Trump is not happy with the economic relationship so Canadians should take that seriously as well.
Most Canadians are not likely to agree with my assessment. Many will not try to see things from the perspective of the Americans. Most will not ask why should the Americans continue to deal with us in the present fashion, when we are doubling down on all the progressive woke social engineering that the Trump administration is busily dismantling. And most will not ask what the Americans think of Canada falling so short on its NATO commitments. Not to mention the problems concerning fentanyl, illegal immigration, clandestine foreign interference, and Canada’s propensity to harbour Islamic terrorists.
In the weeks since Trump took office, if there was ever a time when Canadians needed to play it cool, it was this time. Did we play it cool? Are you kidding me? I am perhaps most bothered and embarrassed by the boundless un-coolness of our behaviour. To provide just one example, Canadians have been booing the American national anthem at Canadian hosted hockey games. We even booed a young women in a wheelchair who was positioned on the ice to sing the Star Spangled Banner in perhaps the largest public performance she had ever given. This was a big night for this young performer, maybe even the biggest night of her life, but Canadians upset by Trump's tariffs booed her as she sang her heart out. Awful.
Some of our leaders are acting just as bad. They are puffing out their chests, being combative, talking about trade wars and “fighting back.” Talking about how our weak country is going to stand up against the gigantic economic and military imperial power south of our border. It's all ridiculous and discomposing. Doug Ford is perhaps the worst of them, but Trudeau and Carney are just as bad, if slightly less clumsy about it. The only real Canadian leader who in my view gets everything right is People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier.
In a speech posted to X, Bernier said, “whether we agree with Donald Trump or not, Trump’s approach is very important for our future and we have no choice but to adapt to the situation.” Bernier is the strong Canadian leader Trump will see eye-to-eye with. If Canada had a prime minister like Bernier, Trump and the Americans would work with us. They treat us as they do currently because they loathe our leaders, they know they are unserious woke idiots, they know they can’t work with them.
Carson Jerema wrote in the pages of the National Post that “Any astute observer will tell you that the way to deal with Trump is to flatter him, make concessions that allow him to claim a win and otherwise keep quiet.” The Liberals are incapable of this. While Justin Trudeau’s initial response to Trump’s unprecedented electoral victory was to say that Americans were sexist for not voting for Kamala Harris, on Wednesday Carney addressed Liberal supporters in Kelowna saying “Can we influence Trump? A bit. But then we have to pretend we didn’t. Don’t repeat that.” In addition, Carney has repeatedly referred to Trump as a bully. How does Trudeau and Carney think their rhetoric will help the situation? Carney seems more focused on becoming an unelected prime minister, talking tough about the Americans and feeding the Trump Derangement Syndrome of his Liberal base. And ridiculously, he seems delighted to be in essence running his Liberal leadership campaign against Trump.
Conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre announced his intentions to build an arctic military base to protect Canadian resources in that region. This is a good move, but in my view it falls short of what Canada desperately needs: a total revamping and a massive re-investment in the Canadian military (along with the proposed arctic military base). Poilievre’s main response to Trumps tariffs has been to promote more inter-provincial trade within Canada. This is a politically popular position that panders somewhat to the sudden surge in Canadian patriotism. But Poilievre must know that inter-provincial trade, while it may be a worthwhile thing to pursue, falls short of replacing the enormous American market. Canada will need both strong inter-provincial trade, and strong trade with America in order to build future prosperity.
But even more urgently, what does Poilievre say about the specific concerns about Canada that Trump has raised? What about the southern border and fentanyl Mr. Poilievre? I’m not saying he is totally delinquent in addressing those concerns, its just that the focus on the arctic military base when the main issue at the moment is the southern border, feels somewhat like changing the subject.
It is too bad that Canadians do not pay more attention to Maxime Bernier. It would be helpful to hear a pragmatic perspective and to see Canadian priorities ranked intelligently. Instead our leaders do a lot of grasping at straws, poking around randomly, catering to their bases, and generally being tone deaf to the world outside of their immediate political interests.
So, if Trump and the Americans are engaged in a trade war with Canada, why am I not concerned for Canada, seeing as how I’m supposedly a patriotic Canadian who runs a newsletters that defends Canadian cultural heritage? Simply because I do not believe Trump is Canada’s enemy. But Canada does have enemies within, who are Canadian (not American), and who pose an existential threat to the nation. I believe Trump wants Canada to be a great country, in fact, he most likely believes that Canada must, for the sake of American interests, be a great country. Not a weak, subverted, insanely progressive woke country. Trump wants Canada to be a great American ally. I do not believe our current roster of Canadian elites (except for Maxime Bernier) has what it takes to fix Canada. I believe Trump is in the process of forcing us to do what will be in our best interests. I believe Trumpism, unless blocked by leftism, will make all Western nations great again. But we need to stop fighting and booing our friends and get with the MAGA program, it is the best option for Canada, and it is inevitable.
I apologize, I said last time that I was going to break out some of Dr. Richard Duchesne’s work and discuss Trump as an artifact of the under-appreciated Western tradition Duchesne calls the “big man.” I got side-tracked when my superstar awesome core supporter friends emailed with kind words telling me they were with me and to keep doing what I’m doing. So I wrote this instead. Hopefully next time I will get into big man Trump stuff. I won’t promise though in case something else comes up. Isn’t it better to keep you all guessing?
Until next time friends, thank you for reading and putting up with me!
Thanks for reading. Here is James’ recent take on Justin Trudeau, and also Mark Carney.
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James, I think you are on the right track. Our politicians and journalists react to what Trump says literally, and always in the most negative light. In fact, we are small fish in Trump’s planning. We don’t know exactly what that plan is, but if we react calmly and negotiate quietly and effectively we will do fine. China, Russia and Iran are the big fish. We are bit players. Danielle Smith is the only premier who has this right. Diplomacy, not booing hockey teams and letting conniving politicians to get us to act like fools
Well written, and most of your points are dead on the mark. We have become an insufferable and weak country led by weak people who don't have an appreciation for history and how brutal man can be.
A couple of quibbles. I don't think Trump wants us to be great. I honestly think he sees us as a vassal who is best off joining the US empire. Trump is a real estate magnate. He builds things and builds his portfolio. Canada is nothing more to him than a property to be acquired. I can appreciate this. I don't think we should sell ourselves to him, but there's something to admire regarding this raw deal-making.
My other quibble. Max Bernier. I understand folks' interest in his views. They're appealing, but he and this movement will never gain traction in Canada. We're just too soft, socialist and vanilla. The very best we can hope for is for Pierre to secure a strong majority and to do the following: 1) purge the wokenss; 2) achieve 2% defence spending; 3) re-build Canadians belief in a good Canada; 4) reduce regulations and let the economy (particular nat. resources) cook. If he can do these things well, Canadians will tolerate him for a second term, and it is only with a second term will we get this country back on track.
Right-leaning Canadians are doing the country a disservice by putting any kind of energy behind the PPC. Let's give Pierre and the team a chance and if they screw it up, then we should take a hard look at the PPC, but for now, we need to give Pierre the support he needs to get this country back on track.
Keep up the great work.