‘Our shared endurance will be our strength’
Re: Trump fools around and finds out the foolishness of fighting Canadians — John Ivison, Feb. 2
Columnist John Ivison is right — Canadian anger towards America’s tariff treachery should be channelled to work for us. Revenge is best served cold, but symbolic agitation is needed to increase Canada’s emotional heat towards U.S. President Donald Trump.
When Tehran seized American hostages, we sheltered them. When U.S. airspace was shut down on 9/11, 33,000 stranded Americans found refuge in Canada, many in Canadians’ own homes — not out of strategy, but out of solidarity. Now, Trump’s tariffs betray that legacy, masking paranoia as policy. According to him, the whole world has treated America “badly.” But this isn’t economics; it’s a power play rooted in imagined grievances — a petty crusade unworthy of trust, as toxic as 43 pounds of fentanyl.
These days mark the dawn of U.S. infamy — and the moment Canada realizes that complacency is complicity. We once believed friendship shielded us from America’s wrath, content to watch its rage target others. But Trump’s vindictive chaos spares no one. His return threatens not just Canada, but global stability, fuelled by pettiness, not principle. He demands to win, even if it means our ruin.
Canada has no choice but to stand united for national survival. This existential crisis is not of our making, but it will be resolved only through our collective will. Submission empowers bullies. Every province, co-ordinated federally, must respond with decisive action: retaliatory tariffs, rejection of cultural exports, and a refusal to normalize betrayal. Even small acts of defiance matter, because morale matters. Like Britain during the Blitz, our shared endurance will be our strength. Let betrayal forge our resolve, not our bitterness. In this extraordinary moment, righteous anger is not only justified — it is necessary. Channel it in defence of Canada.
Trump’s tariffs are more than an economic attack — they are Canada’s call to action. Unite. Resist. Endure. Better times will return, but only if we fight for them.
Tony D’Andrea, Toronto
We need a Trump clock
Re: Donald Trump’s America is a superpower without a purpose — Carson Jerema, Feb. 11
Perhaps the National Post could put a clock on one of its Opinions pages similar to the Doomsday Clock (which apparently is currently at 89 seconds to midnight) but for the End of Trump. We could count back the days from his inauguration, taking solace in knowing how long we have to wait to see the back of him. This one would represent a much happier event than the end of the Earth.
Pearson James, Langford, B.C.
Time for a coalition government
Re: Business leaders ask Trudeau to recall Parliament to deal with U.S. trade issues — Jordan Gowling, Feb. 11
During the Second World War, when attacked by Germany, British political parties came together to form a coalition government. It was one of the steps that helped save Britain, especially when it stood alone.
With our backs to the wall over American challenges, we must do the same. In the upcoming general election, Canadians should vote for their party of choice, as long as their candidate agrees to be part of a coalition government. The federal government will then speak with one voice. Let’s have country before party.
Mike Wilmut, Victoria
Let’s unleash our potential
Re: Canada can only get better now that Trudeau is leaving — Geoff Russ, Jan. 11
Stephen Harper’s government wanted to make Canada an energy superpower; Justin Trudeau’s government thought it better to impoverish Canadians to embellish his green credentials. The result is a disunited, underperforming country that only uncovered a faded, dust-covered sense of national pride when Donald Trump began bullying us.
Now that the Canadian population is energized by awareness of our vulnerabilities, we can unleash our tremendous potential as a country. There is no reason to limit our ambition to remaining a middle power in the world when we have the potential to be a leading power, both competing and partnering with the U.S., dependant on our national interest.
Canada’s abundant energy reserves, including fossil fuels, hydro and nuclear, would allow us to hyper-industrialize our economy while also exporting energy to countries that can supply us with military defensive hardware such as naval ships and submarines, as well as remotely piloted drones for patrolling our Arctic archipelago. We have the raw minerals necessary to build high-tech components required for a highly automated and industrialized economy, and the material and energy resources needed to build any high-capacity manufacturing plants.
What has prevented Canada from achieving its potential has been inhibitory taxes and regulations disincentivizing entrepreneurship, risk taking and investment, a disunited population lacking a common purpose and national vision, and insufficient peril to rouse us from our slumber. Trump’s threat of tariffs and annexation may have provided that peril.
Will Canada continue our practice of pitting regions against one another, central planning our economy, and running a high-tax social-welfare state, or will we be bold and make the decisions necessary to unleash our potential and become a global power that can compete with the most significant nations of the world?
Phil Blower, Millarville, Alta.
Form NATO-like tariff alliance
Re: Canada makes case to U.S. against a return to tariffs — Kevin Whitelaw, Feb. 8
Canada ought to convene a summit of like-minded countries to form an alliance akin to NATO, with the guiding principle that “an attack on one is an attack on all.”
If tariffs should be imposed on any one member state, then all member states would respond with immediate retaliatory tariffs designed to inflict maximum damage.
This strategy would be publicized in advance in order to create a credible deterrent.
If the deterrent is credible enough, it may never need to be used.
Michael Fox, Whistler
Fun facts about the boycotts
Re: Two weeks of Trumpism shouldn’t overturn a century of Canada-U.S. links — Terence Corcoran, Feb. 7
For Canadians who are jumping on the bandwagon to boycott everything American due to the threats and perhaps some of the actions of the current U.S. president, here are some fun facts. There are approximately 341 million Americans, roughly 245 million of whom were eligible to vote in the past presidential election. Approximately 77 million people voted for Donald Trump, which is less than one quarter of the population or 31 per cent of those eligible to vote.
It does not make sense to me to deprive hard-working Americans of our business because of how about a quarter of them voted.
