"(Canada) is desperately trying to learn how to share a continent with an out-of-control superpower."
You're characterizing the country that de-banked and suppressed a massive anti-Covid lockdown movement as somehow civilized, decent, and in control? "Persuasion" is becoming less persuasive with every passing day.
What a crock of globalist corporatist regime propaganda. Hey Canadian ruling elite, just drop YOUR tariffs and everything with the Trump and the American working class will be fine. Oh and also charge the US market rates for your oil.
Trump's hostility to our allies, including Canada, is despicable. Many, perhaps most, Americans feel that way. I try to do what little I can, which isn't much, obviously. Wish I could offer more than that.
I'm remembering the heroic Canadian embassy staff during the Iranian hostage crisis. And Trump explaining how his contribution to the Viet Nam war, which he supported publicly despite his daddy's tenant's bone spur deferment letter, was to avoid syphlis. Both speak volumes.
"Please, American reader, do what you can to rein him in."
How? How can we small-potatoes plain old American readers rein in this juggernaut? My congressman, Joe Neguse, is a good man from all I can ascertain, and I believe he's doing what he can....but, really, from his perch in the minority party what can he do? My neighbors are saying things like "We just witnessed the last truly democratic election this country will see", and my husband, who is a university associate at a federal agency, has been dealing with how to help his colleagues who might be fired.
I'm asking seriously for concrete ideas. I'm at a total loss and struggling to avoid despair.
We small-potato, plain Americans need to replace as many Trump "Yes" men in the Senate and House in 2026 as we possibly can. We have a right to a legislature capable of putting loyalty to the United States -- its Constitution and people -- ahead of any president.
One of the few bits of good news this week was the Liberal Party of Canada's election of Mark Carney as their new Leader, and the next Prime Minister of Canada.
In comparison to Carney, his opponent in the upcoming election, Pierre Poilievre, who seemed rather promising last week, now looks pretty much like a replacement-level Center-Right politician with an unfortunate populist streak. And the Liberals might just pull this out. Carney's an amazingly effective upgrade from Trudeau.
Carney made it clear in his first speech as Leader that he's not going to play along with Trump's Now They're On/Now They're Off tariffs game: Canada's retaliatory tariffs are going to stay in place until Trump starts showing some respect, a reaction that he usually reserves for the despots of whom he is such an embarrassing fanboy. Carney was an actual business person, he didn't just play one on reality TV, and he headed up not one but TWO central banks of the G7, one as a non-citizen. He has intellectual horsepower that Trump can't even dream of, and a record of achievement that Trump's whole Island of Misfit Toys Cabinet couldn't match all together on their best day.
I hope that our northern neighbors decide to give him a chance: watching him square off against the Cheeto Mussolini will be good for freedom everywhere.
My own experience is a little different from Quico’s. Part of my wife’s family is from Québec and I fell in love with the place 40 years ago. I have always found the relationship with francophone Canadians to be different from that with anglophones. I believe that this is due to the nature of Canada’s founding. The loyalists who moved to Canada after the Revolution saw Americans as reckless Yahoos. They also formed the demographic basis that military conquerors used to suppress the francophone majority. At the same time, millions of Québécois, deprived of opportunity in their own country, emigrated to the US in the search of jobs, particularly in the factories of New England. The ties between us are long and deep. Few Québécois do not have American relatives.
The Québécois have a clear identity unlike the « not American » identity of anglophones. A soft residual antiaméricanisme exists among the anglophone population that is casual and slightly annoying. I cannot count the times that I have been told that Americans pretend to be Canadians when traveling abroad. There is a popular myth that we sew maple leafs on our backpacks. A similar anti-francophone sentiment competes with it. Those darned Frenchies insist on preserving their language and culture. Who is disliked the most depends on the circumstances. Canada is a complicated country.
Trudeau banned Americans from their homes during the pandemic. Americans did not ban Canadians, although one needed to fly as the borders were closed. He then banned foreigners from buying homes and taxed American snowbirds who had them. Canadians can buy homes in the States but not the other way around. This is a pattern of ducking responsibility for the housing shortage by blaming foreigners.
The Trudeau administration has been devastatingly bad for Canadians. The Canadian dollar has tanked and GDP/person is so low that they would be one of the poorest states if the Trump threats were real. Inflation adjusted numbers are even worse.
An intelligent leader might have said « your government has destroyed opportunity for you. Let us work together to build something better. » Alas, intelligent leadership is lacking on both sides of the border. Carney’s bleating is just more of the same, while Ford is more Trumpian than Poilievre. Legault is competent and cautious, at least in my estimation. Others surely have different views.
To your point about French-speaking Canadians, I used to be impatient with some of the more flamboyant Quebecois nationalist rhetoric and regulations, even as a European French-speaker. Then I heard English Canadians - including recent non-white immigrants - about their French-speaking compatriots. The deep racism and contempt for francophone culture is really quite extraordinary, starting with the canard that Canadian French would somehow be corrupted. My favourite Anglo bad faith argument is about the supposed Quebecois discrimination of First Nations, as if English speakers were somehow different. Anyway, I hope the emergence of a common enemy will help Canadians appreciate their commonalities and as a European I hope we will stand together against US bullying. Vive le Canada libre!
"(Canada) is desperately trying to learn how to share a continent with an out-of-control superpower."
