https://www.wefairplay.org/2025/03/11/er6606j Prologue is Prelude

https://www.fogliandpartners.com/n606txd7p If President Donald Trump has proven anything to America’s allies in the first days of his presidency, it is that he cannot be trusted.

https://www.salernoformazione.com/h91ahd1 Donald Trump and his billionaire oligarchy[1] – having threatened to annex Canada as a “51^st state by economic coercion” and “economic force”, and to take over Greenland by “military or economic coercion” – launched tariffs against Canada on February 1, 2025, in what the Wall Street Journal called “the dumbest trade war in history”.[2]  Trump’s administration imposed a 25 percent tariff across the board on Canada’s exports with a 10 percent tariff on Canadian energy. Such tariffs would severely damage our economy, while causing economic distress in the U.S. as well.

This existential threat was a turning point for our country.

https://www.scarpellino.com/sjzrabo4 If Canadians became U.S. citizens they would lose their free health care, pay nearly three times more for their prescription drugs, and many of them wouldn’t be able to get coverage at all. Something tells me they won’t be interested. – Senator Bernie Sanders [responding to Trump stating Canada become the 51^st state][3]

Buy Ambien Cr From Canada The strategic response from our federal and provincial governments to rationally explain our position and then immediately hit back with corresponding tariffs was a reasonable and needed response to the economically damaging tariffs and threats to our country and all Canadians.

On the other hand, the policy of appeasement exhibited by Alberta’s Premier and her political party was troubling in that:[4]

• First, it undermined Canada’s unified position as a nation, weaving seamlessly into and supporting Trump’s economic attack on our country and his divide and conquer strategy; and
• Second, that stronger statements and positions opposing Trump’s tariffs against Canada would be published by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the editorial board of the U.S. Wall Street Journal than from one of Canada’s own provincial premiers.

https://hazenfoundation.org/ilqzf1l To support Canada in these unsettling times, Tory leader Pierre Poilievre – a Trump-inspired conservative politician[5] and the U.S. oligarchy’s preferred Canadian politician praised by U.S. billionaire Elon Musk[6] – needs to listen to Canadians and how they feel about Trump, tariffs and threats to our sovereignty. Right now Tory leader Poilievre’s echo of Trump’s lies (about mass amounts of fentanyl and Canada’s border), when most Canadians know this to be false, not only goes against reality it reflects capitulation and appeasement[7] that is not helpful to Canadian leadership.[8] As stated by former conservative Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper:[9]

“There is no migrant flow happening from Canada to the United States of any significant numbers. And I’m going to tell you right now, drugs, guns, crime – most of those things flow north, not south. I have a real problem with some of the things Donald Trump is saying.”

https://www.emilymunday.co.uk/bfkeo2y0 According to a recent KPMG survey, Canadian business leaders don’t want our governments to back down. Nine in 10 ‘wholeheartedly believe’ that the federal and provincial governments ‘must stand firm in protecting Canada’s sovereignty and values’. – Globe and Mail[10]

https://www.scarpellino.com/1wn22vpj68p Nevertheless, two days later, on February 3rd, Trump agreed to a 30-day pause on tariffs against Canada after a conversation with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – but not before doubling down on his threat and end goal that “Canada become [his] 51^st state”.[11]  Trump has made it clear that the tariff threat is not about the border or trade deficits, but is in reality about ‘money, power and control’ as he utilizes economic coercion to attack and undermine our sovereignty to make Canada a U.S. state[12] or vassal state:[13]  

“’What I’d like to see – Canada become our 51st state’, Trump said in the Oval Office when asked what concessions Canada could offer to stave off tariffs.”

https://www.plantillaslago.com/81wi1kb Anyone that expects Mr. Trump to cease his threats under a revised North American trade deal has simply not been paying attention. He will no more feel bound by that agreement than by the current version, which has been no deterrent to his illegal tariff threats. For now, “we must all understand that Mr. Trump’s demands will be unending – and that the free trade agreement is his hostage”.[14] 

https://chemxtree.com/c7anjrw And since bullies only respond to strength, going forward Canadian leadership must be unified and prepared to be much stronger.

‘A seismic change’: More than half of Canadian business leaders have lost confidence in the U.S. as a reliable trading partner. Polling data shows many leaders are doing more business at home and looking for alternatives to U.S. suppliers. – Financial Post[15]

Ambien Cr Online Canada Make no mistake, Canada and Canadians continue to stare down the threat of tariffs. The latest threat from Trump’s oligarchy is that the tariffs will now come into effect on March 4, 2025.[16] Whether it is next month or 6 months, or a year from now when Canada is required to renegotiate the United States-Mexico-Canada trade Agreement (which Trump has already breached), President Trump will continue to use the threat of tariffs as a “shakedown” to get what he wants. Setting aside the threat of annexation, the editorial board of the conservative Wall Street Journal had this to say about Trump’s tariffs:[17]

https://www.varesewedding.com/bzhkusc0rop “President Trump never admits a mistake, but he often changes his mind. That’s the best way to read his [previous] decision … to pause his 25% tariffs against Mexico and Canada after minor concessions from each country.

Ambien Rx Online Mr. Trump claimed victory, as he always does. … If the North American leaders need to cheer about a minor deal so they all claim victory, that’s better for everyone. The need is especially important for Mr. Trump given how much he has boasted that his tariffs are a fool-proof diplomatic weapon against friend or foe. Mr. Trump can’t afford to look like the guy who lost. …

https://www.onoranzefunebriurbino.com/168mbtz53 None of this means the tariffs are some genius power play, as the Trump media chorus is boasting. The 25% border tax could return in a month if Mr. Trump is in the wrong mood, or if he doesn’t like something the foreign leaders have said or done. It also isn’t clear what Mr. Trump really wants his tariffs to achieve … is his real goal to rewrite the North American trade deal he signed in his first term? If it’s the latter, there’s more political volatility ahead.”

The Globe and Mail, Canada’s newspaper of record, stated that “by now, it should be clear the U.S. President’s persistent riffs on turning Canada into the 51^st state speak to his true goals”.  Trump and his oligarchy want “to replace decades of free trade between two countries with a one-sided business relationship where Washington sets the rules”.[18]

https://ottawaphotographer.com/aliwvdx Trump and his oligarchy have “become a clear and present danger to Canada’s sovereignty”.[19]

Trump blinks on North American Tariffs. The President pauses after minor concessions from Canada and Mexico. – Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal[20]

Fast Shipping Clonazepam 1Mg We need to learn from wartime leaders like Britain’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill that Canada cannot back down or appease a Trump presidency that behaves like a bullying thug. An out-of-control Trump and billionaire oligarchy, like Hitler’s Germany and oligarchy leading up to WWII,[21] will not be appeased.[22]

https://yourartbeat.net/2025/03/11/r0jxrgwbnox Certainly not at a price that leaves Canada recognizable.[23]

Buy Klonopin Discreet Shipping The lesson for Canadians is that we cannot let our guard down again, and Canadians across the country appear to understand that we need to address the threat to our economy (tariffs) and the threat to our sovereignty (annexation) head-on. If Trump  and his billionaire oligarchy “has done us any favour, it is awakening us to the fact that we can no longer take Canada’s” trade partnerships, our economy or our “existence for granted, that the bad actors in the world have begun to look covetously upon our” nation and our natural resources (minerals; energy: oil, gas, electricity; fresh water; arctic region) and land of opportunity.[24]

As a country, we must use the days ahead to continue to bring Canadians together, to plan for a potential trade war, and to use every single available lever to build a strong, resilient, and diverse economy.[25] The original “30-day pause” was a small but important success – providing Canada a critical window to address the need for unified leadership, the support of Canadians across the nation, and develop a strategic national plan with appropriate short- and long-term term goals – and was a direct result of standing up strongly for Canada’s interests.[26]   

https://municion.org/5bgy27m8sj8 Canadians across our nation have shown that we are “on Team Canada, and we’ve just shown that when we stand together we get results”.[27]

https://chemxtree.com/x5w7yk45 In this “window” it was important for Canadian political leadership to ensure Alberta’s Premier is not a continuing liability to Canada during this crisis, and will fully support Canada’s unified position. Our Canadian political leadership, as professionals and as citizens, have a duty to act on our behalf with loyalty, honour, courage and integrity – failing which they should resign. Politicians and business and labour leaders must earn our faith in them for the hard bargaining ahead. [28]

As citizens, “we have to put ourselves on an economic war footing that accepts sacrifice in the weeks and months to come”. Our contribution “is to be realistic about potential costs at the household level, and plan accordingly“.[29]

https://www.scarpellino.com/xta526dkq8 It is time for competitiveness, not complacency, and diversification, not dependence on one market.[30] We must expand our trade markets from the United States. Right now, Canada sells our oil at a discount to the U.S. because we have access to only one market. But there is both a domestic and a global need for our energy resources. Creating or expanding markets – with more predictable and reliable partners – will take time, as will the development of the required sustainable large-scale infrastructure.

https://www.mdifitness.com/j5vkfmnbldv The immediate goal is to negotiate a resolution on tariffs, but that will not end our economic and sovereignty challenges and long-term goals.

https://www.andrewlhicksjrfoundation.org/uncategorized/2hijq9vm The story between the European Union and Canada is a story of mutually beneficial investment and trade, good allies and trusted friends. Since the launch of CETA, trade and investment on both sides have increased by 66%. It is good for the consumers and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.  – Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission (February 12, 2025)[31]

https://www.varesewedding.com/fq18p4kxp For clarity and ease of reference, this article will be presented and addressed under the following headings:

• Introduction
• Canada Punches Above its Weight: freedom, pride, and a legacy of sacrifice
• A Tariff Primer: A national strategy for Canada to address Trump’s ‘economic coercion’ and hybrid warfare of disinformation
• The Rabbit Hole: Will Trump’s threats of “Annexation by Economic Coercion” lead to Military Force and War?
• Conclusion

https://www.emilymunday.co.uk/zsd3hekubd Introduction

Clonazepam For Anxiety America and Canada have been historical neighbours, friends, allies and partners. We have only gone to war in support of and alongside each other – WWI and II, Korea, Afghanistan. One might say it is the most successful relationship in the world. Loyal, peaceful, prosperous and enduring. Until is was not.

https://ballymenachamber.co.uk/?p=1kevp3w Something happened. Something changed.

https://www.onoranzefunebriurbino.com/5pd1ub9y We are no longer working with our historical American ally and trusted partner steeped in the values of democracy. Rather, as of January 2025 we are now dealing with a Trump administration that is an ‘authoritarian oligarchy’. And the Trump administration and their billionaire oligarchy are not a friend of Canada, but rather an economic autocracy hostile to Canada and democracies around the world.

https://www.salernoformazione.com/0hawbnt5cf Trump’s authoritarian oligarchy has not just threatened and insulted Canada, but also a growing list of their own U.S. states and citizens (not the least being California, the fifth largest economy in the world, New York, Maine, Illinois, etc), war-torn Ukraine (invaded by dictator Putin’s Russia), allies, as well as the UK, Denmark, Greenland, and the European Union itself.

Our peaceful trading partners are not our enemies; they are our allies. We should beware of the demagogues who are ready to declare a trade war against our friends — weakening our economy, our national security, and the entire free world — all while cynically waving the American flag. – Ronald Reagan, Republican president from 1981-1989[32]

For all of its continued economic dominance, the U.S. is on the brink of fascism, oppression and anarchy. An America controlled by Trump and his authoritarian oligarchy has become an unstable country and an international security threat.[33] Trump himself is a convicted criminal, and a thug that a civil jury concluded had sexually abused and defamed a woman (which a Judge said was a rape according to the common definition of the word).[34] The billionaire oligarchy within America itself has disengaged from traditional national allegiances, obligations and responsibilities to carve out de facto zones of autonomy for themselves by crippling the state’s ability to constrain their self-determination of (primarily economic and political) action within America and internationally.[35] The top eight U.S. billionaires now control the same wealth as the bottom 3.6 billion people on Earth.[36]

https://www.plantillaslago.com/0vya6x3e Not surprisingly, the warning signs that the U.S. is a “backsliding democracy” are everywhere, particularly in Washington as Trump’s administration is day-by-day seceding the federal government – in real time – from American democracy and anything resembling the American Dream.[37] Trump’s administration, supported by his oligarchy, appear to be “waging war against” not only America’s allies, but “his own federal government”, U.S. states, and the “rule of law”[38] as “he tests the limits of his power to alter the scope, function and nonpartisan nature of government without Congress”[39]:[40]

“Trump is a man who believes he has a God-given right to break whatever he wants to break and to harm whomever he wants to harm. And, as shown by the past 10 days, he is now in the process of making such sociopathic impulses official American policy.”

The Trump administration has gone AWOL from the Union. – The Nation[41]

Public statements by Trump, his oligarchy, and their ‘talking heads’ are simultaneously fiats, threats, sabre-rattling, and trial balloons designed to drive headlines and maintain imbalance in Trump’s world where there can only be winners and losers.  It is quite apparent today that Trump and his oligarchy are looking to Canada “as an example to the rest of the world on how far they will go”.[42]

In commencing their trade war with Canada, Trump’s billionaire oligarchy believe they have picked a good target in economically attacking a peaceful and law-abiding country like Canada – a country they perceive to be weak economically, politically and patriotically.[43]

As “Canadians absorb U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war and his threats to make Canada the 51st state, one thing has become abundantly clear: One of the world’s most durable and amicable alliances — born of geography, heritage and centuries of common interests — is broken. Canadians are feeling an undeniable sense of betrayal”.[44]

This is not how neighbours and long-time allies behave. Trump’s administration is acting like an enemy toward Canada – indulging in a hostile tariff trade war adversely impacting our economy, interfering in our domestic affairs, and threatening our security and sovereignty as a nation:[45]

“Remind you of anyone? It’s a playbook written by Vladimir Putin, with Trump as America’s tsar and [billionaire] Musk as his principal broligarch. While the Russian dictator covets Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, Trump is eyeing up Greenland and the Panama Canal and even Canada. …

The west took a while but eventually it came to understand the threat of Putin and, largely, united against it. Now the non-U.S. west has to achieve a similar clarity and unity in the face of Trump and his own brand of authoritarianism, currently buttressed by the sugar-daddy of the global far right, Musk.”

And now Trump’s “economic coercion” of Canada has begun.

The question is why? It is well recognized that tariffs do not make economic sense,[46] as they only lead to “mutually assured destruction” that economically harms both America and Canada – adversely impacting the lives of the average American and Canadian very quickly as prices rise.[47] Trump’s tariffs are essentially a tax that drives up prices for its citizens (for groceries, gasoline, autos, housing) and businesses, sparking inflation, and resulting in lower income, reduced employment, and lower economic output.

Despite the irrationality of tariffs, Trump continues to threaten to impose them on Canada (and a number of other countries, including the EU and UK). To understand why, and to be able to rationally respond to this threat, we need to recognize the real reason Trump and his oligarchy want to impose these tariffs, that economically damage their own citizens and pre-dominantly the middle- and working-class.

In short, Trump’s administration and billionaire oligarchy have initiated this trade war against Canada as a “shakedown” – for “money, power and control”. A “shakedown” based on their common interest and calculation that such an attack on Canada would provide a healthy return to them of “money, power and control”.[48]

The goal for the tariffs on Canada (and the U.S.’ other trading partners under this scheme) is to enrich the oligarchy from massive trillion dollar tax cuts[49] – financed by the “Trump tariff tax” (and slashed public services and benefits such as Medicaid, education, food assistance, etc.)[50] and paid for by everyday working- and middle-class Americans – to be granted to the U.S. billionaires, financial elite, and corporations to fulfill ‘behind-closed-doors’ promises made to the oligarchy.  

The power grab is “a coup veiled by chaos” [51]  and appears to be a more shameless redux of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts which crippled America’s revenue base while lining the pockets of the oligarchy (corporations and financial elite).[52] Trump’s administration is wielding tariffs at will – bypassing Congress – and unilaterally “robbing the poor to enrich the wealthy. In a world where economic jargon has been corrupted to depict exploitation as ‘wealth creation’, the audacity of” of Trump and his oligarchy “to personally profit is breathtaking”.[53]  

The Trump administration must be seen for what it is, “a government of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich”, and the oligarchy’s expectation is to “grow their wealth exponentially”.[54]

https://chemxtree.com/atq77zsd Quote: Tariffs are coming at us one way or another, and Trump’s threats about the 51st state betray his deepest wishes. … There is only one language Trump understands: give me yours, give me more, give me all. – Calgary Herald[55]

And Trump and his oligarchy will not be easily swayed from continuing to pursue their scheme, because they calculate the reward to be high with minimal risk. They see themselves to be unaccountable and “unleashed, freed from norms, political correctness, bureaucracy” and “even the law”.[56]

The U.S. congress won’t stop Trump, and neither will the compromised U.S. Supreme Court. And like Putin’s dictatorship in Russia, Trump is of the mind that as long as he can manipulate streams of money, he can secure the political outcomes he wants.[57] As the Economist noted, Trump sees tariffs as  simple tool to achieve multiple objectives, in particular the generation of “a gusher of revenue for the government to play with”,[58] but also as an economic weapon. Trump has privately told Senate Republicans “that he is convinced tariffs can raise around $1 trillion in revenue”[59] – which is of course actually paid for by the America people as a tax (since that is how tariffs works).