Jonathan Lazar, North Vancouver
Stop booing, and bring the Commonwealth Games here
Re: Leave peewees out of politics, Quebec officials plead ahead of international hockey tourney — Feb. 7
Rather than booing the U.S. national anthem before NBA and NHL games in Canada, a more proactive approach would be for this country to host a positive event.
What we now call the Commonwealth Games originated as the British Empire Games, in Hamilton, Ont., in 1930. Maybe it’s time for Canada to make plans to host the Games’ 100th anniversary in 2030 and show Americans we’ve got other friends.
David Collier, Hamilton, Ont.
Scrap supply management
Re: NP View: A roadmap for Canadian prosperity— Editorial, Feb. 8
It is illogical for Canadians think that supply management is a good thing, and even more amazing that politicians of all parties are afraid to speak out against an extremely powerful dairy lobby.
Supply management is an echo of Soviet-style economics. It didn’t work there and it isn’t working in Canada. Among its obvious disadvantages is the de-facto tax that it imposes on Canadian consumers. It has become a major trade irritant, not only with the U.S. but with virtually all of our trading partners, meaning that preserving it will cost other Canadian industries in any trade negotiations.
It also penalizes the farmers it is supposed to protect. Canadian dairy could become more productive (there are no real incentives to do that now) and be sold on the world market competitively. Lastly, Canadian consumers would have wider choices if our trading partners had free access to our markets.
I usually don’t root against the home team but I hope that the U.S. forces Canada to open the taps and let dairy (and poultry and eggs) flow freely across our borders.
John Harris, Toronto
Questionable patriotism
Re: TDSB follows the woke crowd by scrubbing historical figures from schools — Greg Piasetzki, Feb. 6
The lack of protest over the Toronto District School Board’s “scrubbing” of historical figures from schools is a litmus test of what the current surge of patriotism is actually about.
If you are one of those Johnny-come-lately patriots who has raised the flag in protest over the actions of Donald Trump, but you don’t bat an eye over the removal of the names of Sir John A. Macdonald, Henry Dundas and Egerton Ryerson from our public schools, you should probably reassess your patriotism and label it for what it is. You just hate Donald Trump.
Glen Leis, Aurora, Ont.
B.C. Premier David Eby is no saviour
Re: B.C. will stand up to Trump by building at home — David Eby, Feb. 4
Aren’t we fortunate? Just when we thought that all was lost and Canadians were going to be forced to prefer the Yankees over the Blue Jays and swill American beer, here comes B.C. Premier David Eby to show us the way.
But Eby’s heroics, positioning himself as the champion of Canadians, showing us, like his biblical namesake, how to stand up to the Goliath in the White House, ring patently false.
This is the same David Eby who folded like a cheap suit when the antisemites in his caucus demanded the resignation of MLA Selina Robinson. From all reports, she was doing a great job in her portfolio as minister of post-secondary education. Too bad she’s Jewish. Ah, such is politics.
E. Joan O’Callaghan, Toronto
Our health-care system is ‘ailing and failing us’
Re: B.C. To keep sending cancer patients to Washington State — Feb. 12 (E-Paper)
It galls me that Canadians believe the tripe from politicians about “free” and “world-class” socialized health care in Canada, neither of which are true, while at the same time denouncing the evils of “American-style” private health-care delivery that these same governments fund and use when Canadian health care fails Canadians. The hypocrisy is astounding.
Both Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles and Bonnie Crombie of the Ontario Liberals are campaigning to “fix” health care in Ontario. Both want to pour more money into an archaic model of health-care delivery that is clearly failing all Canadians, not just Ontarians.
Having spent 10 years in the U.S., where I experienced truly world-class health care, I would like to know if the Ontario NDP and the Liberals are ready to bring world-class private health-care delivery to Ontario to cure a system that is ailing and failing us today.
Gordon S. Clarry, Etobicoke, Ont.
Ontario election was well-timed
Re: Just attacking Doug Ford won’t bring the victory Ontario Liberals think it will — Randall Denley, Jan. 28
Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie needs to stop hollering about wasting money on an election. Though Doug Ford called the election early, it costs no more to run it now than later.
Ford isn’t taking time away from parliamentary business because the legislature was not scheduled to reconvene until March 3, at which point the election will be over. He isn’t ignoring his duties as premier but instead is multi-tasking by simultaneously campaigning for the election whilst attempting to mediate a swerve to the Trump tariffs.
When the Trump hammer comes down at the end of the month, Ontario will be at its fittest to do battle.
Lori Crank, Oakville, Ont.
World can no longer look away from the crisis in Sudan
Re: Super Bowl performer who waved Gaza, Sudan flag banned for life from stadiums and events: NFL — Jon Gambrell, Feb. 10
Jon Gambrell reported on the protester who waved a flag emblazoned with the words “Sudan” and “Gaza” during the Super Bowl’s halftime show. While the conflict in Gaza has been widely covered, Gambrell brushed over Sudan’s war, failing to capture the scale and intensity of what has been deemed the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
With a death toll exceeding 150,000 people, millions of displaced Sudanese — including over 10 million children — are trapped near the front lines. Sudan’s strategic location along the Red Sea, controlling heavily trafficked key routes, also puts global trade at risk.
Foreign interests are fuelling this war. Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have both been accused of violating a UN arms embargo by supplying weapons and drones to the warring sides, in a conflict marked by ethnic cleansing and sexual violence.
The world can no longer look away. The UN remains paralyzed, and international inaction emboldens war criminals and their backers. The international community must demand accountability and cut off foreign military support. Failing to act will accelerate Sudan’s collapse, with catastrophic global consequences.
Mohamed Ahmed, Edmonton
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