Last week, I wrote a Listen Up article centered around United States President Joe Biden pardoning his son Hunter for felony convictions relating to tax fraud and gun legislation. I said, given all the circumstances, including incoming President Donald Trump’s consistent insistence that he will use his office to seek revenge on his perceived enemies, I would have done the same thing in a heartbeat.
I enjoy reading the comments on my articles and appreciate differing points of view. Following last week’s article, I read one from a reader, which was short and sweet but particularly caught my eye, in part because it expressed a viewpoint that I believe is now shared by many Canadians.
Here is what this individual wrote: “When will we ever stop obsessing over American politics and start giving a care about this country?” How I wish we could separate these two priorities, but in my view, we cannot. For at least the next four years, American politics will have a direct effect on the lives of Canadians.
I know that many people are sick and tired of hearing about Donald Trump every day on almost every newscast and other media. I would be one of those if it were not so important to recognize and be reminded of the existential threat that a Trump administration in the United States is to Canada.
Some of my friends are “Trumped” out. Others, including some politicians and decision-makers, do not take him seriously enough. Some of those people unwisely interpret Trump’s remarks about Canada as good-humoured or jokes and his threats to our economy as little more than bargaining chips. What they urgently need to recognize is that Trump does not joke; he baits.
I believe that Donald Trump is likely, at this point in time, the biggest threat that Canada faces, between his threats of tariffs and muttering about Canada’s future independence. Those who dismiss Trump as a lightweight who does not follow through on his agenda, who doesn’t usually mean what he says, should take their collective heads out of the sand.
In an opinion piece in the Toronto Star, journalist Andrew Phillips says, “When it comes to the exercise of raw political power, he’s (Trump) giving a master class in how to bend others to his will. With a single social media post he has his country’s two most important trading partners dancing for his pleasure, trying to figure out how to appease the Monarch of Mar-a-Lago.”
When Trump muttered about Canada’s sovereignty, the first time could be put down to sarcasm and his habit of belittling others. When it blooms beyond that, it becomes a strategy.
Elon Musk, a Telsa and media billionaire, and former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson are close advisors to Donald Trump. He listens to them.
Carlson has opined that the United States should “liberate Canada” and less than a year ago touted that message to a sell-out crowd in Alberta.
Musk, in recent days, has described Prime Minister Trudeau as an “insufferable fool.” Whatever some people in Canada may think of Justin Trudeau, that is an inappropriate comment to make about the leader of another nation by someone as close to Trump as Musk is. He likely would not have made it if he did not believe Trump shared his opinion.
Donald Trump himself, when dining with Trudeau in West Palm Beach, alluded to Canada as potentially America’s 51st state. He doubled down with another tweet, saying: “It was a pleasure having dinner the other night with Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada. I look forward to seeing the Governor again soon so that we can continue our in-depth talks on Tariffs and Trade, the results of which will be truly spectacular for all! “
And then Trump tripled down when he suggested in an NBC News interview that Canada and Mexico should become American states because the U.S. runs trade deficits with both countries. And if we still didn’t get it, Trump stood for a photo-op with the Canadian flag just to drive home his point.
So, is Donald Trump just messing around with Canada and Justin Trudeau and having fun at our expense? Certainly, there are some who think so, including Canada’s Defense Minister Bill Blair, who commented, “I don’t take offence at jokes.”
But this is no joke.
Repeatedly referring to Canada as the 51st State of America, whether actually intended or not, is a direct attack on our sovereignty as a nation and should be taken very seriously. I can think of no other country, at least in the democratic world, that would repeatedly make such a territorial statement about a neighbouring jurisdiction, in jest or otherwise.
Do I think invading Canada is on Donald Trump’s ‘To Do’ list? No, I do not. There are those who believe that Trump is as much of a territorial predator as Vladimir Putin or Chinese President Xi Jinping, but I am not there yet.
I do believe, however, that Trump’s references to Canada’s sovereignty are not spontaneous but rather part of a strategy to threaten Canadians and weaken our resolve in trade and border negotiations. Trump, in my view, would not be concerned about Canadians believing he could just come in and take what he wants from Canada if he can’t get a deal that suits him.