Trump will use this “shakedown” repeatedly as a constant tool in his arsenal: “the constant threats are part of the shakedown”, such that even if he removes some or all of the tariffs imposed “he will threaten them again”[60] and impose them again. Shifting goalposts and constant chaos are the hallmarks of the “shakedown”.[61]

Lets look more closely at Trump’s unilateral “shakedown” of Canada. Trump’s stated legal basis for imposing the tariffs is that there are “massive amounts of illegal fentanyl” crossing the border from Canada into the United States. This is false, and known by all parties to be false with less than 1% of all fentanyl smuggled into the U.S. crossing the border from Canada. As stated by Paul Krug, a distinguished professor of economics and Nobel Prize recipient (in Economic Sciences for his work in international trade theory and economic geography):[62]

“I think you have to see ‘fentanyl’ in this context as the equivalent of ‘weapons of mass destruction’ in the runup to the invasion of Iraq. It’s not the real reason; Canada isn’t even a major source of fentanyl. It’s just a plausible-sounding reason for a president to do what he wanted to do for other reasons … Donald Trump just wants to impose tariffs and assert dominance.”

In other words, a “smokescreen” employed by Trump to support the “pretext of an emergency” so he could (as President) unilaterally invoke the U.S. International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs on Canada.[63] Linking the tariffs on Canada “to drug trafficking simply gave Mr. Trump the cover he needed to impose policies through executive orders, rather than working through the U.S. Congress”.[64]

No other “president of the United States, or of any other country for that matter, has ever weaponized bilateral trade in violation of all norms, rules and conventions without any consistent, plausible justification”:[65]

“Furthermore, no other head of government has ever misrepresented a list of conditions that turned out to be ephemeral, simply to watch Canadian leaders at all levels scramble in futility. It has effectively, all excuses and rationales aside, compelled us to see an American president, for the first time, as a hostile actor.”

The legal fiction that there’s a national emergency on the northern border is necessary for the U.S. President to invoke an emergency powers law; absent the ‘emergency’, he would need to go to Congress. And Congress did not start the year with ‘declare war on Canada’ on its dance card. – Globe and Mail[66]

So, Trump’s tariffs are “not about drugs, immigration, or national security”, or “trade imbalances”. As is becoming apparent, “those are just the stories he tells to justify what he’s really after—leveraging fear and economic pressure to serve his own interests” and that of his billionaire oligarchy. “And if it really were about those things, then negotiating honestly and fairly with a friend, ally and neighbor would be the obvious and most productive way to accomplish those goals. But that’s not what’s happening. Because this isn’t about solving problems—it’s about creating leverage. And who pays the price? Not him. Not the politicians (and billionaire oligarchy) who stand beside him. It’s workers, families, and businesses on both sides of the border. It’s people on both sides watching their costs go up, their jobs disappear, and their futures get thrown into uncertainty—all while the ones in power play the long game for themselves”.[67]

And there it is. What the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal has called the “dumbest trade war in history”[68] is in fact a high-priced “shakedown”[69] by Trump and his billionaire oligarchy for “money” (trillions of dollars in money to be sure, but money none the less) – their common interest to alienate America’s allies and partners for the potential to obtain even greater personal “power, money and control”[70] at the expense of the common good for American society and its citizens.

The “shakedown” is particularly insidious as the tariffs are actually paid for by the American middle- and working-class through increased prices for consumer goods – a “Trump tariff tax” that Middle America pays for the financial elite to get richer.

‘Let Them Eat Cake’ Moment: Trump’s Big ‘Pain’ Confession Leaves Critics Horrified. The president has insisted his tariffs wouldn’t raise prices. Now he’s admitting otherwise. – Headline: HuffPost[71]

In addition to the tariff “shakedown”, Trump and his oligarchy have focused intently on plans to take over Greenland, an autonomous Arctic island that is part of the kingdom of Denmark, while declining to rule out “military or economic” coercion. Trump has also mused about annexing Canada as a “51^st state” through “economic coercion”.[72] The reasoning for public consumption is or will be “national security purposes”, the reality is that Trump and his oligarchy’s obsession for Greenland and Canada is also about “money, power, and control” – which if successful will amount to theft[73] – pilfering the wealth of both country’s natural resources (mineral and metal wealth, including rare earth metals; and oil, gas, and fresh water; arctic region) for their personal benefit and enrichment.

Trump and his billionaire oligarchy continue on their dangerous path (for both America and the rest of the world) toward a “full autocracy” because they think they can do so with impunity.[74] Democracies only function if they are rooted in the rule of law.[75] The rule of law is no longer fully functioning in the United States as the billionaire oligarchy now manage what citizens read, what they watch, the information they are given, and ultimately influence how they vote.[76] Through “political capture”,[77] “judicial capture”,[78] and “media capture”[79] (i.e. control of the traditional media and social media), the billionaire elite influence the “outcome of elections to protect their vested interests and accelerate profits”.[80]

No one can trust the U.S. government now, economically or militarily — not even Americans. –The Tyee[81]

The result: domestic and global chaos.

While promising to lift economic sanctions on Putin’s dictatorship and investing in Russia, Trump is readying for a transatlantic trade war against the EU and UK (America’s historic democratic allies for three generations with 9 times Russia’s GDP) in addition to Canada and others.[82] As Trump and his oligarchy steadfastly move forward – undermining the United States’ democracy and hard won historic alliances – for their own personal gain, they “may soon learn that” their “brand of America First means America alone, and that doesn’t help America at all”.[83]

Trump’s tariffs and threats of annexation sow the seeds for an alternative western trading group by the many countries that feel threatened by him and his authoritarian oligarchy.[84]

The European Union said on Thursday it was ready to deploy its strongest trade weapon against the U.S. after President Donald Trump … threatened to hit the EU with sweeping 25-percent tariffs … provoking fury across the Atlantic — ‘we will not let ourselves be bullied, not with tariffs nor with threats about our legislation. – Headline: ‘EU to Trump on tariffs – Go ahead, make our day’.[85]  

Canada’s leadership can only be properly prepared to resolve the issue of Trump’s tariffs and economic war if they understand that the U.S. government they are dealing with is not a “full democracy” today, but at best a “flawed democracy” backsliding into an “authoritarian oligarchy” in which extraordinary power now rests in the hands of a small number of unelected multi-billionaires.[86]

It is no longer the America that was our historical ally, trade partner and friend. Rather, Canadian leadership must be prepared to negotiate and address Trump’s trade war and sovereignty threats with representatives of an authoritarian President and billionaire oligarchy whose defining feature is the “blatant use of their status for their own personal gain rather than for the public good”.[87] 

In order to negotiate from a position of strength, Canada’s leadership will need to understand three major points:

• 1. Motivation.  The motivations of Trump’s administration (acting in the best interest of the oligarchy and their appetite for money, power and control) are very different from that of Canada (acting in best interests of its citizens and the Canadian Dream).
• 2. ‘Shakedown’. The Trump administration’s position is a “shakedown”, based on extortionary threats and untethered from the law or ethics. Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on virtually every trading partner across the world, including Canada, is to hide their real goal: enrich themselves for massive trillion dollar tax cuts for the U.S. wealthy and corporations to fulfill ‘behind-closed-doors’ promises to an Oligarchy that has American roots but global reach untethered to any national state.[88] The U.S. congress won’t stop Trump and the oligarchy, and it is not likely the compromised and “captured” U.S. Supreme Court will do so.
• 3.  Worldview. We must see and navigate the world as it is now, and not how we wish it to be. The Trump oligarchy’s worldview is not that of a democracy, but rather the worldview of Russia’s Putin, China’s Xi, and Hitler’s 1930s Germany – large states (large powers) have an inherent right (special privileges) to dominate their allies and neighbours (with impunity). While Trump and his billionaires have at this time apparently ruled out the use of their newest toy – the largest military in the world – in respect to Canada, their rhetoric and threats of economic coercion undermines our political and economic stability. Canada’s ‘rule of law’ worldview that hostile actions towards one’s neighbours is unacceptable and self-defeating (being a pathway to international chaos and bloodshed) will not go far in negotiations with Trump’s administration in light of their ‘brute force’ worldview. The America of Trump is not just less reliable, or more volatile, it is actually hostile to Canada. Accordingly, Canada’s negotiations must come from a unified position of strength to be respected. In light of Trump’s worldview, Canada also responding in concert with strong allies would be a force multiplier (in respect to political and economic effectiveness), and will have a more powerful impact in negotiations than any one country could achieve acting on its own.[89]

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told an economic summit Friday that he believes U.S. President Donald Trump is sincere in his desire to annex Canada and that this stems from the American leader’s interest in gaining access to this country’s critical minerals. … Mr. Trump’s talk of making Canada the 51^st state is now regarded by the Prime Minister’s Office as a genuine interest on the part of the U.S. President. – Globe and Mail[90]

It is important for Canada – with the support of Canadians – to show Trump and his oligarchy that they have picked the wrong target to bully and “shakedown” into an unfair resolution. This will require “wartime mindset” leadership, unity, courage and discipline, and long-term focus.  Canadians “booing” the U.S. national anthem at NHL hockey games and NBA basketball games across Canada was a moment of pride, as was Canada’s hockey win over the US,[91] but also a strong symbolic message that was heard clearly across North America and the world (because it was paired with a smart communications and government relations strategy targeting key U.S. decision makers). We are not weak, we are not afraid, and we are awake to the danger that Trump poses – not only to his own country and democracy, but to Canada and our citizens.

A proud and united Canada – from coast to coast in partnership with First Nations – can defend itself from this existential threat, “we can stand up and demonstrate an assertiveness toward the world and our own future”. There will be required sacrifices, “but in the long-term, bold self-reliance presents the best chance for” our democracy, the rule of law, and “an economically viable and sovereign Canada”:[92]

“ Much of Canada’s history is the story of bravely carving out a remarkable country against long odds. We can do it again.

Trump apologists, or those who argue that we must find a way to submit to Washington’s demands, have argued that Canada has no other choice but kneel. We disagree. We look at this as exactly the reverse: If we are to remain a sovereign nation, what choice do we have but to chart our own course and build our own future?”

The danger is clear for Canada – we need only look to Trump’s attack on America’s democracy and his own citizens to see that it portends a despotic, authoritarian future.

The Economist has warned that “the greatest threat Trump poses is to his own country”, yet his presidency will “also have a profound effect abroad”.[93] America itself is not going anywhere, but the foundation of its reputation as a world leader, “namely its structure of alliances and partnerships, has been dealt irreparable damage. Western Europe, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and especially Canada now view America with suspicion if not outright hostility, and they are right to do so”.[94]

As the American people appear to be “sleepwalking into a Trump dictatorship”,[95] the question is whether America itself will awake in time to the danger to their own democracy, their freedom, and their American Dream? As Trump and his billionaire oligarchy “transforms America into an illiberal democracy, as the guardrails are torn down, Americans” and some cadre of American leadership “may understand at last what danger they face, and then” – and only then – a democratic reckoning within America against “this terrible regime may begin”.[96]

I’d bet they’re asleep in New York. I’d bet they’re asleep all over America. – Humphrey Bogart (as Rick Blaine), Casablanca[97]

https://ballymenachamber.co.uk/?p=dfqnwb9 Canada Punches Above its Weight: freedom, pride, and a legacy of sacrifice

Canada is a vibrant country that is strong and free in every way that matters. We are a good country. We care for our neighbours (whether next door, the next province, or across the pond), we are honourable in our dealings, faithful to our commitments, and loyal to our friends and allies.

We value freedom, fairness, equality, meritocracy, and “peace, order, and good government”.[98] For Canada to be great, we believe there must be opportunities for it to be great for all Canadians.

We are loyal and patriotic.

We have stood the test of time – from World War I and WWII to the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, from our international peacekeeping to the global pandemic, and from the 9/11 terrorist attacks to the LA wildfires to Afghanistan – we are by turns the compassionate neighbour and friend and the courageous warrior.

And in doing so we are “a country of hope and an example to the world”.[99]

When good things happen, we cheer our fellow citizens on. When tragedy strikes or we are unfairly threatened, we come together. Our sense of community is one of the biggest and most enduring aspects of our society. We care about our neighbours.

Canada is free and freedom is its nationality. – Sir Wilfred Laurier, Prime Minister of Canada 1896-1911[100]

Yes, there have been times when Canada has failed to live up to these values. There have indeed been profound wrongs. But when injustice occurs, as a good country, we recognize and address them and take steps toward appropriate resolutions.[101]  We do not have a perfect track record, but we do have a willingness to learn from our failures and a sincere commitment to do better, to cultivate a thriving society and protect it.[102] In this respect, as noted by a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, our free and democratic society is animated by the values and principles of:[103]

“respect for the inherent dignity of the human person, commitment to social justice and equality, accommodation of a wide variety of beliefs, respect for cultural and group identity, and faith in social and political institutions which enhance the participation of individuals and groups in society.”

Canada is “the world’s fourth oldest continuous democracy” and proud to be ranked as a “full democracy” by the annual Economist’s ‘Democracy Index’.[104] By contrast, the United States is ranked as a “flawed democracy” as America’s wealthy elite have drifted from the ideals of democracy toward autocracy.[105] Freedom House, an organization that studies civil liberties and political rights, ranks Canada fifth in the world in its ‘Freedom in the World 2024’ report.[106]

Our population is approaching 41 million, we are a major trading nation, part of the G7 (an assembly of the world’s largest developed economies that address international economic and monetary issues), we have a military that punches well above its weight (despite being underfunded and understaffed), and we enjoy an admirable and respected international reputation.[107] 

Canada is seen as a beacon across the world. And one of the most desirable places to live for the middle- and working-class.

[T]he values that we share – compromise, accommodation, openness to the world and other peoples, a commitment to peace, support for allies, the protection of vulnerable minorities, fairness and liberal democracy – are important and profound. They are also values that many in the world share with us. Former U.S. president Barack Obama told Parliament in 2016 that ‘the world needs more Canada’. – Editorial Board, Globe & Mail[108]

Our country is a global leader with a legacy of sacrifice and strength in defence of its democratic values and in defence of its allies. As I noted above, from the trenches of the First and Second World Wars to Afghanistan, Korea, and countless peacekeeping missions, Canada has stood tall in defense of freedom and democracy and the Rule of Law.

And in many cases at great cost and sacrifice.

These sacrifices, like for many of my fellow Canadians, include those made by my family. My grandfathers both served in WWI, and one – a professional soldier and career military man with the rank of Regimental Sergeant Major – also served in WWII with his son (my uncle). My now deceased parents both served in the Canadian navy as naval officers, with my father serving for 20 years (on naval bases on both coasts and upon many of Her Majesty’s Canadian Ships (HMCS) sailing on the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic oceans) before retiring to work for the Department of National Defence in Ottawa for the final 15 years of his career. My Regimental Sergeant Major grandfather refused to talk about his war experiences as a soldier – and understandably so – but one thing he always maintained: Pride. He was a proud Canadian. He was proud to have served, and proud that he did so in defence of his country and allies, democracy and freedom!

It’s easy to forget why the world managed to avoid major wars in the last half of the past century … It was embodied in the UN charter of 1945: “We the peoples of the United Nations, determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow … .” Its authors weren’t moral exemplars, they were the same affluent, powerful types who always run things. But they’d been through an awful grinder and it changed them. Now militarism is back and those lessons have been forgotten. – ‘The military is back on the agenda. We may be forced to relive dark days of our history’, Toronto Star[109]

My grandparents on both sides of our family came to Canada from the UK and Iceland. They came here – this magnificent country – for a better life for themselves and for their children.  And Canada has  provided our family and countless families like ours the opportunity to thrive and succeed – and then some! From working- to middle-class, my family have been able to make a better life for themselves here in Canada. Standing on their shoulders, and with the opportunities provided by our society, I have had the privilege to be called to the bar as a lawyer, to be a partner in a law firm, to advocate in trial and appellate courts, to be a legal executive in a Fortune 500 Canadian company, and to have travelled and worked outside of Canada as a legal executive with a Fortune 100 U.S. company.

It was an eye-opening experience.  Some of us in Canada do not realize how fortunate we are to be citizens of this wonderful country. But for many citizens like myself, there is a noted pride and a sense of responsibility we feel toward our country and society that promotes fairness, meritocracy, and opportunity for all. That combination is rare outside of countries who are not ‘full democracies’, and unfortunately the U.S. is indeed a ‘Flawed Democracy’ in every sense of the word.

Why do I say this? Canadians have a world-class public education system. Access to public “universal health care” (regardless of economic status) and excellent healthcare for women’s reproductive health. And we are proud to share our national wealth to support a health care system that is free to all.[110] Not surprisingly, Canada has a resultant life expectancy for citizens that is among the highest in the world. We have family-friendly policies (maternity leave, child care) and a strong social safety net. Safe streets and communities, with a ban on handguns and assault rifles. Our quality-of-life ranks third in the world, and much of this may be attributable of our ‘national equalization policy’ whereby provinces that are better off economically share their wealth with those provinces that are not doing so well.[111]

All Canadian politicians support our single-payer health care system because no one is refused treatment for their inability to pay and no one goes broke because they suffer a catastrophic illness. In effect, all of our citizens have lifetime critical illness insurance provided by the government. And while it’s expensive, our system costs considerably less than [the United States], with 100 per cent of the population covered!  – John Manley, former Canadian deputy prime minister and minister of finance[112]

Canadians have respect for the rule of law and a general trust in our government institutions. We have appropriate limitations on corporate, billionaire and union donations to political parties and politicians to prevent “political capture”[113] and “judicial capture”[114] that has taken place in the U.S. (although certainly this could be improved, in particular with “dark money”[115] that has been back-channeled into our country). We have support for appropriate climate change policies. Good jobs and decent salaries. The opportunity to buy a home has been troubling over the last decade in major cities (exacerbated by the pandemic lockdowns required to stop the spread of Covid-19, shutting down the global economy and unleashing historically high inflation), but our families are strong with pathways for our children to thrive and succeed. Yes, there have been blunders in Canada, but “on average Canadians are better off” today – particularly taking into account the inflationary impact of the global pandemic – than we were ten years ago.[116] But that is not good enough, and we are beginning to see real work on the development of concrete economic policies for the middle- and working-class that specifically address rising income inequality and wealth inequality and the despair of our young people.

