A short time ago, Dominic Le Blanc, now Finance Minister of Canada, described U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s remarks against Canada, referring to us as the 51st state in America, as a joke. It isn’t, and it only took LeBlanc a few days to concede that he was wrong and that Trump’s threats were no joke and needed to be taken seriously.
Another Liberal, former Prime Minister Jean Chretien, let it all out in a recent Globe and Mail opinion piece in his blunt Shawinigan style and said this, in part. “Canada would never agree to be part of the United States.” He went on to say that Trump’s remarks were “totally unacceptable insults and unprecedented threats to Canada’s sovereignty.”
Then Chretien said, “If you think threatening and insulting us is going to win us over, you really don’t know a thing about Canadians. We may look easy-going, mild mannered, but make no mistake, we have spine and toughness.”
All of that is well and good, and it needed to be said but what does it really mean? Donald Trump becomes President of the United States in eight days. As things stand, the Trudeau government is effectively leaderless, with a lame-duck Prime Minister presiding over a weak and somewhat dysfunctional government until at least mid-March. That leaves a significant void in what may take place in the meantime.
Both Dominic Le Blanc and Melanie Joly have said they will not be part of the Liberal leadership race because their current responsibilities to deal with a Trump Administration are too important. They may be right, but no doubt they were also happy to have a reason to step away from a leadership race that polling has shown Trudeau’s announced leaving did not change the huge gulf between the Liberals and Conservatives; in fact, it increased by five points.
Neither Dominic Le Blanc nor Melanie Joly is the Prime Minister, and it is unlikely that Trump will deal effectively with anyone below that level or, indeed, with a lame-duck Prime Minister who is clearly on the way out.
I thought I saw a ray of sunshine last week when LeBlanc declined to be a leadership candidate. I thought it might be a signal that with him out of the race, he could be named interim leader and, therefore, Prime Minister until the next election. At least it would have provided a level of leadership that is now seriously lacking.
It appears I was wrong about that. Justin Trudeau will not leave until he is in a position where he must, and that is under his terms when a new leader is elected, not appointed. Trudeau is still on the payroll as Prime Minister.
That being said, with no identified strong leader for the Liberals and, therefore, the federal government, with no effective Prime Minister, we need an election now and not this Spring. It is my belief the Governor General can make that happen by recalling Parliament. Otherwise, we will be in a very poor position to negotiate with the Trump Administration for many months. I am not holding my breath on this one.
The hard facts are that Donald Trump can start his moves against Canada before the end of this month. It won’t take long for him to prove to people that he is NOT joking.
Tariffs could have a devastating effect on Canada, but there is another issue that is not getting the attention I believe it should, and that is Trump’s signals of imperialism by looking to other lands to control, including Canada.
For those who dismiss that as a conspiracy theory, let’s take a look at the broader picture.
Donald Trump has recently suggested that America started the war in Ukraine because they encouraged that country’s membership in NATO. Most, if not all of us, are aware that Putin invaded Ukraine in a bold move to obtain more territory, with signals that it may not stop there. Trump has never called on Russia to withdraw from Ukraine, and he never will.
As for China, they are getting very serious about attacking and taking over Taiwan. The United States has always been an ally of Taiwan, which is keeping China from attacking. But now, Trump has indicated that the United States may not defend Taiwan in the event of an attack by China.
Then, in the United States, you have a man who will be President very soon, threatening to take back the Panama Canal and to take Greenland from Denmark, a NATO ally, both through military force if necessary. As for Canada, he says he will bend us to our knees through economic force and make us the 51st state of America.
So, leaving the Middle East aside for a moment, what we have are three of the most powerful countries in the world tacitly supporting each other’s imperialistic aspirations. None of these countries will attack the other for illegal expansion.
What is happening globally is encouraging Donald Trump. He believes if he supports or doesn’t attack their plans for expansionism, they, in turn, will leave him alone with his.
In my view, taking these three powers and their ambitions together, the table is set for a new imperialistic control of world affairs. All that is missing from their perspective are the wine glasses and a toast to what they believe will be the new World Order.
We can dismiss this out of hand, and perhaps some of it should be. But the harsh reality is that our world and its axis of power has changed. We have seen real signs of Putin wanting to conquer Ukraine and perhaps go further into some parts of Europe, China wanting to control much of the territory around them, and now the United States flashing its covetous eye on Canada. Rampant Imperialism. All real and factual. No conspiracy theory here.
Nobody should misinterpret or underestimate Donald Trump’s threat toward Canada. It is real and significant. Once that man gets an idea in his head, it is very hard to get it out. It may not turn out to be annexation, but it will certainly be about bringing Canada further under the shadow and control of the United States.
Canada should not be dealing with all this from a position of weakness. We have many strengths, and we always punch above our weight. But Canada’s sovereignty has been directly challenged by our next-door neighbor. That, too, is a fact. There are no jokes here.
That is why strong new leadership is required for Canada now, not six months from now. We need Justin Trudeau out the door now, or we need an early election. Time is already running out.
We don’t have time to waste.
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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Search “What Pierre Poilievre and Donald Trump have in common”
“we now have a Canadian Conservative leader who trades in the same trademark combination of bombast, belligerence, and bs.”
PP’s whole schtick was complaining about Trudeau and the carbon tax
The carbon tax and rebate are actually a net benefit for most Canadians PP wants to take away.
For some references see comments here: https://doppleronline.ca/huntsville/smith-and-richter-at-odds-over-energy-efficiency-programs/
.Now that JT is gone PP’s gone quiet.
Complaints are easy. And worthless.
Solutions are hard and very valuable.
To get a sense of a highly qualified contender for Prime Minister that isn’t just a whiny, career politician watch the video “Mark Carney appears on the Daily Show.”
In a debate Carney will crush PP and his lies and complaints.
Donald Trump is a liar. Yet he could become president again.
Pierre Poilievre is a liar. Yet he could become prime minister.
Doug Ford is a liar. Yet he could become premier again.
Currently there is no hope for positive initiatives in Canada.
Trump has shown PCs in Canada that blatant lies hardly affect polling numbers at all.
I actually don’t blame politicians.
I blame the apathetic electorate.
All politicians from all parties lie occasionally.
But at least they try to be subtle about it and make it difficult to fact check.
Not since Trump.
Blatant lies that are easy to fact check yet polling numbers aren’t affected.
Will Canadians smarten up before the federal election and fact check PP’s many lies?
Unlikely.
They didn’t in the US.
If the US take Greenland by force, it will be interesting to see what NATO does. Both are covered by NATO protection. What do they say? ‘An attack on one is an attack on us all’. I think it will become obvious very quickly that NATO is controlled by the US and will either not say anything, or will support the US in their expansion. History shows that the western world is very selective about the countries it condemns, but always turns a blind eye when it comes to illegal US conflicts. . We’ve already witnessed the role NATO has played in Ukraine, where they have fueled the war, and essentially been an extension of the US military.
With respect to Canada, we have no hope of stopping Trump’s aspirations for us until Trudeau is gone. Even then, the Liberals have left us so weak that it will be more than difficult. If it wasn’t obvious to everyone before, it should be obvious to everyone now that our political system is weak and can so easily be abused by an incompetent narcissist like Trudeau. It should never have been allowed that this country be dictated to by one person, with no accountability to Canadians. That’s not democracy, and look at where we are.