With the threat of U.S. tariffs of 25 per cent on “all” exports, the traditional Liberal view of Canadian identity, that we are multicultural peacekeepers who love social programs, has been revealed to be not only naive, self-centred and delusional, but completely and utterly narcissistic and dangerous.
Every pre-occupation of successive Canadian governments, but particularly the current one in Ottawa, has only been possible because Canada shares a border with the greatest military and economic force in history, and because they’ve generally paid us little attention.
Canada has a rotting military, not because we are morally superior to the Spartans on our doorstep, but because we’ve always assumed defence of the continent includes defence of us.
Ten years ago, before he was prime minister, Justin Trudeau’s comments about the Harper government’s plan to send fighter jets to Iraq to assist the Americans, are as good an example of the lies Canadian leaders tell themselves and the rest of us, as anything. Trudeau thought Canada’s role should be focused on humanitarian aid, “Rather than, you know, trying to whip out our CF-18s and show them how big they are. It just doesn’t work like that in Canada.”
The only reason “it just doesn’t work like that in Canada” is because American goodwill has relieved this country of the need to have a functioning military.
Similarly, Canada has a more porous border and a more welcoming immigration regime than the U.S., because we face almost none of the problems the Americans do on their southern border, and because would-be immigrants would choose New York before Halifax in a heartbeat. We can be welcoming to the world, because we are no one’s first choice. The Americans, as with defence, do the work to keep the continent secure, while Canadians confuse coasting with moral policy choices.
After Donald Trump was elected the first time on a platform to control illegal immigration, Trudeau posted on social media in 2017, “To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength.” A northward deluge of asylum seekers coming to Canada via the unofficial border crossing at Roxham Road quickly followed, a loophole that has since been closed.
Canada has a more relaxed system for asylum seekers, but only because it doesn’t share a border with Mexico. The Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement, which allows either country to turn back migrants, exists because the Canadian government requested it in exchange for cooperation in the war on terror, some two decades ago.
It is not Canadian benevolence that allows us to be open to the world, it is because Ottawa hides behind Washington.
So too, explains Canada’s obsessions with any number of economic killing policies.
Access to American markets, particularly since the free trade era that started in the 1980s, has assured Canadians enjoy a standard of living approximating our neighbours to the South, without anywhere near the capitalistic dynamism they possess.
The Trump tariffs will be costly for Americans, unnecessarily raising the cost of energy, cars and trucks, critical minerals and aluminum and steel. Tariffs are weapons countries aim and fire at themselves.
But even worse is a country that devotes its efforts to killing its own industry. Whereas the Americans are threatening to raise tariffs high enough so that they don’t buy from us, the Liberals have spent the last decade trying to prevent the sale of those very same goods.
Leading up to Trump’s announcement that he will impose the tariff, unless Canada (and Mexico) get control of their borders, there was speculation that any tariffs would exempt Canadian energy. But no such exemption was mentioned by Trump on Monday.
So now, Canada’s biggest industry and greatest source of wealth has to contend with both Trudeau and Trump trying to kill it. Whether it was the cancelling of the Northern Gateway pipeline, or excessive rules and regulations that forced Energy East to shut down, or for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion to be delayed by years, or the effective embargo on the export of natural gas, the Liberals have tried to stop the export of Canadian energy to new markets.
The only reason that this was even remotely possible is because of the access energy exporters have had to the U.S. market.
Same goes with the supply management of eggs, poultry and dairy, foreign ownership restrictions on airlines, banks and media, and any number of other protectionist policies of our own. They have only ever been viable because of Canada’s proximity to the U.S., and the sheer wealth that emanates from it.
Canadian politicians can indulge all of their socialistic fantasies because the American commitment to free enterprise ensures their good fortune spills up here.
Trump threatening a tariff may just be a negotiating tactic, as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement comes up for review in 2026, or it may be something more permanent and sinister.
Either way, Canada no longer has the luxury to continue behaving like a spoiled child who tells everyone they are independently wealthy.
In effect, by refusing to keep the Canadian Forces operating like the modern military it is suppose to be, by being hostile to business, and by having a more welcoming immigration regime without the responsibility, Canada has not been asserting its moral superiority or independence from the U.S., it has been, in truth, embracing its status as nothing more than an American satellite.
National Post