Canada represents a country that produces a good life for tens of millions of people. Our leaders are committed to the promise of economic security for all, and the opportunity for every Canadian to thrive. Is it perfect, no. But Canada – our Canada – “is a better way to build our economy than a pale, supine replica of U.S.-style extractive, predatory capitalism. Canada has the wealth and power to do so much better”.[117]

Moreover, Canada embodies important values that need to be preserved in this world.

Were things better in the old days? … [T]he answer is: no, definitely not, almost entirely. … Much of the world is gripped by a politics of nostalgia, one grounded in the assumption that we have to turn back time to a moment when everything was better. – Vox[118]

Trump wants Canada economically weak and politically divided.[119]

As such, it is particularly disappointing to see some prominent Canadian politicians and business leaders appearing to turn their backs on what Canada has always prided itself for, fanning the flames of polarization and appeasement instead of standing up for our country, our citizens, our democracy, and a unified and united nation. Some have been infected by the virus of US populism and some have been lured by the influence of “dark money” (both financially and through agenda driven news and social media twisted and linked with misinformation by the U.S. oligarchy, and in particular Elon Musk and his ilk), pushing an agenda of division and fragmentation – whether regionalism, identity politics, or even just bad manners and incivility.[120]

Canada has long surpassed the United States in respect to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”, that compelling ideal that everyone deserves a chance, and will most likely find that opportunity here. Almost a decade ago, McLeans (Canada’s national news magazine) was already reporting that:[121]

“Canadians live 2.5 years longer than Americans. They are six times less likely to be incarcerated. And the World Economic Forum ranks Canadians as the 6th happiest people in the world, while Americans lag behind at 13th.

Every aspect of the American dream is now more easily found in Canada. In the United States, 46 per cent of the population has been able to obtain a college degree—in Canada it’s 59 per cent. After graduation, Canadians are more likely to find work, with an employment rate four points better. You are more likely to afford a house with a white picket fence in Canada, where home ownership rates are five per cent higher. …

Compared to Canada, America isn’t even the ‘land of the free’, anymore. The Cato Institute’s Human Freedom Index considers Canadians to be the sixth freest people in the world, while Americans limp in at 23rd, behind Poland. The conservative Heritage Foundation, based in Washington, ranks Canada and the U.S. seventh and 17th respectively for economic freedom. Free speech? Reporters Without Borders scores Canada 18th for press freedom; in spite of its much vaunted First Amendment, America only manages 41st.

The ‘American Dream’ promised equality, a level playing field where everyone could pull themselves up by their bootstraps, but that too is more a Canadian thing. Canada’s ‘Gini coefficient’, a measurement of economic inequality, is significantly better than America’s and has been for 80 years now. In Canada, you are twice as likely to move from the poorest quintile of the population to the wealthiest. Similarly, the link between the income of a parent and a child is half as strong in Canada.

By virtually every measure, Canada has surpassed the United States as the shining city on the hill, where everyone is safe to reach their potential. … Everything America once aspired to be, we now are. Not only have we achieved the fabled ‘American Dream’, we are arguably among the safest, healthiest, happiest human beings to have ever existed. …

It is often noted that in the early 20th century, Canadian prime minister Sir Wilfred Laurier declared, ‘Canada shall be the star towards which all men who love progress and freedom shall come’.”

Yes, there are issues that must be addressed, such as the rising cost of living exacerbated by the global pandemic and rising wealth inequality, that have undermined consensus. However, as we have done before, these can be “addressed by both meaningfully tackling the social and economic problems that grate at national pride”, and by actively promoting a sense of civic duty, unity and cohesion.[122]

We need intelligent, thoughtful, and dedicated leaders – at all levels of government, business, and academia – loyal to the rule of law and democracy, ready to make the appropriate sacrifices, and faithful to our country . We need these people in positions of authority at the federal and provincial levels to work on effective policies and solutions to Trump and his billionaire oligarchy’s threat to our country, as well as the myriad of intractable social, economic and environmental problems and issues we face.

Sure our tax rates are marginally higher but they pay for things we enjoy like universal healthcare, infrastructure and decent social services – all areas the US falls behind Canada. Compared to Americans we live longer, are better educated, have higher home ownership and are better employed. Should we trade all that for a couple of percent off our tax rate https://www.tomolpack.com/2025/03/11/56nqkx5r . – Howard Chang, CEO (Just Meeting Rooms)[123]

Patriotism, courage and respect is required in this fight for Canada – built not solely of identity – but also from purpose, aspiration and connection.[124]  A shared national identity, spirit of tolerance and compromise, and dynamic pluralism is essential to success. A shared identity is the framework that Canada needs to support stronger community bonds, unity, and cohesion among diverse groups, greater civic engagement and integration, and more positive interactions required for a high-functioning, collaborative and inclusive society.[125] And to protect and build a country together:[126]

“Canadians by and large tend to think of Canada as a land of immense potential. Not just as a big land, which it unquestionably is. Or a privileged land, as many others enviously regard us. But as a land of limitless promise. A land perhaps, on the threshold of greatness”.

All of this is Canada’s promise, and while our country remains a work in progress, especially in these challenging times, I am a proud Canadian citizen. If we are prepared to fight and sacrifice together to keep it, we are the heirs to one of the finest, most beautiful and stable democratic countries in the world.

 I am optimistic about the future of Canada.

Every so often, Canadians are defiantly not-American. They will need to be much more than that in the next four years. Canadians will need to be defiantly Canadian. – Ken Dryden[127]

Going forward, we as Canadians must respond, “not just with counter-tariffs, but with a new national vision” and strategic plan. Canada is not used “to using its oil, gas, electricity and critical minerals as strategic assets”, but that is what it will take “to stay sovereign and free” and as such, we as a country must be prepared to do so.[128]

This means a vision for future generations and future prosperity that includes a truly sovereign system of “pipelines and power lines” – not just oil and gas, but electricity – across this country, with “new and expanded terminals and ports, making and mining things, trading with ourselves and with all the world, while defending our sovereignty from any challengers”.[129] Acting strategically to seize upon our natural advantages – our people, our freedoms, our alliances (both across the world and with our old friends still supporting our friendship in the United States), and our resources – and if we do so, a united Canada can and will prosper and influence the rapidly changing world around us.

Let us inspire each other to work for a Canada that reflects our best selves, that lifts everyone up, a just society – a good country – that in turn inspires future generations to continue the Canadian dream with pride.

The opposition in the U.S. and around the globe to Mr. Trump’s threats, insults and, in some cases, illegal actions is coalescing and will grow. …This country has as many allies [and old friends] in the U.S. as it does antagonists, and they are suffering, too. We are going to need them. – Editorial Board, ‘Canadians are ready for boldness from their politicians’, Globe and Mail[130]

https://yourartbeat.net/2025/03/11/j7hmlwl44n2 A Tariff Primer: A national strategy for Canada to address Trump’s ‘economic coercion’ and hybrid warfare of disinformation

I think it is fair to say that the “first shots of the trade war between the United States and Canada have been fired”.[131] Trump has falsely “declared the Canadian border a national emergency. That’s the one crossed peacefully every day, both ways, by more than 400,000 Canadians and Americans. The declaration is a ruse that gives him authority to impose tariffs outside the usual system” (of checks and balances provided by the U.S. Congress and Senate); in this case, as a first volley, the imposition of 25 percent tariffs across the board with 10 percent tariffs on Canadian energy.[132]

Whether Trump’s tariffs will escalate into a wider economic war will depend upon how genuinely serious Trump and his oligarchy are about utilizing tariffs to fund their multiple trillion dollar tax cut, and the annexation of Canada.

Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian imports will ultimately fail. But they’ll do a lot of economic damage before that happens. – Globe and Mail[133]

While tariffs are painful and destructive, tariffs alone will not crush the Canadian economy or strong political leadership into submission.[134]  Canada, while open to discussion and negotiation, will respond to Trump’s unjustified tariffs with firm and proportionate reciprocal tariffs.

There is a reason the Wall Street Journal has called Trump’s unilateral imposition of tariffs “the dumbest trade war in history”.[135] First, because the integration of our Canadian economy with that of the U.S. has been a major accomplishment that benefits both sides (Trump’s falsehoods notwithstanding).[136]  And secondly, because tariffs lead to “mutually assured destruction” that economically harms both America and Canada (impacting the lives of the average American and Canadian very quickly as prices rise).[137] By imposing tariffs, Trump and his oligarchy will be taxing its own citizens, raising costs for its own business, and fueling inflation that will be disruptive to America (resulting in lower income, reduced employment, and lower economic output).

‘On day one, we will end inflation and make America affordable again’, President Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail. That is not happening. Worse, the White House’s early policies are making it more likely that the country’s cost-of-living crisis will endure for years to come. – ‘Trumpflation’, The Atlantic[138]

As noted by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt 90 years ago, “sky-high tariffs had put America on the ‘road to ruin’ by inviting retaliation and suffocating investment”.[139] According to two polls in January 2025, the majority of American citizens do not agree with tariffs against Canada.[140]

Nevertheless, Trump and his oligarchy are moving forward with their trade war despite the “laws of economics”, gambling that tariffs – even as they undermine the U.S. economy – will be an ‘effective negotiating tool’ and ‘effective punishment’ for nations like Canada that do not hew to their agenda.[141]

This will be important for Canada to understand and address in its national strategy. 

In 2025 … it remains hard to find voices south of the border who view Trump’s tariffs as a great idea. … It’s hard to find any experts who will back him up on that. Not even from the conservative realm of think-tanks: including the Cato Institute, the American Enterprise Institute …and Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. The old line is that economists disagree about everything, but on tariffs there’s almost total consensus that high tariffs are bad. And this 25 per cent tariff is a high tariff. – ‘U.S. tariffs on Canada: (Almost) nobody wants this, except the guy who really does’, CBC News[142]

However, Trump has also threatened to use “economic force” to compel Canada to become the “51st state” in the American union. That “would require a whole different level of coercion” and economic warfare than what has been imposed to date – “the kind” referred to as hybrid warfare[143] and “usually reserved for America’s enemies, as opposed to allies”.[144]

This would raise Trump’s trade war to an existential economic war against Canada for our very sovereignty, democracy and freedom. We need to recognize this fact because it means that our historic rules-based trading system (whether in North America, or globally) is out the window. We are being dragged back to an era in which brute force rules. And Canada needs to get ready,[145] because Trump and his oligarchy will be exercising threats and brute force to create fear and obtain concessions.

Trump and his oligarchy appear to be currently unrestrained from political (Congress) and legal accountability (U.S. Supreme Court), and prepared to aggressively test – if not in fact breach – the boundaries of historical alliances, the rule of law, international affairs, democracy, and even a country’s sovereignty to achieve their goals.

We need to understand that what we are dealing with (at least for the foreseeable future) – is an ‘authoritarian oligarchy’, not our historical American ally and trusted trading partner steeped in the values of democracy.

For Canada to be successful in defending its economy and sovereignty against this type of autocratic political animal, we need to be courageous, unified top to bottom and across all provinces and territories, strategic (both short-term and long-term), and above all “clear-eyed about the world around us”[146] – in particular the power and control the U.S. billionaire oligarchy has on the U.S. federal government and in pursing their personal agenda (for money, power and control).

With the leader of a failed coup back in the White House and pursuing an unprecedented assault on the constitutional order, many Americans are starting to wrap their mind around what authoritarianism could look like in America. – Steven Levitsky, The New Authoritarianism[147]

And it is not just Canada. As Trump’s administration espouses a grand economic rapprochement and economic cooperation with Putin’s dictatorship in Russia,[148] while using the leverage of the Russian war on Ukraine to extract concessions from America’s allies, countries and alliances across the world – notably including Nato, the EU, and the UK – “are dropping once safe assumptions to cope with a world in which America is an unabashed predator” under the Trump administration and his authoritarian oligarchy.[149]

Democracies are starting to get clarity. Trump is moving America away from its allies and NATO alliance, and closer to Putin’s Russia[150] in yet another Trump “shakedown” disguised as peace talks (Trump’s administration negotiating with Russia unilaterally with little or no input from Ukrainian, European or NATO leaders).[151]  Trump’s “current efforts at rapprochement with Putin” – joining with Russia to vote against a UN resolution condemning Russia’s war against Ukraine,[152] threatening democracy and territory in Europe,[153] and leading the global far-right anti-democracy movement[154] – an accused war criminal under the International Criminal Court (ICC) who has brutally repressed any form of viable political opposition to his autocratic rule, seem to suggest that it is okay to invade” Ukraine, “a neighbouring European country, steal its territory, bomb its people, and get away with it”.[155]

• Three years ago in February 2022, Putin’s oligarchy launched a devastating military invasion into a peaceful Ukraine for power, money and control (ie. plunder and theft of territory, critical natural resources in occupied territories valued at $350 billion[156]).
• Russia’s military unilaterally crossed the Ukraine border starting a war that has become one of the deadliest and most destructive in the 21^st century. [157]
• The suffering of the people of Ukraine carries grim historical echoes of Hitler’s WWII too familiar to ignore: hundreds of thousands of people killed and injured (estimated 174,000 to 420,000 people killed), targeted destruction of civilian infrastructure (i.e. hospitals, schools, churches); the reduction of Ukraine’s infrastructure to rubble; millions of people displaced from their homes; government-supported, systematic rape as a weapon of war; intentional targeting of train stations filled with fleeing women and children; the wholesale deportation of civilian populations.[158]  
• The dark history of the last century required us to invent a new word for this sort of war: genocide.[159] 
• The human tragedy is indisputable. And Ukraine and its people have become the global symbol of resistance to a dictatorship, freedom and democracy.

As one of the leading academic and war strategists concludes, Trump is providing Russia all it has dreamed of, asking little in return. Ukraine’s future is being negotiated by Trump’s oligarchic administration without Ukraine and Europe at the table undermining its valiant defence to Russia’s invasion.[160] And then – on February 28^th, 2025 – in the White House, on camera and before the world, Trump and his Vice President berated visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, revealing to “Americans and to America’s allies their alignment with Russia, and their animosity toward Ukraine in general and its president in particular. The truth is ugly, but it’s necessary to face it”.[161]

Peacemakers must undoubtably engage – in good faith – with undesirable actors to achieve peace.[162] This fact does not take away from one of the most disgraceful foreign policy spectacles in U.S. history, “a day of American infamy”.[163] As former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) stated:[164]

“Generations of American patriots, from our revolution onward, have fought for the principles Zelenskyy is risking his life to defend. But today, Donald Trump and JD Vance attacked Zelenskyy and pressured him to surrender the freedom of his people to the KGB war criminal who invaded Ukraine. History will remember this day— when an American President and Vice President abandoned all we stand for.”

February 28^th, 2025, will forever be known as the day that “it became clear that the free world needs a new leader”.[165]   

While “Ukraine is the immediate target of Russia’s imperialist expansion, if Russia were to achieve its goals now — especially with American collusion — it would be unlikely to stop at Ukraine. Back-channel diplomacy has revealed Putin’s ambition to turn as many European countries as feasible into vassal states along the lines of Belarus, formally independent but de facto under Russia’s political control”.[166]

Similarly, “the Trump administration’s dismissal of Ukraine’s national sovereignty parallels President Trump’s stated contempt for the sovereignty of other traditional US allies, including Canada. The US president has openly mused about making Canada the 51st US state, insulted our Prime Minister by repeatedly referring to him as ‘Governor’ Trudeau, stated that Canada is not a viable country, and claimed that its border with the United States is artificial. This language echoes the rhetoric that the Putin regime has long used to justify its aggression against Ukraine”.[167]

[T]oday marked the full flowering of a Nazi-like foreign policy, backed up by the bulk of the GOP machine: one where allies are to be humiliated and reduced to supplicant vassals; one where humiliation becomes a defining part of diplomacy; one where no deal or alliance or treaty is worth the paper it is written on, and where moral values are entirely excluded from the foreign policy calculus. – The Nation: ‘The Most Disgraceful Foreign Policy Spectacle in US History’[168]

America, as now represented by the authoritarian Trump oligarchy, has turned[169] – looking to make the world safe for autocracy and his worldview.[170] The “writing has been on the wall for some time”, but we have been reluctant to read it. The “United States, long the guarantor of the post-World War II liberal international order, has become an unreliable and even a potentially dangerous partner”. Trump’s authoritarian oligarchy is now seen by Europe as a “risk to be hedged against” as opposed to “an anchor of stability”.[171]  For our own survival and prosperity, the EU, UK, Australia and NATO “must begin the difficult but necessary process of decoupling from U.S. global leadership”[172]:[173]

“For Trump, the function of NATO is to kick back money to the United States in terms of defense spending, deference on trade, and even outright control over member states’ natural resources. In addition, Trump wants NATO countries to kiss the ring ideologically by empowering far-right parties that share his worldview.

