“You can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else. But we live in a world, in the real world … that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world that have existed since the beginning of time.”
—Stephen Miller, Deputy White House Chief of Staff
I have never before heard international law referred to as ‘international niceties,’ but I guess that fits with the intention of the United States government to completely ignore it.
It certainly fits nicely with the National Security Strategy released by the United States government a few weeks ago, now dubbed the ‘Donroe’ Doctrine. It emulates in part the Monroe Doctrine of 1823. It frankly asserts that the dominance of the Western Hemisphere belongs to the United States.
If anyone believes there is wiggle room in that, or that it can never happen, they should heed the recent four-word statement from the U.S. Department of State: “This is our Hemisphere.”
With this new National Security Strategy, Donald Trump intends to “re-assert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere and to protect our homeland and our access to key geographies throughout the region.”
In Donald Trump’s view, as President of the United States, he can extract whatever he wants, be it people or natural resources, and he can intervene in and control the governing process of any country within the Western Hemisphere, if he believes it will benefit the United States.
That was made pretty clear when the United States government put boots on the ground recently in Venezuela. Their stated rationale was to extract the corrupt president of that country, who was under indictment in the U.S., and to bring him to justice. They did that. That one is done and dusted.
But the Americans have stayed in Venezuela, taken control of their natural resources, and vowed to “run” that country for the foreseeable future.
Next on the agenda appears to be Greenland. Although the Americans already have a military base there, President Trump believes they have to “own” the island in order to protect America’s security in relation to Russia and China.” No doubt, Putin and Xi are laughing in their teacups over that one.
Trump argues that Denmark has no legitimate claim to Greenland and, in recent days, has said that America will take control of Greenland, ”the easy way or the hard way.”
The question Canadians must ask themselves is, who will be next? President Trump has made no secret about wanting Canada to become America’s 51st State. We really have to ask ourselves, if he wants to occupy Canada, who is going to stop him?
In a recent article, journalist Martin Regg Cohn wrote that Venezuela, now occupied by the United States government, is 1727 kilometers away from America, but Canada is precisely zero kilometers from our undefended border with America, a border that President Trump has said is nothing more than a line in the sand.
I continue to be surprised at the number of people I hear from in Canada who do not believe that the Trump Administration is a threat to Canada’s sovereignty. A few of those perhaps would be quite happy for the United States to take over Canada, but many more simply don’t believe it will ever happen.
In my view, the writing is on the wall, and we ignore this risk at our peril.
Bob Rae, unleashed from his responsibilities as Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations, is now speaking out forcibly about his concern for Canada.
In an interview with journalist Susan Delacourt, Rae acknowledged that his own worry had started to radically spiral when he read President Trump’s recently released National Security Strategy that declared that the Western Hemisphere belonged to the United States and that the U.S. would do whatever it alone deemed necessary to assert its dominance.
“And yes,” says Rae, “that means Canada too, even if the document didn’t declare it outright. Canadians need to be aware of the game we are now in.”
In her article, Susan Delacourt noted that Rae “raised the spectre of Alberta and Quebec separatist movements – both very real as we enter 2026 – as fodder for Trump to interfere in this country. Just this week, Politico reported that Alberta separatists have been meeting with Trump officials in Washington.
Susan Delacourt also writes that Rae says that we have to confront the fact that any separatist referendum in Canada will destabilize the federation, which plays right into Trump’s hemispheric ambitions.
All of this, in my view, does not have to end in a doomsday prophecy. But as former Canadian Ambassador Bob Rae has said, more gently than perhaps he should have, Canadians need to be aware of the game they are now in. We cannot pretend it isn’t happening.
It is not business as usual. We cannot allow any cracks in our sovereignty that can provide Donald Trump with an excuse to intervene. Canadian unity is an absolute essential as we deal with the hemispheric reality of the Trump Administration. Canada, in my view, is under greater potential threat now than during the Second World War.
I believe that if there was ever a need for a Canadian Unity Council, this is it. Provincial and territorial leaders, along with the prime minister and federal party leaders, need to act as one when it comes to Canadian sovereignty. That includes Quebec and Alberta.
Federal Conservatives need to come to grips with the fact that Mark Carney is the Prime Minister of Canada. They need to get over the reality that they missed the boat this time around.
Mark Carney, on the other hand, must recognize that this is a time when all political leaders at the federal and provincial levels need to be at the table in a meaningful way during this pivotal crisis. As hard as it may be, the shouting, the name-calling, and the blame games must be paused.
Canada needs to put more emphasis on its military capabilities, and it needs to have a greater military presence in the Canadian Arctic. If NATO falls apart because the United States, a key NATO member, attacks other NATO members, then Canada must play a leading role in uniting other nations, both formerly in NATO and in South America to form a military alliance. That cannot happen if those countries do not see Canada as a country fulfilling its own military responsibilities, as limited as those may be.
Canada has a great deal of respect internationally, and Prime Minister Carney is right to place an emphasis on those relationships and to seek new partnerships. He is also right to keep his cool with the United States government, but he cannot back down from any principles or proposals that threaten Canadian sovereignty.
