Last week, I wrote about the importance of taking United States President Donald Trump seriously regarding his comments about annexing Canada.
This week, Donald Trump doubled down on his intention by moving from inviting Canada to becoming America’s 51st State to saying, in effect, “That’s what I want.” He continued to spread outright lies about Canada’s solvency and sovereignty. His threats about bringing Canada to its knees through economic warfare, or otherwise, are real.
Equally important are signals that come out almost daily, indicating that Trump is positioning himself for real control over Canada and its abundance of natural resources.
A huge signal is what Donald Trump has been posturing about Ukraine in recent days. He pretends to have empathy with them, but his actions suggest otherwise. He is after Ukraine’s natural resources and has said so.
In spite of the fact that Russia started this war, Trump has indicated that Ukraine should give up part of its territory. He wants to negotiate peace in Ukraine with Russian President Vladimir Putin and has expressed doubts that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should even be at the table.
Trump prefers that only he and Putin sit down to decide what’s best for Ukraine. In doing so, they will protect Russia’s interests, throw a few crumbs to Ukraine, and divide as many spoils as they can for their own purposes. Hardly a democratic process but one that will allow Putin to have real power and influence over its immediate neighbour.
Journalist Andrew Phillips wrote an article in the Toronto Star last week titled “Ukraine Deal Foreshadows Trump’s Plan for Canada.” Phillips had some interesting viewpoints.
He says this in part, “but the way Trump is treating Ukraine is highly instructive. He’s paving the way for Putin to claim back Russia’s traditional sphere of influence regardless of the national aspirations of Ukrainians, or, down the road, perhaps Poles, Lithuanians and who knows who else.”
Phillips also says, “The Americas, very much including Canada, are in the United States’ backyard… The same power principles apply… In Trump’s world, it’s all about power — and we’re just starting to figure out how to deal with it.”
Canadians need to come to grips with the reality that because of the current Administration in the United States, Canada has gone from being its very best friend to a potential enemy. Some of that is a wakeup call and some of it is simply frightening.
Globe & Mail journalist Andrew Coyne put it rather succinctly when he said, “The democratic world will have to get along without America. It may even have to defend itself from it.” Chilling words, but the groundwork for that is clearly present less than a month into the Trump Administration.
I know of many people who are upset with what is happening now, between Canada and the United States. Some of them had empathy for Trump but like Ontario Premier Doug Ford, now feel they have been stabbed in the back by him. Others just shrug their shoulders and feel there is nothing we can do about an inevitable takeover by the United States.
I disagree with that. Canadians have punched well above their weight since before the 21st century. They have done it time and time again in World Wars and other conflicts, including internal crises. We can and we will do it again.
But first we must demonstrate to Donald Trump just how tough Canada is. We may not have military strength, but we have a spine that will not be broken.
Foremost, however, Canadians must become fully united and speak with one voice when it comes to dealing with the Trump Administration. There is nothing Donald Trump likes better than a crack in the veneer of whatever objective he is seeking. He is an expert at exploiting that.
A recent Toronto Star editorial about the Trade war between Canada and the United States, but equally applicable to Trump’s covetous eyes on Canada, titled, “We didn’t start this, but now we must fight,” stated two things that stood out to me. First, “U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to bully us – and how we and other like-minded, similarly threatened countries respond will shape the direction of the world in years to come.”
And later in the same editorial, “It has never been harder (for Canada) to band together, despite our differences, and never more important.” It is a rare moment when I praise the Toronto Star, but on these two points, I say Amen.
When dealing with Donald Trump federal and provincial politicians need to put their partisan issues aside. They need to have a strong and single objective, without division or hesitation, and that objective is to secure Canada’s sovereignty, which includes economic stability.
Then we can deal with other important issues needed to preserve our sovereignty such as finding new trading partners, new military alliances, meeting our NATO commitment, and fostering more global support, as well as internal initiatives to secure our border and to remove trading barriers between provinces.
While diplomacy is important, it must be undertaken with both a carrot and a stick. It is important to Canada’s allies, some of whom have been disturbingly quiet, to see that Canada is fighting back, finding compromise where appropriate, but also imposing tariff for tariff and threat for threat.