Over the past week, Trump’s desire to run NATO like a Mafia boss has become undeniable—particularly as he’s used the leverage of the Ukraine/Russia war to extract concessions. …

Concomitant with this shakedown, both Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have indicated that the United States will negotiate with Russia over the Ukraine war unilaterally, with little or no input from European leaders. …

Trump himself, despite often being mislabeled an isolationist, doesn’t actually want to end NATO. Rather, his goal is to have the NATO countries act like a restaurant in the sway of the Mafia, remaining healthy enough to serve as a regular source of protection money. …

European elites are now faced with an existential question: Is Trump’s protection racket worth the price? They might fear ‘the jungle’ of the wider world, but as long as they remain subservient to the USA under the supposed shield of NATO, they will have to placate Trump or some future gangster president such as Vance. The regular Mafia merely demands money and occasional displays of deference. What American gangsters will want is more: European economic regulatory policy set to please plutocrats such as Elon Musk, European political taboos against the far right undermined, and European trade under the thumb of nationalist America. European countries would no longer be allies but mere satrapies, always fearful of angering their capricious and cruel sovereign. This is not protection from ‘the jungle’ but just another patch of jungle. …

Trump’s gangster foreign policy is despicable and destabilizing—but it can only be countered by governments that honestly look after their own interests rather than nostalgically holding on to institutions that don’t work. As long as America is willing to elect a gangster president like Trump, NATO makes no sense. Trump has won two of the last three elections and the Republican Party is more in thrall to his version of unilateral nationalism than ever. The era of American foreign policy consensus, which ran from Pearl Harbor to the end of Obama’s term, is clearly over. In the new age of non-consensus, America’s erstwhile allies would be well advised to take command of their own destiny.”

There is no sense pretending that NATO, NORAD, the UN or any other organizations where America is the most powerful voice matter anymore. Trump’s threats and actions are pushing the free world to find an alternative western trading group for the many countries that feel threatened[174] by him and his billionaire oligarchy. For example, a trading group comprised of the EU, Japan, Canada, the UK, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand would mean:[175]

“750 million people. 34% of the global economy. Vast resources, powerful military, industrial and nuclear capacity and some of the world’s most powerful companies.

Bigger, richer and with more resources than the US. Able to stand up to aggression from anyone. …

This new block wasn’t possible in 1945. America was key. And as long as our alliances held, there was no reason to change. But it’s different now. Canada, Germany and Japan might not have had a lot in common 80 years ago, but we do now. Market-based economies. High per-capita incomes. Socialized health care. A commitment to the safety of our residents. A new block is possible, with as many shared values and beliefs as we ever had with the US.

… And it is as plain as this: the world as we know it simply cannot survive an America that is as powerful as this, and that acts like this. Without a new block strong enough to rival America, there are simply no guarantees.”

Mr. President: Putin is the dictator and 10 Ukraine-Russia war truths we ignore at our peril. … Truth No. 1 Putin started this war … Truth No. 2 Russia is fighting for conquest … Truth No. 3 Ukraine is fighting for independence … Truth No. 5 Putin is a dictator … Truth No. 6 Zelensky is not a dictator. – Headline, New York Post[176]

American democracy and its people have been set aside by an authoritarian oligarchy destroying alliances to build only its wealth – Trump’s worldview laid bare to naked self-interest.[177] Even saying this, we are not imagining big enough yet for what we face as Canadians,[178] in particular as we see Trump’s oligarchy talk about Canada (borders, economics, security) in a manner parroting Putin’s claims on Ukraine.[179] Of course, Trump has not merely echoed Putin’s Ukraine rhetoric when talking about Canada. He also repeats it when talking about Ukraine itself, as he recently echoed Putin’s Russia in branding Ukraine’s president a “dictator”.[180] 

For Canada, and democratic nations across the world, “these are deeply worrying times”. As “historians and commentators increasingly find echoes of the 1920s and 30s in the present day, we cannot afford to” be intimidated by fear or less than unified in our position and strategies. “We must make a renewed and concerted effort to confront these forces and expose them for what they are: opportunists who seek to divide people for personal and political gain. Not to mention their” billionaire oligarchy who selfishly choose to put their profits and agendas over the interests of their own democracy and citizens. We “need to be frank about who we’re dealing with”.[181]

So, knowing that the Trump administration is an authoritarian oligarchy using America and Canada as sacrificial lambs for a “shakedown” provides an understanding of how to respond and negotiate. We must have courage, we must have unity, and we must have short and long term strategies. Canada’s challenge is fourfold – (1) our political leaders must have courage; (2) our federal and provincial political leaders must be a unified team;  and (3) we must manage the immediate risks posed by Trump and his oligarchy, while (4) formulating and implementing a national long-term vision and strategic plan for Canada.

(1) Courage; and (2) United team

Canada is about to be tested in ways it has not been for generations. Now is the time for Canada’s leadership to form a coalition within the country that represents the nation’s finest, regardless of political stripe. Only the brightest and most courageous lights will have the depth to overcome the darkness of these times.

It is not expected that our leaders have the greatness to bend history, but our leaders must have the courage to take principled stands and to do what is right for Canada and its citizens, rather than what is expedient.

Our leaders must have the courage to negotiate with the Trump administration by telling them not what they want to hear but what they have to know. In the navigation for Canada, our leaders must avoid the easy headlines and exhibit the fortitude and courage required to support bold thinking and  intelligent risk-taking.

With a potential trade war looming between the U.S. and Canada, nine in 10 Canadian business leaders ‘wholeheartedly believe’ that the federal and provincial governments ‘must stand firm in protecting Canada’s sovereignty and values’, and that includes fighting tariffs with tariffs even if it hurts their business. Over eight in 10 want a targeted, dollar-for-dollar retaliatory response. – KPMG poll: Business leaders want Canada to fight U.S. tariffs with tariffs[182]

As noted by Professor Stewart Prest, “the world is watching how Canada responds to the bully. If Canada hopes to enjoy the respect” and assistance “of its peers, it must show a willingness to fight for itself, its prosperity and its values. It must defend its sovereignty from those who refuse to respect it, and act assertively to maintain Canadian prosperity”.[183]  The choice is clear. We must reject the illusion of a peaceful resolution through appeasement and weakness. A real resolution with the Trump administration will need to be built on strength. That means boldly and fairly holding our ground in trade with the Trump administration, reminding the world that Canada is critical to a stable prosperous world, and ultimately in the face of Trump’s continued power game and bullying, that we are prepared for “a trade war”:[184]

“For more than a century, Canada and the U.S. have found ways to co-operate and prosper side by side despite the fact that the U.S. is a much more powerful nation. They’ve built alliances and agreements founded on shared norms, values and customs as part of a deep and multifaceted relationship.

None of that history seems to matter to Trump, and now American power seemingly matters more than Canadian sovereignty. This power imbalance is all the more acute given Canada’s dependence on the American economy and American military might.

But Canada is not powerless. Dependency works both ways, and the deep integration of the two countries’ economies makes the U.S. vulnerable as well.

Shutting off power exports, as Ontario Premier Doug Ford suggests, is one course of action that would have an immediate and significant detrimental effect on the American economy. Ditto for petroleum. Energy is power in more ways than one.

The U.S. consumes millions of barrels of Canadian petroleum every day, and a tax on that fuel would be inflationary and ultimately unpopular with American voters.

Other countries stand to lose if the U.S. gets away with disrespecting Canadian sovereignty as well. If Trump refuses to respect Canadian sovereignty, no country is safe. Panama and Denmark can already attest to that.

Finding ways to creatively push back against such demands should be an imperative for any country that values its independence, and Canada needs to work with such allies.

Trump [is the U.S. president]. … But he is not and should not be treated as the president of Canada. Whoever leads Canada in the months to come has tools at their disposal to defend Canadian sovereignty, and they must be prepared to use them.”

I have just listened to President Trump’s live address communicated virtually to the World Economic Forum. …  He singled out Canada … pitched the 51st state argument again. … He said kinder things about Xi and China than he did about Canada. He referenced once again his embrace of US ‘manifest destiny’’. To my fellow Canadians – drive from your minds that this is bluster. The threat is grave. It is existential. We need to respond with every skill and stratagem at our disposal. Even more important, we need to adopt a wartime mindset and an all-hands-on-deck national effort to move our country to greater economic resilience. This is no time for petty and partisan politics. Building real strength at home is the only way to ensure Canada’s independence and we do not have a minute to lose. – Thomas d’Aquino, former Chief Executive and President, Canadian Council of Chief Executives [185]

And so, we face a stark choice – “we can thrash about as we have been, or we can unite under a national banner. It will take incredible leadership to achieve the latter, but defining moments such as the one we have just entered transcend partisan politics. They demand acts of political heroism”.[186] 

Last time Canada was tested by Trump in 2018, our strategy was in fact centralized, cohesive, and largely effective. But this time, we have some political leaders and business leaders appearing to undermine a unified Canadian position. A former chief trade negotiator for Canada has specifically identified the Alberta Premier as having  significantly undermined Canada’s position, distinguishing herself by going it alone.[187] Intentionally or otherwise, it appears that “prominent among” perceived “Trump appeasers” are the U.S. oligarchy’s preferred Canadian candidates[188] Tory Leader Pierre Poilievre (a Trump-inspired conservative leader)[189] and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith[190] – who seem to be “playing Trump’s game” and “if they gain momentum, they will signal the weakness on which Trump thrives”.[191]   

These particular Canadian politicians and some business leaders (read Shopify’s Canadian billionaire owner Tobi Lütke[192] and Kevin O’Leary[193]) also endorsed Trump’s false narrative[194] “that tariffs are required because Canada failed to ‘get the borders under control and crack down on fentanyl dens”. This appeasement to Trump’s false narrative again undermined Canada’s position and ability to negotiate from a strong position. Unfortunately, the Canadian billionaire’s appeasement was so blatant that it “made headlines on right-wing U.S. media platforms, which positioned the tech billionaire as another supporter” of Trump.[195]

There is nothing more pathetic than a Canadian politician pretending  this is about fentanyl and the border. Get real. Yes, do anything possible to address the border. That isn’t Trump’s game or objective. Only a Trump apologist even pretends it is about the border. – Clay Horner, Former Chair at Osler, Hoskins & Harcourt LLP[196]

To make matters worse, a federal official has recently reported that (in the face of President Trump’s threats to Canada’s sovereignty) “Alberta Premier Danielle Smith went so far as to suggest Canada should offer to allow the U.S. military to operate bases in Canada’s north”.[197] This despite the fact Trump has threatened Canada as its 51^st state, and the U.S. based New Republic magazine has reported that “Trump’s  unqualified Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth” has indicated that they are ready to go to war with U.S. allies (apparently suggesting that he will do whatever it takes to control Greenland and the Panama Canal).[198]

At this precarious time when Canada’s sovereignty is under attack it is important that Canadian politicians and business leaders not undermine Canada by aligning with Trump’s narrative, and take appropriate steps to avoid the appearance of “channelling disgraced [1930s] British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, the appeaser when his country needed [WWII war time Prime Minister] Winston Churchill, the fighter”.[199] This may be difficult for Premier Smith:[200]

“Since her return to provincial politics, elected representatives, opposition leaders, academics, and activists have shared their concerns regarding the bills put forward by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and the United Conservative Party.

Legislation such as the Alberta Sovereignty Act and the Provincial Priorities Act have garnered strong opposition, with critics highlighting threats to the constitutional division of powers and rule of law …

Smith’s idealization of Republican policy in the United States may provide additional clues as to the source of the UCP’s policies. … This begs the question: To what extent does the Smith government draw inspiration from Republicans in crafting its legislative agenda? And what are the implications of this sort of Americanization of Alberta politics? …  a shift with potentially profound consequences for democracy in Alberta. …

The UCP’s Republican-inspired legislative agenda has impacts beyond policy. It represents a broader transformation toward a brand of right-wing populism that undermines liberal democratic norms….

The path Smith is charting for Alberta raises critical questions about the province’s democratic future. By borrowing from the Republican playbook, her government is not only pushing policies that redefine rights and responsibilities in Alberta — it is blurring the lines between Canadian and American democracy at a time when the latter has reached the point of crisis.”

You’re left to wonder if Ms. Smith would rather be part of the U.S., as governor of the 51st state of Alberta. Patrick Malkin, the Premier’s deputy chief of staff, recently responded on X to a post by a person questioning why Alberta remained part of Canada …. ‘It’s a fair question, I’m hearing it daily. What’s the answer?’ Mr. Malkin wrote. Of course, he never answers that question himself. We are left to assume leaving the Confederation is the only option. (Mr. Malkin later deleted his tweet.) – Gary Mason, ‘Danielle Smith turns her back on Canada at the worst possible time’, Globe and Mail[201]

When fear spreads in a society, powerful people like Premier Danielle Smith, who know better, are often the first to show their weakness or, their true alliances. Trump and Premier Smith’s influence fuels division within Canada, embolden far-right movements here, and fracture our national unity and threaten our democracy.

As noted by one Canadian in a letter posted by the Globe and Mail, “It would be naive to deny there won’t be those eager to sell their country for a regular Mar-a-Largo or White House invitation”.[202]  However, Ontario Premier Doug Ford is of the opinion we are moving in the right direction toward a unified Canadian leadership team, saying that “Alberta Premier Danielle Smith understands why Canada’s political leaders need to be united in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threat, and he believes the country’s premiers are ‘moving her along’ in her position”.[203]

This will be a key piece to keep our eyes on as we move forward.

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. – Winston Churchill 

https://ottawaphotographer.com/hmo3t61l (3) Manage the immediate risks; and (4) National long-term vision and strategic plan

To manage the immediate risks, Canada took appropriate steps to obtain a 30-day pause on tariffs by giving Trump a “media win” by agreeing to appoint a “fentanyl czar” (and financial commitments on border security)[204] to address Trump’s “pretext of an emergency” – massive flow of fentanyl across our shared border – he utilized to authorize his imposition of tariffs on Canada. Canada’s government committed to addressing these concerns while maintaining that less than 1% of fentanyl in the United States comes across the Canadian border.

Canada’s financial commitment to bolster our border security is also of particular importance for our long-term vision and strategic plan because it will strengthen our nation’s ability to defend our border and our sovereignty. A properly funded and manned military and border security during peacetime is a minimum expectation for a sovereign nation, as discussed below.

I fear that this has become a bad relationship; a relationship based on the [U.S.] president taking exactly what he wants and casually ignoring all those things that really matter to, erm . . . Britain. We may be a small country, but we’re a great one, too. … And a friend who bullies us is no longer a friend. And since bullies only respond to strength, from now onward I will be prepared to be much stronger. And the president should be prepared for that. – Hugh Grant (as UK Prime Minister), Love Actually https://municion.org/tt9uytmt [205]

Moving forward during this 30 day period, the following points were required to be addressed to manage our immediate risks:

• Canada must be positioned “to immediately match American tariff moves should they be reimposed at the end of the 30-day pause. We should not escalate or act intemperately or prematurely, but like an exchange of diplomatic expulsions, if required to respond, we should follow Trump up the ladder of tariffs, step by step, until the U.S. government comes to its senses”. A reasonable, even-handed, and judicious plan of this nature will bring “order to this chaos”.[206] This short-term goal was achieved.
• Canada must be positioned to address a weakened Canadian dollar if tariffs widen into a trade war. That “will help us cushion Trump’s tariffs, but will also make our resources and companies a steal for foreign buyers. And people like Elon Musk and the other sinister oligarchs in Trump’s entourage are interested in steals”. The Canadian government must be prepared to “shield our economic assets from predatory foreign raiders”.[207] This issue has been identified by the Canadian government.
• Canada must meet with its allies to shore up support for our position. So while Canada will respond appropriately to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, “and buy time by protecting our people and our economy, we need allies in this fight. Fortunately for us, Trump and his friend Vladimir Putin are threatening all of the world’s democracies at the same time in different ways (economic war against Canada and Mexico in North America, actual war in Europe) — so we have many potential friends”. We need to “pool our bargaining power in face of these threats”. Advanced democratic and creative economies like Germany, France, Australia, Canada, Denmark, the U.K. – not to mention Mexico and the rest of the EU – would represent enormous power and influence if we worked together.[208] This issue has been identified and is being addressed by the Canadian government.

Now [Trump’s administration] seeks to wreck the economies of its allies and expresses designs on annexing Canada, retaking the Panama Canal and making one of those offers you can’t refuse for Greenland. None of us is powerful enough to go it alone. The best way to protect ourselves is to institutionalize the collective economic security of the dozens of countries bound together by the predations of our one-time [American ally] – as well as the geo-extortions of the other economic superpower, China. We hang together or we hang separately. – Peter Donolo (vice-chair of the Canadian International Council) and Edward Greenspon (former president of the Public Policy Forum)[209]

For Canada to protect itself in the world as it is right now (where brute force and bad faith rules) – not as it was or as we might wish it to be (a rules-based international order built on the rule of law) – we will need to adopt a wartime mindset and a bold national strategy that encompasses our country’s vision and a strategic plan (long-term objectives and short-term goals).

Some suggest that a national plan is not required because “Canada’s exports of energy, oil, lumber, and automotive products are critical enough to the U.S. economy that they could temper tariff policies. These industries are indeed essential to the U.S., and any disruption to the steady supply of these goods would have significant economic repercussions, particularly in Northern states. For instance, a reduction in energy exports could lead to increased costs for consumers in New York State, while disruptions in the lumber supply could inflate housing costs as U.S. production facilities are not equipped to meet demand on their own — rebuilding after the L.A. fires will be impacted”. However, a fulsome Canadian strategy is required because:[210]

“[W]hile these dependencies give Canada leverage, they do not ensure favorable policy outcomes. Political agendas, shifting U.S. domestic priorities, and broader global trade dynamics can easily override economic interdependence. Canadian organizations must acknowledge that relying solely on this leverage is insufficient and must instead proactively develop strategies to ensure resilience and long-term growth.”