Another Toronto Star editorial, referring to Donald Trump, said that neither outrage nor concessions is a way to deal with a bully. They are right.
Courage and a clear message that Canada will seek win/win solutions and fully retaliate against those that harm our economy or our sovereignty are absolutely essential in dealing with a wannabe despot who respects strength and relishes demeaning those he believes to be easy targets.
Canada cannot allow itself to be one of those easy targets.
We need a united front with strong leadership and equitable solutions to resolve, under unprecedented circumstances, areas of disagreement between our two countries and a recognition of the severe consequences of failure.
The reality is we cannot forget about Donald Trump or fool ourselves about what he wants from Canada. We need united leadership that can deal effectively and fairly with him, and we need it now.
So, where is it?
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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Mr. Beatty;
Doug Ford can’t even manage his own province. He has surpassed the “peter principle” (people rise to their own level of incompetence).
With his continued metaphorical fingers in Toronto governance, developer envy – his bluster would not demonstrate a strong governing example.
His lack of science -related knowledge, self-unawareness, and continued use of the “notwithstanding clause” to bail out of his decisions, I would not bet on his abilities or discernment.
Further, I suggest that Bill Davis would roll over in his grave.
Justin Trudeau just completely botched pushing Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland out and her brutal resignation letter is likely the fatal blow to Trudeau’s leadership. It was no accident on her part.
With the government spinning in chaos, collapsing in the polls and the NDP signaling it will pull its support if Trudeau stays, an early election looks much more likely. It wouldn’t surprise me if Mark Carney decides to take a pass, as he likely knows it’s too late now to save the sinking Liberal ship.
I agree that we need strong united leadership in Canada. Today it was further proven that Trudeau is not the person to lead Canada. Deputy Prime Minister Freeland’s resignation from the cabinet proves that!
It is a bit of a head shake for Canadians to feel they can appease the troll on our southern border. ‘Yes sir we will curtail people crossing into the US from north of the border.’ And Mexico will be expected to seal the southern US border. The US has been struggling for years to close their borders. Even with their vast logistics, they have failed.
We will now attempt to do the job with maybe some strong bug spray, a few mean dogs and possibly a drone or two. What a hoot!! There is the fact that the influx of persons from Mexico, Central and South America are fleeing poverty and searching for a good job. Best of luck here in Canada where you are given part time work, poor wages and the opportunity to freeze on the street or live in a car.
There is also the possibility that the refugees here in Canada are not as benign as those from the south. Some of those who have claimed safety here in Canada wave flags and shout slogans that do not bode well for us.
All the standards that we as parents attempted to instill in our sons and daughters have been swept aside. Truth, loyalty and integrity don’t seem to be factors in the employer/ employee equation any more. And that continues into politics and politicians.
Myself. I’ve listened to enough speeches puffed into a mike by a PM who believes that we little people are an inconvenience; that we can’t imagine the big picture. Pierre the ‘Ridddler’ lacks credibility. And a klingon is still a klingon. So where do we see leadership? The horizon is pretty empty.
And if you really believe the guy in Ontario, our Premier has what it takes to be more than a harlequin, then we really are in trouble.
For sure Hugh, we cannot ignore Trump. The die will be cast on Trump’s tariff threat sometime between January 20 and October 20, so it is a very important time to have an experienced Team Canada in place. The Conservatives don’t have much relevant experience and there couldn’t be a worse time to have rookies in charge of Canada’s fate.
As Andrew Coyne said in the Globa and Mail after a recent meeting of the premiers, “Poilievre is an unknown on the world stage and has shown himself to be unfit to unite the country.” Any phycologist will tell you that Poilievre’s abrasive and condescending manner would not work well with the hyper-narcissistic Mr. Trump.
So here is what I expect will happen. Mark Carney will replace Chrystia Freeland as Finance Minister, and she will agree to apply her impressive talent and experience full time on Canada-US relations, leading Team Canada for a second time.
The other parties will not allow Poilievre to force an early election. Trudeau knows that very few government leaders survive beyond 10 years. He is still a young man who is known and respected on the world stage, so he will depart to pursue a position in some international body, and Carney will lead the Liberals into the October election.