Our politicians have a great deal of work to do, but so do we as ordinary Canadians. Purchasing Canadian products and avoiding where possible buying goods made in the United States, limiting our trips and investments there, will have an effect on the American economy and will send a message to Donald Trump.
We also need to show our pride in Canada, with flags and logos, anything to show that Canada is not for the taking, economically, or in any other way. Doppler is taking a step in that direction by adding to our corporate logo, “Proudly Canadian owned and operated.”
What we must not do is goad the beast. Booing American teams and their national anthem at sporting events is not something that is at all helpful. If we show disrespect to someone else’s flag or national anthem, we cannot object when they show disrespect to ours. We are better than that, and in doing so, we only give more ammunition to Trump and his MAGA allies when we stoop to that level.
The bottom line, though, is that Canadians must stand together with a strong, united, and fearless front against the threats from Donald Trump and his Administration. It may well hurt at times, but we will get through it.
I fully subscribe to the famous words of Sir Winston Churchill.
Never surrender!
Hugh Mackenzie
Hugh Mackenzie has held elected office as a trustee on the Muskoka Board of Education, a Huntsville councillor, a District councillor, and mayor of Huntsville. He has also served as chairman of the District of Muskoka and as chief of staff to former premier of Ontario, Frank Miller.
Hugh has also served on a number of provincial, federal and local boards, including chair of the Ontario Health Disciplines Board, vice-chair of the Ontario Family Health Network, vice-chair of the Ontario Election Finance Commission, and board member of Roy Thomson Hall, the National Theatre School of Canada, and the Anglican Church of Canada. Locally, he has served as president of the Huntsville Rotary Club, chair of Huntsville District Memorial Hospital, chair of the Huntsville Hospital Foundation, president of Huntsville Festival of the Arts, and board member of Community Living Huntsville.
In business, Hugh Mackenzie has a background in radio and newspaper publishing. He was also a founding partner and CEO of Enterprise Canada, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm established in 1986.
Currently, Hugh is president of C3 Digital Media Inc., the parent company of Doppler Online, and he enjoys writing commentary for Huntsville Doppler.
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With respect to Trump’s intentions in Ukraine, we’ll have to see how it plays out. But we should not forget that it was US/NATO’s broken promises to Russia that caused the conflict in the first place and Trudeau, along with other Western powers have been throwing fuel on the fire since the beginning. At the end of the day, Ukraine will lose. Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children have lost their lives because of this political game playing.
Canada has become a pawn in a much bigger game than most people realize. This is not about tariffs. Unfortunately, many Canadians would prefer to join the US rather than remain in this Trudeau dictatorship. Trudeau has been the architect of our demise. That’s unfortunate, but such is the state of mind that Trudeau’s policies have given us. I believe an independent Canada is worth fighting for. It will be a tough road to hoe, but nations do not become great by giving in easily. Going forward, we will need to be strong and show unity – and be prepared to suffer whatever consequences come with that if we want to stay independent.
However, I don’t think Canada will ever be united under Trudeau. We know he is a liar, he’s unethical and he’s practiced divisive politics since the day he took office. His goal is, and always has been, to destabilize Canada. Even now, it’s becoming known that he has facilitated the largescale drug production and trafficking that was a major reason given by Trump for the tariffs, despite his attempts to say otherwise. As I said, he’s a liar and a weak character, and will say anything to save himself. He’s also influenced by Chinese interference. The fact that Trump has challenged him is an irritant to him, but he will do nothing to correct the situation. He doesn’t care, and will use the situation to his advantage. His tactics now are an attempt to create Canadian unity by stirring up our emotions and national pride. But we should understand what he’s doing and why. He’s not a leader and does not command, or deserve respect from Canadians, let alone other world leaders. The play he’s now acting out will not work. Canadians need to get their act together, and quickly. Trudeau is not the person to do that.
I have been in contact with a fair number of Americans. Most of them understand why Canadians are upset and buying only made in Canada products plus from friendly countries. The others simply do not understand and support Trump. There is danger there. They do not know what is happening or understand.