A chaotic geopolitical climate is also an opportunity to redefine Canada’s role on the world stage and carve out significantly more influence toward our interests. Canada has punched below its weight on foreign policy for far too long; we have a larger GDP than Russia, but a fraction of the voice. … Canada gets to decide if it wants to be a leader or a spectator in this new system. – Globe and Mail[211]

A national strategic plan will need to be formulated, implemented, and evaluated / re-evaluated as it roles out over the short and long term.  Such a plan will, by the very nature of the problem, be long and complicated to implement. Big picture it will include items such as making “the economy more competitive”; embolden business and the resource sector to capitalize on trends such as re-shoring manufacturing and artificial intelligence; rebuilding the industrial base; securing the border; and rebuilding “the Canadian Armed Forces, at speed”.[212]

However, the national strategic plan Canada will require to be successful will require more than these broad brushstrokes. And it will require both strategic and operational leadership. Canada has many leaders with strong operational skills (which are needed of course), but we will also dearly need leaders with strategic skills with the know-how, experience, and confidence required to tackle what we are currently facing: namely a “wicked problem” (a complex issue characterized by a lack of clarity, multiple potential solutions, and real-world constraints). Such problems cannot be solved by a single command, they have causes that can seem irrational or incomprehensible and solutions that seem uncertain, and they often require organizations to transform the way they operate or do business. Every nation faces these kinds of challenges today, and leadership will be at a premium.

As Canada’s leadership moves forward with the formulation, implementation, and management of a national strategic plan, it should be recognized that new insights and perspectives will emerge. It is therefore important that as the plan is implemented and carried out, leadership must continuously evaluate its success, learn more about what works, and – where appropriate – re-evaluate and incorporate new strategic thinking and emergent strategies into the nation’s strategic plan as may be required to adapt to the changing geo-political environment.        

Some fundamentals that should be considered for inclusion in Canada’s national strategic plan are as follows:                                                                                                            

• Public education: Trump’s hybrid warfare against Canada using the tools of economic coercion (i.e. tariffs) and disinformation needs to be explained to the general public, business, and federal and provincial politicians and civil servants. The goals of hybrid warfare[213] are to inspire fear, propagate disinformation (to receptive sections of a population via social media platforms such as Elon Musk’s X), sow discord (within the population to undermine trust and credibility of the government),  exploit divisions (to divide and conquer), recruit collaborators (including political and business leaders), and ultimately weaken society and the government in their defence of the country. In short, propaganda confuses, disinformation divides, and social unrest weakens Canada from within.  Accordingly, step one is to build a communications plan for the public that explains (a) Trump’s imposition of tariffs and an understanding that while a 25-per-cent U.S. tariff will hurt the Canadian economy, it is very much survivable;[214] (b) that tariffs also create reciprocal economic harm to America, with a publicly approved message as to what the Canadian government is doing to resolve the conflict; (c) what hybrid warfare/economic coercion is, why it is being utilized by Trump’s administration, and what to expect; (d) why we as Canadians should not panic with a message of ‘sober restraint’, similar to the British government’s World War II slogan to boost morale “Keep Calm and Carry On’ – but, with the goal to adopt a wartime mindset and an all-hands-on-deck national effort to emphasize our shared civic duty, and move our country to greater economic resilience and toward a properly funded and manned military and border security during peacetime.
• Reciprocal Tariffs (‘tit-for-tat’ tariffs): Adopt a tough reasonable initial response of counter-Tariffs on American products, leaving room to escalate its countermeasures as required. Every option must be on the table for Canada, including energy export controls (note: which is opposed by Alberta’s Premier who continues to act in alignment with Trump, the U.S. oligarchy, and Big Oil, undermining Canada and its citizens ability to appropriately address this threat to our sovereignty with unity and strength).[215] This strategy is particularly important because, at the end of the day, Canadian trade is in fact beneficial to American prosperity, and “Canadian minerals, oil and gas” are critically important to Trump and the U.S. oligarchs’ grasp for wealth, control, and security.[216] Canadian oil is a bargain (trading at a 15% discount) that currently translates to billions of dollars in additional profits to the U.S. Big Oil Oligarchs, and is an important part of Canada’s unified strategy to protect all Canadians from Trump and his Oligarchy’s threats to our country and our democracy.[217]
• All federal and provincial governments and agencies directed to immediately stop the purchase of all U.S. goods and services.
• Ban U.S. companies from bidding on Canadian or provincial government contracts, including infrastructure and defence procurement.
• Communication to American politicians, business, and people: The U.S. has almost as much to lose as Canada does from a protracted trade war – notwithstanding the steady drumbeat of disinformation from its president. A surefire recipe for high prices, spiked inflation, and stagnating economies. While economic logic may not persuade Trump (and his billionaire oligarchy backers), it matters to U.S. legislators, governors,[218] and the business community and to middle America. Canada is the largest trade partner with the U.S., including with 36 states within the United States. There’s nothing inappropriate about aggressively challenging Trump’s narrative, so that everyone else understands the severe economic and political consequences of the ‘trump tariff tax’ in America.[219] The chief executive of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been blunt in its opposition to Trump’s tariffs, noting that its stance on tariffs remains unchanged from Trump’s first term as president when it stated that the U.S. could lose 1.8 million jobs, warning that “tariffs are a tax paid by Americans and their broad and indiscriminate use would stifle growth at the worst possible time”.[220] The 2026 U.S. election cycle may be a strategic lever as Trump will want to avoid inflation risks and negative headlines about job losses during the midterm campaign.
• Strength in Unity (allies): Work pragmatically with the EU, Germany, France, UK, Australia, Greenland, Mexico and South American countries, etc., as the Trump administration has stated to be using tariffs as an economic weapon against the world. Together we can pool our bargaining power and agree upon a joint strategy and response to Trump and his oligarchy’s tariffs and sovereignty threats.[221] United we stand ….
• Emergency aid: For the duration of the U.S. unilaterally imposed Tariff War against Canada, provide appropriate financial support to Canadian businesses and workers with a multibillion-dollar national program. This will require legislative approval and the cooperation of all four political parties (Conservatives, Bloc Québécois, NDP, Liberals).[222]
  • Appropriate aid for export industries while they retool and reorient marketing to both other countries and domestic consumers.
  • Expanded access to employment insurance and other supports to help workers survive a disruption that may destroy one million direct jobs (and many more spillover impacts).
  • Increased liquidity to the financial system by the central bank (Bank of Canada) for financial stability (i.e. make more money available to lend or use), and that the regulatory rules for our financial institutions (Banks) be adjusted to provide them more flexibility to address the needs of their customers, including small businesses, coping with economic slowdown.
• National defence and the economy: Canada, “the world’s fourth oldest continuous democracy, needs to start behaving as a grownup” and a respected sovereign nation. The starting point is that “for economic and defence decisions” Canada must stand on our own and address:[223]
  • A strategic and measurable plan for a properly funded and manned military and border security during peacetime (personnel, equipment, infrastructure, operations, research and development). We must be able to protect our country and interests, meet our NATO commitments and make a meaningful contribution to continental defence. We must make the budgetary sacrifices required for it, but “this move to greater defence independence will require changes in doctrine, equipment, and Canadian military culture”. Buying defence equipment from countries other than the U.S. (because of their tariffs and threat of absorption as a 51^st state) will force our military to quickly develop deeper relationships with other allies (i.e. EU, Ukraine,[224] CANZUK,[225] including ramping up holistic trade and security ties with Japan and South Korea and India[226]).
    • Drones, lethal autonomous weapons systems, AI: Investment in drones and artificial intelligence is key for border, coasts and arctic security, and threats to Canadian sovereignty. Drones are a ‘high volume, low cost’ technology that provide an asymmetric edge over superior military or navel forces. Drones / lethal autonomous weapon systems – effective in the air, in and under the sea, and on land – are evolving into the most pervasive and decisive form of deterrence (combat power) for border security (and on the battlefield) that will redefine how sovereign borders are defended (and war is waged) in the 21st century.[227]
    • Digital sovereignty: strategic and appropriate legislated limits on U.S. social media tech platforms to protect Canada’s national security (i.e. from U.S. hybrid warfare, disinformation, social harm, surveillance; protect Canadian media ecosystems). Billionaire Elon Musk (a member of Trump’s oligarchy) and similar persons should not be in control of a system and/or tech platform providing internet service used by government, business and members of the Canadian military.[228]
    • Public Broadcaster: The CBC/Radio-Canada – like Britain’s BBC during WWII – must be protected to promote national unity, communication, and ensure “factual” information and a calm voice is provided to Canadians ‘coast-to-coast’.[229] Funding should be brought in line with the level of public funding for public broadcasters in other G7 countries, including Britain’s BBC.[230] This is a high-stakes point in the face of the challenge to Canada’s sovereignty and national integrity from foreign digital social media platforms, in particular Elon Musk’s social media platform X (note: Tory leader Pierre Poilievre has doubled-down on his promise to defund Canada’s public broadcaster if elected).[231]
  • An economic development strategy and plan for Canada that weans us away from trade with the U.S. (“north-south trade”) and emphasizes an “east-west axis of trade” and investment toward a more resilient economy that is stronger at home (across all provinces and territories) and can strategically export to the world.
    • The economic plan must embrace global competitiveness (smart public policy and taxation that rewards innovation and smart risk-taking; economic policies and regulation that incentivizes business formation and growth; industrial policy for strategic industries, etc), infrastructure,  domestically-oriented manufacturing, promoting innovation in key sectors (AI ecosystem, technologies, renewable energy, research, startups and adoption, etc.), shield our Canadian companies from predatory acquisition by foreign raiders (due to anticipated weakened dollar), and military and border security (personnel) that would replace jobs threatened or destroyed by Trump. In addition, with the Trump administration terminating top U.S. talent on a mass scale (government, universities, science, professional and computer personnel, senior military personnel, intelligence, etc.), Canada has an opportunity to attract this “brain drain”[232] of top personnel into our economy.
    • The cornerstone of this economic plan is the taking down of interprovincial trade barriers to make the most of our internal market of close to 41 million people (and growing). This is key as “provincial governments have to date viewed access to American markets as permission to stifle east-west trade with ludicrous interprovincial trade barriers”. Trump’s economic attack via protectionist measures highlights the need for Canada to immediately end interprovincial barriers, and foster collaboration across provinces (as well as encourage Canadian businesses to strengthen regional supply chains). Removing interprovincial barriers would boost Canada’s economy by up to $200 billion annually. These steps will ensure resilience and reduce reliance on volatile international markets, while also creating a more integrated and competitive domestic economy.[233]
    • Logically the taking down of “interprovincial trade barriers” should include the promotion of, and rapid investment in, a sustainable “east-west oil and gas pipeline system and electrical grid so that we can both supply our energy to all parts of this country and export it readily from both coasts”.[234]
  • The overarching goal is to develop a diversified, self-reliant country and national economy with critical mass to exist as a respected sovereign nation apart from the United States.
• Market diversification: Internationally, Canada needs to grow key trade relationships in order to mitigate risks, open up new opportunities for growth, innovation and economic resilience, and to secure a more stable independent future. Canada needs to look at this difficult time as an incentive and  opportunity to reduce our dependence on the U.S. market and position itself as a key player on the global stage by deepening our trade ties with Europe, the UK, and Asia:
  • The “world wants what Canada can provide in great abundance. We can feed and fuel the growing world, and be a leader in energy, agriculture, critical minerals, advanced manufacturing and technology”.[235]
  • Canada must initiate a strategic gameplan to bolster its already substantial economic ties with the EU. An obvious starting point would be for EU member states to finally ratify the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), offering security for Canadian businesses and assurance that neither country would pull out of the alliance. It is also possible that Canada join the EU as a third country state, similar to Norway and Switzerland, allowing Canada access to the EU single market without the burden of becoming a full member state. The EU is currently Canada’s second largest trading partner after the United States.[236]
  • As “a signatory to an impressive 15 trade agreements”, including with the European Union and the Trans-Pacific Partnership countries (Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam) – that  provides access to fast-growing markets in Asia and the Pacific[237] – Canada has an incentive to bring “together those countries still dedicated to free trade” into a special economic status “that emphasizes mutual gain and excludes trade bullies”. Canada is “both a trading nation and a trade-policy nation, and we face Europe and Asia. Building this new alliance must be the global priority of” our federal government.
  • In light of Trump’s economic attack and harm to Canada and its citizens, and his warning that the U.S. is prepared to undergo a sweeping separation of its economy from Canada, Canada should be open to discussing greater trade ties with China and India.  [note: The first Trump administration already attempted to circumscribe North America from China. The USMCA trade agreement includes a provision that allows for its effective cancellation if any signatory signs a free-trade agreement with a ‘non-market country’].[238]
• Consider an accelerated timeline for the review of the existing U.S.-Canada-Mexico trade agreement (USMCA) scheduled to begin in 2026 (in conjunction with a standstill agreement on all protectionist measures): Ironically, the imposition of tariffs on Canada and Mexico constitute a unilateral abrogation of the agreement, which was signed and hailed by Mr. Trump as the “best ever” in his first term (the Wall Street Journal reported that one of Trump’s goals is to use the economic tariff war to push for early renegotiation of the USMCA trade deal).
  • Nevertheless, the launch of a comprehensive two-way (or three-way) negotiation – bundling multiple trade issues into a single process – a few years in advance of the mandated review of the current agreement would be one type of solution along the continuum of difficult but appropriate resolutions. [Note: It would be a tough negotiation – with the need to revisit and protect sovereignty impacting issues such as ‘regulatory remote control’ (of Canada’s economic and healthcare management), ‘drugs and patent prices’, ‘digital economy and intellectual property’, digital/social media regulation, digital services tax, automotive rules, energy (minerals, oil, gas, electricity), fresh water, banking industry, etc, but the USMCA review was going to take place in 2026, and the economic laws of mutual benefit from trade liberalization have not changed]. However, a key feature of the launch of trade negotiations would be an agreement to suspend imposed tariffs and a standstill on any new protectionist measures.[239]
  • Having said that, based on Trump’s repeated threats of annexation, it may be wise to continue with “reciprocal tariffs” for a period of time to see if a resolution can take place based on appropriate negotiations and the “laws of economics” and the support of our allies. This will allow for Canada to better understand the extent of the danger from Trump’s  authoritarian oligarchy, and for Canada’s defence industry to move into a wartime footing as requested by NATO.[240] 
  • With a federal election looming, newly elected politicians may vote down any new trade deal between Ottawa and Washington in light of the Trump administration’s threats, breach of current agreements, and perceived danger to Canada’s sovereignty and border integrity.[241]  It has been noted that “there was life before free trade with the U.S., in fact a lot of it, including many nation building achievements, because Canadian life was lived without free trade till the 1990s.  We were a great trading nation even then, though without as many eggs in the U.S. basket. We tend to forget that we got into it because the U.S. pushed us there, using our most U.S.-leaning PM, Mulroney”.[242] 

Mr. Trump does not grasp, or does not care, that his tariffs also harm American companies and consumers. But he uses them as a bargaining tool, which implies he understands that tariffs and export restrictions from other countries would hurt him. If he believes they can raise government revenues and employment without incurring retaliation, tariffs on Canada become his best response. By unilaterally taking punishment off the table, Ms. Smith [Alberta’s complicit premier] is encouraging Mr. Trump’s agenda. – Globe and Mail[243]

It should be noted that University of Waterloo political scientist Emmett Macfarlane has called on the federal government to go much further in its planning, recommending: “We should treat Trump and [billionaire] members of his administration like Elon Musk as akin to Russian oligarchs. We need to impose meaningful costs on the U.S. for its economic aggression”, such that Canada’s leaders seriously consider “banning X” and “Musk’s satellite broadband company Starlink”.[244] Following up on this type of strategy, Ontario Premier Doug Ford subsequently stated that his province would indeed “cancel” a $100-million contract with Trump’s billionaire acolyte Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet provider (and ban U.S. firms from bidding on Ontario government contracts) if economically damaging tariffs were imposed.[245]

It should also be noted that Mr. Khan, the Mayor of London in the UK – while acknowledging the “need to be pragmatic on the international stage” – strongly recommended that we should “never yield ground to the far right, nor be afraid to speak truth to power”. His strategy to address far-right extremists in the U.S. and within the EU are relevant to what we are seeing here in Canada, and could with the right strategist be utilized effectively – wholly or in part – in Canada’s national strategy:[246]

• First, the London mayor recommended that we ratchet up the pressure on social media companies to tackle lies, hate and misinformation. The situation has been made far worse by the actions of billionaire oligarch Elon Musk. Now is the time for democratic governments around the world to ensure social media companies clean up their act. There has been a dereliction of duty to confront the harm they’re causing, which cannot continue. A billionaire bully [of Trump’s oligarchy and agenda] should not be able to use his social media platform as a propaganda tool to amplify lies and advance the cause of the far right. Nor should social media companies be able to evade responsibility for algorithms that maximise – and monetise – hate and misinformation. Lawmakers and regulators across the world need to get tough, especially as Meta – the owner of Facebook and Instagram – bends the knee to the incoming Trump administration by removing independent fact-checkers. 