You're characterizing the country that de-banked and suppressed a massive anti-Covid lockdown movement as somehow civilized, decent, and in control? "Persuasion" is becoming less persuasive with every passing day.
Read →
What a crock of globalist corporatist regime propaganda. Hey Canadian ruling elite, just drop YOUR tariffs and everything with the Trump and the American working class will be fine. Oh and also charge the US market rates for your oil.
Your English is good. Or did the Kremlin provide a translation bot?
Thank you for this post about Canada's situation.
Trump's hostility to our allies, including Canada, is despicable. Many, perhaps most, Americans feel that way. I try to do what little I can, which isn't much, obviously. Wish I could offer more than that.
I'm remembering the heroic Canadian embassy staff during the Iranian hostage crisis. And Trump explaining how his contribution to the Viet Nam war, which he supported publicly despite his daddy's tenant's bone spur deferment letter, was to avoid syphlis. Both speak volumes.
"Please, American reader, do what you can to rein him in."
How? How can we small-potatoes plain old American readers rein in this juggernaut? My congressman, Joe Neguse, is a good man from all I can ascertain, and I believe he's doing what he can....but, really, from his perch in the minority party what can he do? My neighbors are saying things like "We just witnessed the last truly democratic election this country will see", and my husband, who is a university associate at a federal agency, has been dealing with how to help his colleagues who might be fired.
I'm asking seriously for concrete ideas. I'm at a total loss and struggling to avoid despair.
We small-potato, plain Americans need to replace as many Trump "Yes" men in the Senate and House in 2026 as we possibly can. We have a right to a legislature capable of putting loyalty to the United States -- its Constitution and people -- ahead of any president.
Yes, but I do wish I could do something now. I feel like I'm tied to a chair watching innocent people get run over by a runaway train.
One of the few bits of good news this week was the Liberal Party of Canada's election of Mark Carney as their new Leader, and the next Prime Minister of Canada.
In comparison to Carney, his opponent in the upcoming election, Pierre Poilievre, who seemed rather promising last week, now looks pretty much like a replacement-level Center-Right politician with an unfortunate populist streak. And the Liberals might just pull this out. Carney's an amazingly effective upgrade from Trudeau.
Carney made it clear in his first speech as Leader that he's not going to play along with Trump's Now They're On/Now They're Off tariffs game: Canada's retaliatory tariffs are going to stay in place until Trump starts showing some respect, a reaction that he usually reserves for the despots of whom he is such an embarrassing fanboy. Carney was an actual business person, he didn't just play one on reality TV, and he headed up not one but TWO central banks of the G7, one as a non-citizen. He has intellectual horsepower that Trump can't even dream of, and a record of achievement that Trump's whole Island of Misfit Toys Cabinet couldn't match all together on their best day.
I hope that our northern neighbors decide to give him a chance: watching him square off against the Cheeto Mussolini will be good for freedom everywhere.
Trying to!
My own experience is a little different from Quico’s. Part of my wife’s family is from Québec and I fell in love with the place 40 years ago. I have always found the relationship with francophone Canadians to be different from that with anglophones. I believe that this is due to the nature of Canada’s founding. The loyalists who moved to Canada after the Revolution saw Americans as reckless Yahoos. They also formed the demographic basis that military conquerors used to suppress the francophone majority. At the same time, millions of Québécois, deprived of opportunity in their own country, emigrated to the US in the search of jobs, particularly in the factories of New England. The ties between us are long and deep. Few Québécois do not have American relatives.
The Québécois have a clear identity unlike the « not American » identity of anglophones. A soft residual antiaméricanisme exists among the anglophone population that is casual and slightly annoying. I cannot count the times that I have been told that Americans pretend to be Canadians when traveling abroad. There is a popular myth that we sew maple leafs on our backpacks. A similar anti-francophone sentiment competes with it. Those darned Frenchies insist on preserving their language and culture. Who is disliked the most depends on the circumstances. Canada is a complicated country.
Trudeau banned Americans from their homes during the pandemic. Americans did not ban Canadians, although one needed to fly as the borders were closed. He then banned foreigners from buying homes and taxed American snowbirds who had them. Canadians can buy homes in the States but not the other way around. This is a pattern of ducking responsibility for the housing shortage by blaming foreigners.
The Trudeau administration has been devastatingly bad for Canadians. The Canadian dollar has tanked and GDP/person is so low that they would be one of the poorest states if the Trump threats were real. Inflation adjusted numbers are even worse.
An intelligent leader might have said « your government has destroyed opportunity for you. Let us work together to build something better. » Alas, intelligent leadership is lacking on both sides of the border. Carney’s bleating is just more of the same, while Ford is more Trumpian than Poilievre. Legault is competent and cautious, at least in my estimation. Others surely have different views.
To your point about French-speaking Canadians, I used to be impatient with some of the more flamboyant Quebecois nationalist rhetoric and regulations, even as a European French-speaker. Then I heard English Canadians - including recent non-white immigrants - about their French-speaking compatriots. The deep racism and contempt for francophone culture is really quite extraordinary, starting with the canard that Canadian French would somehow be corrupted. My favourite Anglo bad faith argument is about the supposed Quebecois discrimination of First Nations, as if English speakers were somehow different. Anyway, I hope the emergence of a common enemy will help Canadians appreciate their commonalities and as a European I hope we will stand together against US bullying. Vive le Canada libre!
On the contrary, this continental superpower is well in control for a change, thank you very much.