The reality we must face is that the United States government is currently operating unilaterally outside of international law and even American law, and Canada is right on their doorstep. So far, no one is stopping them.
This is simply no time for those of us on this side of the border to bury our heads in the sand.
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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There is no reason for the US to take over Greenland.
The US already has a military base there and I’m sure Greenland would be happy to allow more US bases under the same deal if the US is worried about security.
That’s the stance Greenland, Denmark and other EU countries should take.
Many also have US bases.
Remember Trump’s reign of terror is temporary. All the next presidential candidate has to do is say they will reverse all of Trump’s ridiculous moves.
Trump’s reign of terror may actually be over this year.
“Democrats only need to flip three more seats to win the House, and according to the non-partisan Cook Political Report, a whopping eighteen races have shifted into the blue column.”
Trump could lose Congress even before the midterms.
A good commentary to raise the awareness on this issue. Unfortunately, in my opinion, Canada is in a very weak position and doesn’t have the leaders to bring us through it. The commentary talks about sovereignty, but it’s a little late in the game to suddenly realize how important that should be to us. We surrendered our country to the US a long time ago. Decades of Canadian leaders have been short-sighted and opportunistic by allowing them to dominate the auto industry (auto pact), the aerospace industry (we had a prototype of the Avro Arrow which we gave up), our retail industry (all the big box stores are American), our food industry (most packaged goods companies are American), our retail (big box stores, fast food outlets are predominantly American) and our hospitality industry (many of the hotel chains are American). We are members of NORAD and have been delinquent in our NATO contributions. If we throw into the mix the fact that Canadians watch American TV, American sports, listen to America music, watch American movies, tune into American politics and even keep an eye on American weather, it becomes hard to tell the difference between us and them. We fly American flags in our cities and many Canadians vacation in the US. Eighty percent of our trade is cross-border with the US, so we are economically dependent on them. Net/net, Canada’s historically comfortable lifestyle has been courtesy of US goodwill towards us. We allowed that to happen, we elected leaders that put us in that position, that’s our fault. We sold our soul. Now there’s a President that’s not so benevolent. He’s putting Americans first – what a novel idea – and Canada is facing some harsh realities – as any business would if it relied almost exclusively on one customer, or one sponsor. It’s a little late to cry about it. We gave up control a long time ago and getting it back will be a challenge.
There were aspects of the Canadian culture that set us apart, but they have slowly been eroded too. This Liberal government has even taken us from our traditional role as peacekeepers to war mongers – something we’ve often criticized the Americans for. But Canadians have said nothing, and even reelected the same culprits. We share more with the Americans than we care to admit. Now Canadians are becoming nationalistic saying there’s no way they want Trump to take Canada and they’re looking to Carney to save us. Carney cant’s save us, he doesn’t work for Canadians. Even this week, Carney flew to China, cap in hand, to build a stronger trading relationship with that communist regime. What did he agree to? He will reduce the tariffs on EVs. This is another move to sell Canada to the highest bidder. China wants to export their EV technology. They are leaders in EV technology because strategically it makes sense for them. They are the biggest importer of oil in the world. That dependency is not good for their national security, nor their economic security. Developing alternate energy sources is essential for them. Canada does not need to import oil. We have enough oil to satisfy our needs for the foreseeable future. Our carbon footprint is negligible, we just need more pipelines and refineries – we don’t need EVs. Why should we play China’s game? Because Carney’s agenda prioritizes green energy, so that’s the direction he’s taking us, whether we want it or not. Maximizing the use of our oil reserves would give Canada independence, reduce our debt and make us relevant in the world. But instead, Carney is keeping us poor, keeping us vulnerable. He’s making us dependent on China as an alternative to being dependent on the US. Even the provinces are rebelling against his leadership, which is no surprise in Alberta’s case as they’ve been abused by the feds for a long time. So Carney is not uniting Canada (the superficial ‘elbows up’ nonsense doesn’t count for anything), and his solution is to trade one overseer for another. Canada can, and should, stand on its own two feet. We have little hope of fending off the US until we do. But, it won’t happen under Carney.
The imminent threat from the US is a real concern, but we don’t have the leadership or the independence to survive economically without the US. Anything we do now is a knee jerk reaction in a desperate attempt to avoid the inevitable.
I immigrated to Canada almost 50 years ago. I decided to stay and become a citizen because at the time Canada reflected the values that were important to me – honesty, ethics, freedom, and respect for the individual. We have been peacekeepers around the world, and I have been proud of that. I have always been a staunch supporter of Canada, and a big critic of US foreign policy. But these current politicians that fly the Liberal flag have killed something in me and they have created a Canada that no longer represents the values that brought me here in the first place. I started this comment by saying that the commentary has brought awareness to the issue. That’s good. But I believe the real issue is not what it appears to be on the surface. Despite his offensive public image, Trump is doing a lot of good things for his country. While I will always be a Canadian at heart, I truly believe we would be better off as a 51st state than trusting our future to Mark Carney.
Good article. Worried about what we can do about it. I totally agree with the parties working together. Look for common ground instead of searching for ways to put down the “other” side.
It seems that is what Poilievre wants to do. I wish he would put his energy into working together for Canada.