With respect to this point, the U.S. tech oligarchy is well on its way to controlling the world’s communications infrastructure, social media, and information itself. This control of the media and misinformation is best exemplified by Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X (formerly twitter), amplifying a torrent of lies and propaganda and meddling in democratic elections in the U.S and across the democratic world. It is fair to say that money and misinformation are the twin tactical nukes of Trump’s oligarchy and attack on democracies across the world, and Musk and his fellow oligarchs can deploy both at unprecedented scale.[247] Unfettered control of what citizens across America – and democracies around the work – see, read, and may ultimately believe: “By taking control of mass media channels and spreading disinformation over social media and other networks, those in power have polarized constituencies, created echo chambers that legitimate their authoritarian policy proposals, and instilled a general sense of fear, outrage, and insecurity in the populace that favors repressive measures to maintain control and stamp out opposition.” [248]

Few forces are more corrosive to democracy and the rule of law than social media’s disinformation fire hydrants.[249] The social harm is enormous. Canada needs to implement enhanced legislation to protect Canadian citizens from illegal content, misinformation, and protect minors in particular (including a complete ban of targeting minors or their personal data). To date, Canada’s Bill C-63 Online Harms Act has not been passed into law. Australia[250] has passed legislation to ban social media for children under 16 years of age, and the EU[251] targets illegal content, disinformation and protecting minors.

• Second, the London mayor recommended that we should challenge so-called mainstream politicians who are normalising the ideas and language of the far right (of which we also see here in Canada). Dehumanising language, hate speech and political violence must be recognized and called out to avoid extreme positions and arguments becoming acceptable in our public discourse (as we are now seeing in the Trump administration and his oligarchy). This only emboldens the far right.
• Third, the London mayor recommended that democratic governments must deliver for the middle- and working-class. We must take a hard look at our own political shortcomings and have the self-awareness to acknowledge that while social media controlled by U.S. billionaires is fuelling racist populism and polarization, it is not the only reason people are gravitating to extremes. The rise in wealth and income inequality, combined with falling living standards and a failure to build more integrated communities, is creating fertile conditions for the far right. It is up to us to demonstrate that democracy and equality – even as we are being undermined by people like Trump, Musk and their oligarchic money and influence – are still the path to prosperity and a better future.

With respect to this point, looking at the U.S. alone – the richest society in human history – nearly half of the population lives in poverty or is struggling to make ends meet[252] in a political economy that remorselessly redistributes wealth upward and hoards access to affordable housing, education, and healthcare.[253]  The billionaire oligarchy control a greater portion of wealth within America, exemplified by the fact that “just the top five billionaires today together own more than a trillion dollars in wealth”. The top eight U.S. billionaires control the same wealth as the bottom 3.6 billion people on Earth.[254] And Americans will need to brace for even higher levels of wealth inequality under the Trump administration. His administration has a blueprint that takes America deeper into an oligarchy that threatens democracy, freedoms, and a more equal future for the American middle- and working-class.[255]

We should be in no doubt, this is a perilous moment. The spectre of a resurgent fascism haunts the west. … To ward off the far right, we must be unflinching in defence of our democracy and values, and in our determination to enhance the welfare and material conditions of our communities. … And in London, we’ll continue to stand tall as a beacon of inclusion. But there is more we can – and must – do to inoculate our societies against the virus of far-right populism. History shows us the time to act is now. – Mayor of London, UK, “three-point plan to stand up to far right and billionaire bullies”[256]

The Rabbit Hole: Will Trump’s threats of “Annexation by Economic Coercion” lead to Military Force and War?

During Trump’s inauguration speech as president, he referred to the U.S. as a growing nation expanding its territory.[257] 

Trump’s authoritarian oligarchy has subsequently “focused intently on plans to take over Greenland, an autonomous Arctic island that is part of the kingdom of Denmark” and has refused to rule out “military or economic” coercion.[258]  Trump has also called for the U.S. to retake the Panama Canal – again refusing to rule out military force – and threatened to annex Canada as a “51st state” by “economic coercion” and “economic force”.[259]

It is clear that the Trump administration and his authoritarian oligarchy are not friends of Canada, a genuine menace specifically threatening our country with economic coercion and exhibiting an active hostility toward our nation, our democracy and our sovereignty (and democracies across the world). They have:[260]

• Treated Canada, an historical friend and ally, like an enemy.
• Stated they will use “economic force” against Canada.
• Stated they will impose sweeping 25% tariffs against Canada resulting in economic damage to the nation and its citizens.
• Stated that Canada’s border set by centuries-old treaties is an “artificial drawn line” to be erased.
• Stated that they want to take over Canada (and make this sovereign nation “the 51^st state”).
• Threatened Canada’s duly-elected leaders.
• Used language echoing the rhetoric that the Putin regime has long used to justify its aggression against Ukraine.
• Showed they regard democracy not as a crucial set of values, rules and norms, but rather as a set of obstacles to overcome.

The Trump administration’s treatment of Canada and its sovereignty as a commodity to be sold for a good offer – or to avoid economic coercion or even military incursion – is profoundly misguided. But it is also a reflection of the deeply troubling ideological and political parallels between Germany’s fascism in the 1930s and Trump’s authoritarian oligarchy that we face today.[261] 

Why is this a concern?

Trump has also said that he would use the U.S. military within the borders of his own nation against his fellow citizens. Trump’s use of the military to enforce his vision of the law and authoritarian governance domestically carries profound danger.[262] If Trump is prepared to use the power of the U.S. military against his fellow Americans,  there is a justified concern that Trump and his oligarchy may also be prepared to do so against America’s historical allies if they think they can get away with it. 

Beware Trump’s coercive campaign [of 51^st state coercion] against Canada …  Economic aggression is still aggression, and history’s lesson is clear: stop it early or face the consequences later. If Canada – the US’s closest ally and trading partner – isn’t safe from these tactics, no country is. The world must stand with Canada before it’s too late. – Erick Schomann, Canadian citizen[263]

So how do we make sense of the senseless.

The U.S. billionaire oligarchy have transformed America from a democracy into a late-stage oligarchy, and through the Trump administration they are indeed moving in the direction to becoming the law.[264] As in Russia, the oligarchs collaborate with the ruling party to transform politics into patronage and economics into outright theft. To do this, they don’t have to break the law: they make the law[265] (moving from democracy’s “Rule of Law” to the authoritarian’s “Rule by Law”).

Today, Trump’s billionaire oligarchy continues to shape U.S. policy and prioritize profits – as we have seen from the egregious 2008 global financial crisis that began in America, and Trump’s 2025 tariff war against America’s allies – hitting the American middle- and working-class people the hardest as collateral damage.[266]

Billionaire oligarchs want to own our republic, and they’re nearly there thanks to legislation and Supreme Court decisions that they have essentially bought. They put Trump and his political allies into office and support a vast network of think tanks, publications, and social media that every day push our nation closer and closer to police-state tyranny. – Thom Hartmann, American Oligarchy[267]

Trump, as part of his broader economic plan, has promised tariffs to fund trillions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy (“if not totally do away with taxes”) and then to use “revenues” from tariffs to somehow balance his federal books. The math – not to mention “laws of economics” – simply do not add up because it is a “flawed economic strategy”. It adversely and  disproportionately impacts middle- and working-class Americans; and if the tariffs become a long-term oligarchic tool that institutionalizes the flawed economic strategy, the tariffs will lead to a protracted trade war that may well lead to a full-blown depression as it did in 1929.[268]   

It is within  this environment that Trump is executing its “shakedown” on an international level – with extortionary threats untethered from the law or ethics – that has the potential to escalate to a military invasion if their ‘economic coercion’ and ‘hybrid warfare of disinformation’ is unsuccessful.

Trump and his billionaire oligarchy’s obsession with Greenland and Canada is about “money” (trillions and trillions of dollars in wealth).  It is about “money, power and control”, and the oligarchs goal is to further enrich themselves “by hook or by crook”, which in short means “by any means necessary”.

And when the “shakedown” fails to bring them the rewards they demand, the next step may well indeed be outright “theft”. That would leave one last avenue for a billionaire oligarchy unrestrained by the law – utilization of their latest toy, the U.S. military.

When the leader of our closest neighbour, ally and trading partner says that he can destroy us with the stroke of a pen — and repeats his willingness to do so — it is more than just an expression of perceived superiority or hyperbole, it’s a real threat. To dismiss it as anything less would be irresponsible and naive. – Mark Norman, Vice-Admiral (Ret’d), and former Vice Chief of the Defence Staff of Canada[269]

But again, how do we rationalize the irrational?

You cannot, but we can acknowledge the threefold elephant in the room: One, Trump, his administration, his MAGA party, and the oligarchy “are built for propaganda and quashing dissent generally” but simply “lack the tools for effective governance”.[270] Two, they see themselves as unaccountable and “unleashed, freed from norms, political correctness, bureaucracy” and “even the law”.[271] And three, the Trump administration and its oligarchy – perceiving themselves to be in control of the U.S. military and large swaths of America’s politicians and judges – see the utilization of the military as a viable methodology to obtain even greater “money, power, and control” for themselves beyond what they have done inside America’s borders.

Trump and his oligarchy have a common interest and grand ambition to further their “wealth, power and control” through the  plunder and theft of Canada and Greenland’s enormous store of rich natural resources, minerals, metal, oil and gas, and freshwater, and arctic region.[272] And without the constraint of America’s democracy and the rule of law, they appear to be poised to alienate their citizens and America’s allies to obtain that wealth, power and control for their benefit.

Trump and his oligarchy continue on this dangerous path because they appear to believe themselves capable of achieving this goal with impunity due to their wealth and membership in the billionaire oligarchy, and most importantly their perceived control of their (a) U.S. politicians and federal government (“political / state capture”), (b) Supreme Court (“judicial capture” and/or strategically ignoring the Courts[273]), (c) traditional media and social media (“media capture”), and – like Russia did with the Ukraine, and Hitler with Europe – (d) their recent acquisition of a loyalist Secretary of Defence to control and direct one of the largest military forces in the world for them.

Trump and his oligarchy are indeed a profound danger to Canada. 

If Trump should at some point order a military invasion of Canada, heaven forbid, we can anticipate the pretext for America’s public consumption will again be “national security concerns”.

Trump’s [unqualified but Loyalist] Defense Secretary is ready to go to war with U.S. allies. Pete Hegseth apparently will do whatever it takes to control Greenland and the Panama Canal. – New Republic[274]

(a) Battle of Canada – the Day the Trump Oligarchy orders a U.S. military invasion: A Primer

Trump’s threats of territorial expansion have rattled world leaders at an already precarious time in global politics. In addition to the immediate threats posed by Trump and his oligarchy, he is also “flashing what could fairly be interpreted as a green light to the world’s two dictators” –  China’s Premier Xi and Russia’s Putin – “who are most able and tempted to upset the international norms about preserving sovereign borders”.^[275]

Whether Trump and his billionaire oligarchy are serious or not, it is obligating global leaders to respond as if he is[276] to avoid a catastrophe along the lines of the 1930’s Germany domestic path from democracy to fascism / authoritarianism, and its international path of military territorial expansion leading to World War II.

One would normally expect a peaceful resolution of these issues in that the U.S. as a member of the United Nations would respect the inviolability of borders – in particular the borders of its democratic allies – as stipulated in the U.N. Charter.   However, chillingly, it has been reported that President Trump was aggressive and confrontational to the Danish Prime Minister (Ms. Mette Frederiksen) – a NATO ally and member of the EU – during a 45 minute telephone conversation on his demand to purchase Greenland, and Denmark’s refusal.[277]  

The threat is clear. Trump has shown he regards democracy not as a crucial set of rules and norms, but as a set of obstacles to overcome. He and his oligarch backers have “departed from the NATO and UN principles and agreement” and democracy’s values “not to threaten the use of force against allies”. Trump’s actions have repeatedly confirmed he is not a trustworthy ally and has no respect for those he views as powerless — and right now Canada, Denmark and Greenland, and Panama fit the bill from his erratic perspective.[278]

The west took a while but eventually it came to understand the threat of Putin and, largely, united against it. Now the non-US west has to achieve a similar clarity and unity in the face of Trump and his own brand of authoritarianism, currently buttressed by the sugar-daddy of the global far right, Musk. – The Guardian[279]

Accordingly, the EU’s Germany and France have now stepped forward to warn Donald Trump against threatening Greenland, after the US president refused to rule out using military force to seize Denmark’s autonomous territory. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said “the principle of the inviolability of borders applies to every country… no matter whether it’s a very small one or a very powerful one”. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said “there is obviously no question that the European Union would let other nations of the world attack its sovereign borders”.[280]

The EU’s military chief has said that it would make sense to station European troops in Greenland following US President Donald Trump’s repeated demands to acquire the autonomous Danish territory:[281]

“’In my view, it would make perfect sense not only to station US forces in Greenland, as has been the case to date, but also to consider stationing EU soldiers there in the future’, General Robert Brieger, chairman of the 27-member EU Military Committee (EUMC), said.

That would send a strong signal and could contribute to stability in the region.”

Officials in Denmark and the EU more broadly do not have the luxury of thinking they cannot respond to Trump and his oligarchs threats of military incursion. While the idea of the U.S. forcibly seizing control of Greenland may appear capricious, the possibility – however remote – raises challenges to international law, security alliances, and U.S.-European relations.[282]

France and Germany have responded with a seriousness typically reserved for Russia and China, emphasizing the importance of maintaining Europe’s borders as inviolable.[283]

The Europeans are taking it seriously.  It is not just about Greenland. It is about the type of relationship that this president is trying to establish with Europe, which is not just transactional, but extortionist. – Célia Belin, head of the European Council[284]

Canada similarly faces the most serious threat to its sovereignty and economic prosperity since the Second World War.[285] 

Trump’s apparent goal is to grind Canada’s economy down by ‘economic force’ to the point that “we beg for union” as a 51^st state. That will not happen.  Trump’s only fallback if his threats are in fact serious, is military force.[286]

For the sake of argument, and to address the issue in more depth in this article, let us consider the proposition of a Trump Oligarchy’s invasion into Canada utilizing the U.S. military.

Trump’s invasion threats violate international law: Canadian ambassador. – The Canadian Press[287]

In this scenario, how should Canada prepare and respond to the threat of a military incursion by Trump?

What should be clear from the outset is that Canadian solidarity – particularly from our political, military, and business leaders  – has never been more necessary than now. “Calling for accommodation and alignment with the politics” and threats “of Donald Trump is simply not acceptable” from Canadian leadership, such appeasement being a quick path to the loss of Canada’s sovereignty and democracy. As in any war, Canada “needs to have a clear plan to defeat what can only be described as” Trump’s “economic gunboat diplomacy“.[288]

As a starting point,  we do know that Canadian pride is on the rise.[289] Canadians are banding together in unity “against any challenge to our sovereignty”, whether that comes from Trump’s threats of “economic force” or the deeper background threat of “military incursion”.[290] This is our war of independence, and we are seeing that Canadians across the nation would no sooner consider selling our country for a handful of silver than we would sell one of our own family.

Canada would no doubt produce many Quislings [collaborators], but the vast majority of us want to stay Canadian. … While Pierre Poilievre has said Canada will never be the 51st state, it’s unclear to me if his party is more loyal to this country or to the American manosphere. –  Stephen Marche, columnist and author of ‘The Next Civil War’[291]

With this support, Canada’s leadership will need to peacefully reach out to more reasonable figures on the international and American scene – including the EU, UK, Australia, U.S. politicians and state governors, and civil society (business, media, legal establishment) who understand the damage and chaos President Trump (and his billionaire oligarchy) are threatening to democracy, international relations, the rule of law, our mutual economies, and world peace. Such overtures should confirm that Canada has and will continue to address appropriate U.S. concerns about Canada in areas such as defence and the border and act wherever it is in Canada’s interests, particularly as it supports and strengthens Canada’s sovereignty and economic security.[292] We should “not respond to every provocation. Reacting indignantly to each tweet and taunt simply invites more of them. Similarly, we should avoid comments and actions that will only make matters worse. Just as we expect Americans to respect our sovereignty, we should respect their right to make their own decisions and avoid unnecessary friction”.[293]

Trump exploits what he perceives to be weakness – “his approach is transactional and zero-sum.  He believes there are only winners and losers in this world. Accordingly, Canada cannot simply yield to his every whim and demand. Instead, we should have our own clear agenda”.[294] 

So democracy is not dead yet in America, simply because it is too large, too raucous, too evenly divided to ever be securely in any regime’s hands. Trump’s own electoral support is vulnerable because so many Americans understand that his regime’s power rests on a crime—disputing the result of a free and fair election, inciting a mob to attack Congress, and then, once back in power, pardoning the perpetrators…. As Trump transforms America into an illiberal democracy, as the guardrails are torn down, Americans may understand at last what danger they face, and then a democratic reckoning with this terrible regime will begin. – Michael Ignatieff[295]

The Trump administration is not all powerful, and domestically is politically vulnerable. “Trump lacks broad popular support. His approval rating has never surpassed 50 percent, and incompetence, overreach, and unpopular policies will almost certainly dampen public support for the new administration. An autocratic president with an approval rating below 50 percent is still dangerous, but far less so than one with 80 percent support. The new administration’s political weakness will open up opportunities for” U.S. domestic “opposition in the courtroom, on the streets, and at the ballot box”.[296] Trump is already facing significant pressure from U.S. states within the country’s current borders in light of his open threats promising “revenge” on his enemies, and raising concerns that he will use the U.S. military against American citizens who oppose him,[297] including U.S. states such as California (New York, Maine,[298] Illinois,[299] etc.)  who he appears unwilling to treat as “legitimate constitutional actors”.[300]