Trumps nowhere NEAR the threat to this country as our bimbo playboy “leader” Justin🙄 (Douglas Murray said that right lol). Partying with teenage girls, exchanging friendship bracelets at a frickn tailer swift concert, egad.
And trumps like every othr human, of cours he jokes somtimes, baits somtimes, speaks the truth somtimes and says horribl thngs somtimes tht he needs cleaned up (enter jd vance lol).
At least hes going to wrk towards cutting all the excess, clean up their food, clean up their education system, get housing more affordable, clean up the criminals, get thm out of needless wars while still saying No Way to groups like Hamas and is getting rid of insane woke ideology.
Hes far frm a perfect human being and not a very eloquent speaker but whn i look at his proposed policies theyr common sense and looks decent (i was a far Lefty for 25yrs and am now independent and i wish we had similar thngs gonna happn here), i dont care about his personal life (hes a womanizer unfortunatly, so was Clinton, so was JFK) and i got tired of the dems and the legacy media continueing to push tired old talkng points tht were disproven…russian collusion lies, the “fine people” lies, the liz cheney firing squad lies, gimme a break, listen to entire interviews, not jst sound bites, the “nazi rally” at MSG, ya tht had tons of Jews and Blck folks in attendanc and evn speaking? Hes not anti gay, has gay weddings at his home for chrissake….thts the BS everyones tired of.
Most Americans see thru it all now and jst want someone whos gonna care about makng life more affordable for thm and makng som mch needed change.
Hes unsavoury in som ways and rough arnd the edges but still bettr thn anyone else who ran.
And Biden, itll come out just WHY he felt the need to give his son a 10 yr blanket pardon (unheard of)…sorry but theyr ovbiously tryng to cover their butts frm the fraud thts been going on. And Biden already used the govt to go after his enemies, theres no differenc ther.
Everyones tired to death of being called racists, fascists, nazis, transphobes, sexists if they disagree and told the worlds gonna come to an end under Trump. Enough with the fear mongering, that guy was already in office for 4 yrs and thngs not only didnt explode but were bettr for most americans, thts why most of thm voted for the man again.
Trump tends to take care of his allies, its tht business man in him so we need to show tht we’re jst tht and things might jst be pretty good.
This whole black n white, good n evil narrative is too simplistic and doesnt cut it anymore.
Now what are WE gonna do…i think we need an election NOW befor Trudeau does evn more damage!
We need a strong leader who can wrk with someone like Trump👍
Canada is weak, weak. We do not have a mature leader or any possible excellent future leader. We are overwhelmed by the increasing population who do not yet understand Canada and the increase that will seek or are forced to seek a place in Canada from USA now that Trump has been elected again.
Trump has power and scary ideas. He could do anything.
Be wise Canada, not naive, we need strong understanding among our citizens. We need a leader who knows what has to be done and will do the right thing for Canada…..but who?
Any Canadian that would like to be the 51 st State of America is “NO” Canadian !!!
Judging by their behaviour in the House of Commons lately, the Conservative Party has not proven itself to be effective negotiators or fit to govern a nation. Doug Ford’s inflammatory comments about cutting off the power to Americans is a sad attempt to show up Mr Trump at his favourite bullying games. Better to save his breath for more nuanced practical work at real negotiations for Ontario interests. The Trump governance will be all about what they “think” is best for them and their friends and makes headlines their supporters cheer for.It is naive to think that our next Prime Minister will be actually respected by Mr Trump. He may be likely tempted to continue to sell off Canadian sovereignty to be able join with Mr Trump and his friends like our former PM Mr Harper. Sadly, there are many many Canadians who would like to be the 51st State – It might be time to try to draft Rick Mercer into active politics. He at least has been everywhere in Canada and really met Canadians. He also understands political farce.
As I wrote in my previous article, dealing with a Trump 2.0 administration will be more challenging. On top of that, we have a PM that can’t seem to understand or care that continuing to take shots at Trump and the voters that elected him is most unwise.
It is clear Trump and many in his administration don’t take Trudeau seriously (like many others) and know he will soon be gone, so their actions reflect that. My guess is some sanctions are coming, regardless of what we do, with the added intention of hastening Trudeau’s fall, and then they will engage in the real negotiations with a new conservative government.
Interesting times ahead..
Doug Ford for P.M. !