U.S. President Donald Trump has forced his way, unbidden and unwelcome, into Canada and our lives, spouting lies, threats and demands.
All pretty brazen for a convicted felon, rapist, liar, cheat, thief, racist and bully. He is abusive, hitting every trait identified SA国际影视传媒� charming, jealous, manipulative, controlling, a victim, narcissistic, inconsistent, critical, disconnected, hypersensitive, vicious and cruel, and insincerely repentant. ThatSA国际影视传媒檚 the US president.
He has surrounded himself with henchmen and minions of similar ilk, bullies one and all. Greenland, home to our neighbours and friends, is also facing the same abuse and threats to their sovereignty. It is a good thing NATO exists and we are all members or weSA国际影视传媒檇 probably have U.S. troops already streaming across our respective borders, treaties and international law be damned. Such is our world post-Jan. 20, 2025, a year like no other.
Pick any corner of the world and Trump is issuing executive orders belabouring and bullying all non-Americans for their various shortcomings, along with demands for remedial action, and that is just the first five days. By this coming Christmas, TrumpSA国际影视传媒檚 Christmas card list will be very short.
Canada is under attack. We are not ready. We have no plan. We are riven by internal bickering and dissent. A recent poll says about 18 per cent of folks in Alberta and Saskatchewan are ready to take down the maple leaf and run up the stars and stripes. The separatists in Quebec think this is the time to again revive the dream of a separate country SA国际影视传媒� another thing for Trump to complain about.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, a Trump adherent, says we have to give him a win, which I read as trying to buy him off. Trump is a bully. He wants it all. There will never be enough power of money for him and his oligarch acolytes. Offering Alberta up as a SA国际影视传媒渨inSA国际影视传媒� would just be an hors dSA国际影视传媒檕euvre. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre will have to be very careful in what he says and how says it or he will quickly be branded as SA国际影视传媒淟ittle T.SA国际影视传媒�
We know that Trump is a big and long talker who has uttered many threats and burned many bridges, causing global chaos. Yet he may have bitten off more than he can chew in the first five days of his second term. Combine this with the many serious problems within the U.S., which are already boiling over into active dissent, and he will have to turn inward and focus on America first for a while.
We are all looking to our elected leaders across the land to come together, park their parochial concerns and political egos at the door and think and plan as a country SA国际影视传媒� and soon. In this time of crisis, national reconciliation is the only way forward. This A Team for Canada has to include the federal, provincial, territorial and Indigenous governments. All are under threat and all need to be standing shoulder to shoulder against the external threat posed by Trump. We also need to support our allies like Greenland and their right to their independence and not be abused by Trump. The circumpolar world is in the U.S. crosshairs.
TrumpSA国际影视传媒檚 current weapon of choice is threatening imposition of 25 per cent tariffs if we donSA国际影视传媒檛 knuckle under, even though he would be cutting off his nose to spite his face. It has also been pointed out that Canada itself has a very economically destructive set of interprovincial trade barriers, as crippling as what TrumpSA国际影视传媒檚 25 per cent tariffs would be. It is now in the national interest to finally have free trade within Canada, while we are at it.
Let me give you an example, Canada is the only country in the G7 without a national securities regulator, a significant shortcoming on the international financial stage because Canada, the provinces and territories canSA国际影视传媒檛 agree. When I was Finance minister, we supported then-Finance minister Michael Flaherty, in HarperSA国际影视传媒檚 government, in his years long, Herculean efforts to get such an agreement but to no avail, leaving Canada with a patchwork quilt of security regulations. To remove these deleterious internal trade barriers in this time of national need requires, first and foremost, political will.
The task before us is twofold: stay united, calm and resolute against TrumpSA国际影视传媒檚 threats, while using this situation to finally get our own economic house in order, with our own internal free-trade agreement.