• America has a rogue president and a rogue administration.[301] In lockstep with Trump, the now Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth, has shown himself to be a proponent of unleashing the U.S. military to crush “the enemy within” – using American soldiers against American citizens who do not see things Trump’s way”.[302] And “now that Trump has captured the intelligence services, the Justice Department, and the FBI, the military [was] the last piece he need[ed] to establish the foundations for authoritarian control of the U.S. government”. It is “praetorianism” (control of a society by force), plain and simple.[303]
• If a rogue Trump presidency is seen by the American public as an existential threat to their democracy and way of life, the question becomes what will the middle- and working-class Americans do (many of who thought they were safe from this type of extremism)? What will the various States and their political, business, judicial, military and police leadership do? Will State leadership and citizens across America step forward to defend their democracy, their constitution, the rule of law, and the welfare of their fellow citizens from a rogue Trump administration and billionaire oligarchy?
• American Ray Dalio (founder of Bridgewater Associates, one of the world’s largest hedge funds), told the Financial Times that he believed there was about a thirty-five-per-cent chance of civil war breaking out in America: “We are now on the brink’ … noting that a modern civil war—though it might not involve muskets—would see the fracturing of states and widespread defiance of federal law”. [304]
• With a Trump administration unleased from the law, California – the fourth largest economy in the world and a powerful State in its own right – is expected to lead the defence of democracy and its citizens.[305] California’s Attorney General has said that if Trump “follows the law” there would not be a response. However, if he “violates the law”, the AG has said they are “ready” and California’s Assembly Speaker has stated that “California will do everything we can to protect America from Donald Trump”.[306]
• If the Trump Administration and his oligarchy actually order “the U.S. military to enforce” their “policy agenda” in America’s streets,[307] – If the nation reaches the point where the military is conducting violent actions and violating the constitutional rights of its fellow citizens (“the so-called ‘enemy within’)” – Americans can “reasonably assume that the highest echelons of power within the executive branch will not act to rein in or hold accountable such abuses. Rather, it will be up to the states, local officials, the media, and the American people to hold perpetrators and those giving the orders accountable”.[308]
• The “best-case scenario, of course, would be a democratic election in 2028. But let’s say Trump’s successor loses. Trump has effectively said that any election that doesn’t go his way is illegitimate. Should a Trump-inspired uprising take place in 2028 to challenge a ‘stolen election’, it will be much better planned and executed than the one on January 6, 2021, just as Trump’s second term is much more organized than the first. Such a nation-wide insurrection following any disputed election outcome could unravel an already divided United States. So, the worst-case scenario for the United States is a coup and the best-case scenario is a civil war? That does not bode well for American democracy”.[309]
• To protect and safeguard American citizens and their values and constitutional rights from Trump and his billionaire oligarchy, is secession by U.S. states a viable option. Surely California, for example, would not secede from the American union – that “would be as unlikely as the United States annexing Canada. Or invading Greenland. Right?”[310]

Let me start with the notion that Trump has a popular mandate that [the American people and their allies] oppose at their peril. … So [they] are supposed to show deference to Donald Trump, who won by 1.5 percent — and didn’t even win a majority of the overall vote? … Americans are just starting to find out that they guy they elected and his policies aren’t at all what they thought they were voting for. And we should do everything we can to accelerate their awful journey of discovery. – Paul Krugman, Nobel Laureate[311]

The Trump oligarchy’s threats to Canada of annexation are chilling, and must be taken seriously. In the real world, a country’s President “threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a foreign state” is dangerous rhetoric that threatens international peace and security, and must be addressed by Canadian leadership in the language of international law and state-to-state relations:[312]

“Trump’s dismissive approach to established borders ignores fundamental norms and principles on the sovereignty, equality and territorial integrity of states, codified following the Second World War in the Charter of the United Nations. Canada is a founding member of the UN; its status as a sovereign state is not subject to challenge under international law.

The charter clearly states that ‘all Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations’.

Similarly, the North Atlantic Treaty obliges NATO member states to ‘refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations’.”

[A]s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff … it is my deeply held belief that you’re ruining the international order, and causing significant damage to our country overseas …. Between 1914 and 1945, 150 million people were slaughtered in the conduct of war. They were slaughtered because of tyrannies and dictatorships. That generation, like every generation, has fought against that, has fought against fascism, has fought against Nazism, has fought against extremism. It’s now obvious to me that you … subscribe to many of the principles that we fought against. – U.S. Army General Mark A. Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – resignation letter draft to President Trump[313]

Having said that, Canada has “never had to deal with” a rogue U.S. President and authoritarian oligarchy who now control “an American military riven by partisan divisions and finally unbound by the law” and potentially primed to commit war crimes. That is, until now. Since “his first presidency, Donald Trump has had it in for the Pentagon and its generals, whom he holds responsible for resisting his will. He has pledged since that time to remove ‘woke’ generals and “even invoked executing the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley”. And in the background is Trump’s express desire to use the armed forces in unprecedented domestic missions to repress American citizens. A “military bent to Trump’s will” is a military that will hold back its objections or hold none at all (Nazi Germany’s “I was just following orders”). Pete Hegseth, a Trump loyalist and former Fox News commentator, has been appointed Secretary of Defence. He has no senior experience in national defence and champions the January 6^th insurrectionists and convicted war criminals in uniform.[314]  That is a concern.

The consequences of a military unrestrained by law and controlled by an authoritarian oligarchy are potentially grave for Canada, and this should be recognized and accounted for by Canadian leadership.[315] One year ago, Irvin Studin – the President of the Conseil des Relations Internationales de Montreal – warned Canada to prepare for a predatory presidency under Trump:[316]

“I cannot say this more baldly – we would have to fight for our very lives as a country to survive as a going concern. For this presidency would be nasty, brutish and brutishly incoherent – and quite possibly bloody. The flippant caprices of the first term would, this time around, turn into expressive predation.

In my professional assessment … what Trump’s threat portends is an invented crisis. … This threat – and our own Canadian ill-preparation, in material and mental terms alike – will also mean that the word ‘annexation’ … becomes topical in Canada-U.S. relations, with Trump conjuring up scenarios to threaten (even if by bluff) to take parts of Canada’s gigantic and resource-rich North and Arctic on the pretext that we are not protecting (or claiming) it properly in the face of supposed Russian and … Chinese Arctic capabilities and intentions.

On any scenario, this dynamic would deepen Canada’s vassalization and subservience to Washington’s whim, wise or degenerate. But if Trump is in fact not bluffing, then Canada could face a historical crisis of annexation of parts of its territory that would irreversibly change the face and nature of our country.”

There’s absolutely no question that any effort by Donald Trump to somehow take over the land of another sovereign country is illegal in international law. The effort to take over another country’s territory in part or in whole is one of the fundamental violations of international law. – Jon Allen, senior fellow, University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy.[317]

Canadian Professor George Rigakos, specializing in the “Political Economy of Policing, Social Control and Pacification” in Carleton University’s Department of Law and Legal Studies, has noted that “the assumption that Canada could be annexed ‘peacefully’ betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of Canadian nationalism and the broader geopolitical context”:[318]

“The notion that Canada could become the 51st state of the United States …, is … unrealistic ….  The assumption that Canada could be annexed ‘peacefully’ betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of Canadian nationalism and the broader geopolitical context.

While Canadians are often stereotyped as polite, they are also deeply patriotic and fiercely protective of their sovereignty. …  Any forced integration would invariably be violently opposed by Canada and quickly devolve into a nightmare scenario for both nations.

The international response of any American attempt to forcibly annex Canada would likely be swift and severe. Commonwealth nations could provide economic and logistical, if not direct military, support to Canada.

Public opinion in allied nations like Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom strongly support solidarity with Canada via the concept of the CANZUK alliance. This means even hesitant governments would face domestic pressure to act. …

An attempted annexation would not only provoke resistance in Canada, but also ignite widespread unrest in the U.S. Polling consistently shows Americans strongly oppose unnecessary wars and that the U.S. should ‘mind its own business internationally’.

This public attitude would likely translate into many governors, especially in border states, opposing annexation. Combined with existing partisan divides, this would likely shatter U.S. political unity and inevitably lead to armed secessionist movements.

The U.S. military would also face significant challenges from within. Disillusionment among service members asked to fight against a neighbouring, allied democracy could lead to defections, refusals to serve or even active participation in resistance movements.

History shows that insurrections require only a small, committed percentage of the population — about 3.5% — to have a chance at success, meaning even a relatively small group of armed American dissenters could prove disastrously disruptive.

Compounding the problem for the U.S., tens of millions of Americans are already discontent with their government and view the incoming Trump administration as an existential threat to democracy. …

Annexation would also require the U.S. to absorb more than 40 million people with distinct political, cultural and economic systems. This would necessitate an enormous expansion of the U.S. police state to manage dissent and secure vulnerable infrastructure. The U.S. military has historically proven woefully inept in pacifying foreign populations.

Canadian expatriates in the U.S. — numbering in the hundreds of thousands — and working in key economic and cultural sectors ranging from Wall Street to Silicon Valley and Hollywood would undoubtedly become vocal opponents of annexation, further stoking domestic unrest. Social media would magnify scenes of resistance and repression, sparking the greatest international public relations crisis in U.S. history.

Ultimately, the forced annexation of Canada as the 51st American state is not only unrealistic, but dangerously destabilizing. Canadians’ deep nationalism and history of resistance would ensure fierce opposition, while international backlash and domestic unrest in the U.S. would amplify the chaos.

Far from achieving any gain, annexation would fracture U.S. unity, erode freedoms and mark the collapse of its global influence. The costs of managing an extended occupation — both domestically and abroad — would stretch its military and economic resources to the breaking point.

Canadian politeness should never be mistaken for weakness; military history proves that Canada’s resolve is unyielding [in respect to] any attempt to undermine its sovereignty.” 

I submit we are under attack and more significantly, so too is the global system upon which our security and prosperity are based. In response we need to rapidly deploy all available instruments of national power with maximal effect. This may need to include otherwise previously unthinkable actions such as shutting off our oil and gas, electrical power and critical supplies, as well as the abandonment of historic diplomatic and military relationships and commitments. – Mark Norman, Vice-Admiral (Ret’d), and former Vice Chief of the Defence Staff of Canada[319]

Canadian Professor Aisha Ahmad, a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto, is a multiple award-winning International Security scholar specializing in international interventions, insurgencies, and complex civil wars. Professor Ahmad – having studied insurgencies around the world for more than two decades – recently opined that “if Trump ever decides to use military force to annex Canada, the result would not be determined by a conventional military confrontation between the Canadian and American armies. Rather, a military invasion of Canada would trigger a decades-long violent resistance, which would ultimately destroy the United States”. Why? Because:[320]

“The research on guerrilla wars clearly shows that weaker parties can use unconventional methods to cripple a more powerful enemy over many years. This approach treats waging war as a secret, part-time job that an ordinary person can do.

Guerrillas use ambushes, raids and surprise attacks to slowly bleed an invading army, and local communities support these fighters by giving them safe havens and material support. These supporting citizens can also engage in forms of ‘everyday resistance’ using millions of passive-aggressive episodes of sabotage to frustrate and drain the enemy.

Trump is delusional if he believes that 40 million Canadians will passively accept conquest without resistance. There is no political party or leader willing to relinquish Canadian sovereignty over ‘economic coercion’, and so if the U.S. wanted to annex Canada, it would have to invade.

That decision would set in motion an unstoppable cycle of violence. Even if we imagine a scenario in which the Canadian government unconditionally surrenders, a fight would ensue on the streets. A teenager might throw a rock at invading soldiers. That kid would get shot, and then there would be more rocks, and more gunfire. An insurgency would be inevitable.

This idea may shock Canadians today because they see themselves as friendly and affable people. However, Canada’s current self-image of ‘niceness’ only exists because they’re at peace. War changes people very quickly, and Canadians are no more innately peaceful than any other human beings.

When your child is dying in your arms, you become capable of violence. Once you lose what you love, resistance becomes as natural as breathing.

Except for a few collaborators and kapos, my research suggests many Canadians would likely engage in various forms of everyday resistance against invading forces that could involve steal, lying, cutting wires and diverting funds.

Meanwhile, the insurgents would unleash physical devastation on American targets. Even if one per cent of all resisting Canadians engaged in armed insurrection, that would constitute a 400,000-person insurgency, nearly 10 times the size of Taliban at the start of the Afghan war. If a fraction of that number engaged in violent attacks, it would set fire to the entire continent.

Canada’s geography would make this insurgency difficult to defeat. With deep forests and rugged mountains, Canada’s northern terrain could not be conquered or controlled. That means loyalists from the Canadian Armed Forces could mobilize civilian recruits into decentralized fighting units that could strike, retreat into the wilderness and blend back into the local communities that support them.

The Canada-U.S. border is also easy to cross, which would give insurgents access to American critical infrastructure. It costs tens of billions of dollars to build an energy pipeline, and only a few thousand to blow one up.

But wouldn’t the Americans crush the rebellion with missiles and drone strikes? They would try, but that approach to counterinsurgency won’t work.

In fact, it is a well-known booby trap of insurgent warfare. The harder more powerful nations strike, the larger and more fragmented the insurgency becomes, making it impossible to achieve either a military victory or negotiated agreement. Canada’s rugged terrain would protect insurgents from those types of attacks, while global outrage at the bombings would only boost support for the rebellion.

Americans have already been defeated by insurgents in many parts of the world because they could not escape this trap. If they dare to invade Canada, they would create this unsolvable security problem on their own soil.

How could Canadians pay for this decades-long insurgency? The answer lies in every single historical example of the old adage: ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend’.

The prospect of Americans becoming trapped by an insurgency on their own continent would delight Moscow and Beijing, which could easily establish covert northern passages to send weapons to the insurgency. Financing an insurgency is an effective way to ensnare and bankrupt a rival power, as counter-insurgency operations are exponentially more expensive than the price of a few arms shipments.

A chronic violent insurrection in North America could financially and militarily pin down the U.S. for decades, ultimately triggering economic and political collapse. Russia and China, meantime, would enjoy an uncontested rise to power.

This scenario would guarantee the destruction of both Canada and the United States. No one in their right mind would choose this gruesome future over a peaceful and mutually beneficial alliance with a friendly neighbour.

Nevertheless, if Trump is reckless enough to think the violent annexation of Canada is an achievable goal, then let it be known that all these horrifying outcomes were predictable well in advance, and that he was forewarned.”

We now need a robust military precisely because Trump has already threatened Greenland, Panama and Mexico — do you think he won’t come for us, too? And this means that we must also contemplate nuclear armaments, as awful and unCanadian as that may seem. We need all options on the table, because this is a mortal danger to our freedom. – Professor Stefan Dolgert, Associate Professor of Political Science, Brock University[321]

Supporting Professor Rigakos and Professor Ahmad’s treatises, Stephen Marche noted in Maclean’s magazine that “at this point in its history, America has come off of 70 years of failed imperialist adventures, in which it discovered it couldn’t hold onto Afghanistan or Iraq or Vietnam or anywhere else”:[322]

“In the 21st century, it has become harder, not easier, to occupy populations against their will. Ordinary people have become used to controlling their own destinies, and the means of resistance have developed to the point where occupiers are always at a disadvantage. More than any other country, the U.S. has learned this lesson the hard way. When I wrote my book The Next Civil War in the late 2010s, the U.S. had recently published its manual on counterinsurgency, Joint Publication 3-24, or JP 3-24. On the surface, it was a guide to strategies for occupying and pacifying countries. Underneath, it was a big flashing sign to its own military leadership: do not do this ever again. The process of ending a counterinsurgency involves reconfiguring the basis of society from the ground up, a process which a military force, any military force, is incapable of undertaking. 

The lesson of JP 3-24 is that counterinsurgency strategies have an implicit weakness: the occupiers cannot overcome the host populations except by annihilation. To hold countries, you need to impose order. To impose order you need to control populations. To control populations you need to use violence. Violence leads to violence, which is inherently antithetical to order. American forces have found that, even with the support of local governments and control of the state-building machinery, tiny pockets of resistance can make chaos more or less permanent and the attempts to quell that chaos counterproductive by their nature. To stop sectarian violence, to give peace a chance, occupiers have to put cities under surveillance and impose zones of control and eliminate terrorists. Each imposition on the local population makes their position less tenable. 

That’s why America wins every battle and loses every war. They can perform military actions perfectly but they can’t recognize the ultimate consequences of those actions. War, for them, is a kind of hobby. They only enjoy it on foreign soil, when the stakes are on the other side. They cannot process attacks on their homeland, which a conflict with Canada would provide. …

Even Russia is learning that occupation in the 21st century is not what it used to be. Populations now are not composed of serfs but of professionals. They have plans for themselves and for their futures. To be sure, Russia had military successes in Ukraine, although at a much slower rate and with a much higher cost than military experts expected. But its stated war aims of bringing Ukrainians under cultural and political dominion, of pouring new populations into a restored Russian Empire, died on the first day. Putin’s “mourning war,” as Foreign Policy recently called it, was an attempt to overcome its economic and demographic decline; both have only accelerated during the past three years.  …

Now, [America] is ripping itself to shreds. Ordinary people with Ivy League degrees are assassinating CEOs on the streets of New York, to widespread approval. Terrorist incidents are growing, executed by more sophisticated and more resourceful terrorists than ever before. Trump plans to install loyalist appointees whose stated plans are to gut the national institutions—the FBI, the CIA, the Department of Justice—to give the president-elect more impunity. As I write, Los Angeles is on fire. 

And that’s what Trump’s threats are really about. They are his attempt to distract the country from its own suicide. Trump is a rage-attention machine. That’s how he has accumulated power. That’s how he is. But now that he has overtaken the Republican party and the U.S. political system, he must keep the rage machinery pointed outwards. Otherwise it will turn inwards. …

Trump’s comments on Canada must be put in this context. He has to keep the world afraid of him, because the moment that stops, his power collapses. He is attempting to spread loathsome anarchy everywhere, not just here. …

For the sake of argument, let us consider the … proposition of an American invasion into Canada. As for the military action, it is impossible to predict. There is no historical parallel of an ally conquering another ally, because, on an obvious level, it’s insane. …

One of the lessons of the JP 3-24 is that it only takes a few committed people to make an occupation borderline-impossible. …  Widespread civil disobedience and resistance would certainly take on a violent dimension, contributing to the already violent political breakdown of various factions in the United States. America is already facing significant pressure from separatist forces within its current borders. …  to conquer Canada, the United States would have to put itself on a war footing. …

Canadian solidarity has never been more necessary than now. In the United States, it is unclear who is a traitor and who isn’t. Not so here. The key figure in Canada at this moment is Doug Ford, who is fighting for the country as a whole. And he knows how to fight. While Pierre Poilievre has said Canada will never be the 51st state, it’s unclear to me if his party is more loyal to this country or to the American manosphere. The Liberals … did, however, get us through the last Trump administration more or less in one piece.

Ordinary Canadians must prepare … for chaos – economic, political, social, cultural.”

Billionaires’ power grab endangers democracy. … We must remember that democracy is not a product to be bought and sold; it is a sacred trust between the people and their government. If we allow that trust to be eroded, we risk losing not only our freedoms but also the very essence of what it means to live in a fair and just society. – Anthony Joseph[323]

(b) Key to Modern Warfare for a ‘middle power’

My grandfather – a career military man rising to the highest NCO rank of Regimental Sergeant-Major – and my father – a career naval officer – despite their pride in Canada and there military service across the years and miles, would both agree that Canada’s armed forces are not where we need them to be. My father before his death would sadly comment on the state of Canada’s Armed Forces, ruefully saying that “Canada has two submarines, and one of them is spare parts for the other” (note: we currently have four Victoria-class submarines).

So yes, Canada’s armed forces are not where they need to be due to years of underfunding.[324] However, as we have done before, we must rebuild a capable military, and to do so we must also “restore public trust and respect. Canada’s Armed Forces represent far more than defence. They traditionally embody our values as a nation. Our military commitments – from Latvia to Ukraine” and our historical courage and leadership during WWI and WWII – “reflect these values. They reaffirm Canada’s role as a global leader, standing together with our allies, against forces that seek to undermine our collective sovereignty and our democracy”.[325]

Canada … needs to move forward quickly with its Arctic defence plans. The country is not on a war footing, but it is no longer living in a conventional peacetime era. The timelines have shortened dramatically. Canada must demonstrate its resolve today. – Globe and Mail[326]

Some of us may think we are not up to the task, or that it’s too expensive. They should remember that in 1939 (when Canada entered WWII against Hitler’s nazi war machine), “when we were a nation of just 11 million people emerging from the Great Depression, we made ourselves into a formidable enemy, with armed forces that grew to 1.1 million — 10 per cent of our entire population” at that time.[327] In this respect, the Calgary Herald noted:[328]

“Canada today has about 77,000 soldiers under arms. Dr. David Bercuson, U[niversity] of C[algary] military expert, doesn’t expect an invasion — yet — but he agrees that our forces should be greatly expanded, and fast.

‘With 41 million people in this country, don’t tell me you can’t recruit 100,000 young people who would quickly sign up for this’, says Bercuson, author of 26 books and papers, most on the Canadian military. …

At the very least, the Americans would suddenly realize we are dead serious about our nationhood.

We would be doing exactly what Trump says he wants from NATO allies — spending more on our military. But we would be doing it to defend ourselves from him.

Once aroused, this country is brilliant in a crisis.

At the start of the Second World War in 1939, Canada’s active service military numbered about 23,000. Three months later, Canada had 177,000 soldiers under arms. By the end of the war in 1945, well over one million were in uniform, from a nation of only 12 million people. The Royal Canadian Air Force was the fourth largest in the world. …

Americans should finally realize that we may not be big but we’re damned tough. Threatened, Canadians drop their internal disputes and fight back. …

Start a high-profile recruitment drive. Spend what’s needed to modernize logistics. Finally build warships. Make this a massive national campaign. Double and triple the size of our military so quickly that even Trump might notice something’s going on.

Strive for peace, of course, but make it clear that this country is not for sale — or conquest.”

The key to modern warfare for Canada going forward – aside from the strength of like-minded democratic allies – may well be combat drones and AI, and the Ukraine battlefield has shown that this ‘high volume, low cost’ technology is an important weapon to gain an asymmetric edge over a superior military force. Combat drones have disrupted modern warfare and have been effective in the air, in and under the sea, and on land. They can track enemy forces, identify targets, guide artillery, drop ordnance and other weapons, launch attacks on superior naval forces and ground forces, and provide long-range strikes deep into enemy territory:[329]

“Over the last decade, the number of countries investing in Artificial Intelligence (AI), specifically for military purposes, has rapidly increased as it is now widely believed that the world is on the brink of another military revolution. In the eyes of many, lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS) will soon become the most pervasive and decisive form of combat power on the battlefield that will redefine how war is waged in the 21st century. They will guarantee credible force projection in highly contested anti-access area denial (A2/AD) environments, drastically increase the speed of “kill chains”, and take on a much more significant decision making role at the tactical level.

These claims, while bold, have arguably already been substantiated and validated by the current war in Ukraine in which makeshift factories and labs have been constructed all across the country to manufacture AI-enabled autonomous weapon systems such as armed uncrewed ground vehicles, kamikaze sea drones, and cheap loitering munitions. In their fight against the Russian Army, outnumbered Ukrainian troops have had to extensively rely on autonomous drones and weapon systems as they are more survivable and resistant against electronic jamming. With Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Uncrewed Ground Vehicles (UGVs), and Uncrewed Surface Vehicles (USVs) operating by themselves, operators can simply lock onto a target and let the combat platform do the rest. Furthermore, Ukrainian engineers, deployed in the field, have also built hundreds of UAVs based on AI models which have been trained with large amounts of data from real life frontline drone missions. This meticulous work has enabled Ukrainian soldiers to individually operate up to seven drones on bombing and reconnaissance missions deep inside Russian-held territory. Lastly, UGVs, equipped with gun turrets with autonomous targeting that uses AI-trained software have also been seen in combat, automatically tracking and shooting at Russian troops.

Consequently, having witnessed the capabilities of AI-enabled autonomous weapon systems on the battlefield in Ukraine for the past two years, countries around the world are now scrambling to gain dominance in this technological area and are actively seeking to harness the power of AI for military advantage. For example, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and the Department of National Defence (DND) released their ‘Artificial Intelligence Strategy’ in March of this year. 

As another example, China has made clear its ambition to become the world leader in AI by 2030 while President Vladimir Putin has highlighted AI research as a top priority for Russia as he believes that “whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.” The US, alarmed by the challenge posed by both of these countries, has also entered the technological race, committing to a “third offset” strategy in which it will invest heavily in AI, autonomy, and robotics to sustain its military superiority. The side with the fastest, most effective ‘kill chain’ will win in a modern war.

From an academic perspective, the kill chain concept is the ability of a military to rapidly and accurately identify, fix, track, target, and engage an enemy target.

Given the growing importance of faster and more efficient ‘kill chains’ and the start of an autonomous weapon systems arms race, Canada should also look to exploit the power of AI for its own armed forces. Given the defence and security challenges posed by Canada’s vast geographic size and limited military manpower, AI-enabled uncrewed combat platforms, in the form of long endurance UAVs, Uncrewed Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs), Uncrewed Undersea Vehicles (UUVs), and USVs, could prove to be of enormous value to the CAF. These assets, first of all, are currently able to stay in the air and on or under the surface of the country’s oceans longer than most of the military’s planes, ships, and submarines. Consequently, they are highly likely to be extremely effective at providing year-round surveillance and ensuring control of the entirety of Canadian airspace, coastlines, and maritime approaches. Second, the cost of patrol missions carried out by autonomous drones over large swaths of territory is only a fraction of that of crewed platforms. Lastly, these uncrewed combat systems would exponentially enhance the CAF’s situational awareness, accelerate its ability to quickly close ‘kill chains’ to speeds unattainable by even the most well-trained servicemen and servicewomen, and enable Canadian commanders to be considerably more aggressive in using them for combat operations as there is zero risk to CAF personnel. …

However, while all these USVs, designed for anti-ship warfare, EW, ISR, and air defence, would be incredibly vital additions to Canada’s surface fleet, Ottawa also desperately needs to acquire a network of autonomous uncrewed surface and subsurface platforms that can operate as an unattended system in the Far North year-round to constantly search for and monitor Russian submarines and, if necessary, conduct undersea warfare. …

Lastly, the RCN requires an autonomous uncrewed platform that is capable of not only patrolling Canada’s vast coastlines and monitoring ocean approaches continuously, but also providing harbour security and replacing the fleet’s current crewed Kingston-class coastal patrol ships. This would free up a significant number of sailors who could be retrained and reassigned to the fleet’s future personnel-heavy CSCs without sacrificing coastal defence. Such a repurposing of talent is also crucial for being able to properly operate and maintain the Nation’s recently announced new fleet of 12 under-ice attack submarines….

This autonomous combat potential, however, is not limited to just the Navy. In the context of the air domain, the RCAF should adopt a CONOPS in which its newly procured crewed F-35s are paired with 4-5 ‘Loyal Wingman’ aircraft, each equipped with different payloads and responsible for different missions. These semi-autonomous AI-enabled UAVs could specialize in one of many combat effects such as electronic jamming, precision strike, Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD), or ISR. This emphasis on large numbers of lower cost drones is absolutely key for an air force like Canada’s. Collectively, these autonomous systems will enable the RCAF to credibly operate within an enemy’s A2/AD threat envelope at a lower weapon-to-target cost-ratio and destroy extremely high value, expensive strategic targets.”

Ukraine’s innovative deployment of drones in its defence of Russia’s invasion has not only reshaped its military strategy but also set a new standard for other nations, including Canada. The global trend towards incorporating drone warfare marks a substantial shift in military doctrine, with profound implications for future conflicts. As nations adapt to this new paradigm, the strategic, ethical, and legal dimensions of warfare will continue to evolve, heralding a new era of modern warfare.[330]

Canada has a level of expertise with combat drones, but to ensure modern drone warfare becomes an important cornerstone of Canada’s defence, “Canada should take bold action, starting with Ukraine. We should secure a defence agreement that deepens military ties, including procurement of Ukraine’s advanced drone technology for our Arctic security”.[331] With respect to Ukraine’s capability, Professor Roman Sheremeta – Professor of Economics,  and founding rector of American University Kyiv – had this to say:[332]

“Ukraine … we have our own weapons. We produce four million drones per year – more than anyone. We have built shell factories and are developing our own rockets. To remind you, the most successful Soviet nuclear missile was made in Ukraine. … Our rockets have continued launching satellites into space – even after the war began. And if we wanted, we could even build nukes.

We are the only capable European army right now, and that should be taken seriously.”

Trump’s misguided belief that inside of every Canadian there is an American waiting to get out is a misconception that is actually older than the U.S. itself. Its history, however, offers a cautionary tale for Trump because it has been responsible for some of America’s most humiliating foreign policy failures.  – Time Magazine[333]

https://www.varesewedding.com/fkcputi Conclusion

Human beings are often tempted to take the path of least resistance, especially under pressure. When fear spreads in a society, powerful people who know better are often the first to show their weakness. One need only look to Alberta premier Smith to see that “capitulation is contagious”.[334]

However, true leadership is demonstrated not when choices are easy, but when they are hard.

If the tariffs are implemented against Canada [by Trump’s regime], we will respond. We won’t relent until tariffs are removed and, of course, everything is on the table. Whatever action Canada takes w[ill] be ‘fair, right across the country’ and  ‘all Canadians will share in the job of standing up for our interests and quite frankly standing up to defend the most successful trading relationship in the world’. – PM says tariff response will be ‘forceful but reasonable’, Globe and Mail[335]

The Trump administration and its oligarchy reflects a lamentable decline into darkness of a once admirable democracy. Trump’s threats and attacks on their allies and neighbours, and hostile intent to specifically use trade and tariffs to compel Canada to become part of the United States is the act of an adversary, if not an enemy.

Courage, above all, will be the most precious virtue in the months ahead.” Be courageous; be bold; and above all, be hopeful. This is our battle, and it starts today:[336]

“U.S.  President Donald Trump’s threat of 25 per cent tariffs on most Canadian exports to the United States can’t be justified by the false claim that illegal immigrants and large amounts of the synthetic opioid fentanyl are flooding across the Canadian border.

The accusation about fentanyl is preposterous, since the total amount intercepted at the Canadian-US border in the last year is far less than one per cent of the amount stopped at the Mexican-US border.

As for the alleged border-crossers, why would any migrant safely in Canada (generous to asylum-seekers, gun control, universal health-care, few crazies, pretty relaxed about race) want to sneak into the U.S. (deportations, medical bankruptcies, guns everywhere, racism rampant, and Christian nationalists” in charge)?

There is no flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S. from Canada. Trump must have some other motive for including Canada in the top three targets on his tariff hit list with Mexico and China. What could it be?

For want of any more convincing motive, Trump’s oft-repeated intention to annex Canada must be taken seriously. So far, he continues to say he’ll achieve this exclusively by ‘economic pressure’, and Canadians will cling to this assurance – but they shouldn’t bet the farm on it. ..

On Feb. 2, he wrote on Truth Social that Canada ‘should become our Cherished 51st State. Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada — AND NO TARIFFS!’

‘We don’t need anything they have. We have unlimited Energy, should make our own Cars, and have more Lumber than we can ever use. Without this massive subsidy, Canada ceases to exist as a viable Country’.

It’s a waste of time to rebut Trump’s lies and distortions line by line – there’s one in almost every sentence – but three things are worth noting. First, Canada’s geography means the only country that can pose a direct military threat to it is the U.S.   Second, there is no U.S. subsidy of any kind to the Canadian economy.  And third, he really means it. …

[H]e poses an existential threat to the Canadian confederation. … when somebody says they’re going to hurt you, it’s wise to take precautions.

Not one Canadian in 10 would freely choose to become part of the angry, divided society to the south, but they may have to endure a long, miserable economic siege to avoid it. …And at some point, Canadians may even have to ‘blow the bridges’, at least metaphorically.”

[Billionaire oligarch Elon Musk] is a senior member of the Trump administration who gave a Nazi salute from the presidential podium. And there’s no world in which that doesn’t lead to more hate and extremism. … Musk is working for a president who reportedly praised and admired Hitler; whose own vice-president once called him ‘America’s Hitler”; and whose opponent … Kamala Harris called ‘a fascist’ and an admirer of dictators. – Jewish non-profit chief says Musk will spur violence with his ‘Nazi salute’, Guardian[337]

Trump’s threats and aggressive bullying have produced shock and hard feelings in Canadians toward the U.S., and a surge of Canadian nationalism. The current Prime Minister may very well have channeled all Canadians – with his message of resilience and defiance –  when he proclaimed that there is not “a snowball’s chance in hell”[338] that Canada will become the 51^st state.

Trump’s threats have not only “upended the longstanding relationship” between Canada and the U.S., he may have also dramatically reshaped federal politics and “ushered in a new era of patriotism”. With an election looming, even the conservative political party is scrambling to portray itself “as patriotic and ready to defend our country’s sovereignty”.[339] As such:[340]

“[Trump’s administration and billionaire oligarchy] runs the risk of helping to elect [Canadian] politicians who will vote down any new trade deal between Ottawa and Washington, D.C. It may even make Canadians more willing to endure economic hardship in the event of a tariff war, rather than bowing to Trump’s domineering tactics.”

Five former Prime Ministers urge Canadians to show national unity on Flag Day, in the face of Trump’s ‘threats and insults’. – Globe and Mail[341]

As Canadians, we must “oppose, oppose, oppose” Trump’s threats. And make noise about the outrages being committed by Trump and his oligarchy day after day. Do not appease or capitulate in the belief that the Trump administration has a mandate to act the way they are – threatening and attacking Canada, America’s long-time democratic friend, neighbour, and ally. They do not have such a mandate, and for Canada to respond in any manner but with strength is guaranteed to fail.[342]

It is time to move forward and not be intimidated. We must not despair and we must not appease.[343]

More than ever before, Canada must prioritize its sovereignty, our unity, our freedom, and our economy, because if we do not, we risk the country falling apart. The reality is that “we can only defend ourselves by joining together across partisan, regional, and cultural differences, to look out for one another, to protect our shared interests and assets, and to safeguard our democracy. That requires solidarity among Canadians and among our political leaders at all levels of government”. 

And we are indeed seeing leadership and unity is on the rise, with “Canada’s five living former prime ministers” uniting “to salute Canadian patriotism”[344] and prominent Canadians signing a fast growing Pledge for Canada:[345]

“Previous generations have fought to protect our democracy and made sacrifices to build the Canada we inherited.

This is now our time.

The threats of economic coercion from the United States, our neighbour and leading trading partner, pose serious risks to the well-being of all Canadians and to our sovereign right to determine our political, economic, social, and cultural destiny.

We will meet the challenge as previous generations have done, not by bending to threats but by joining together in common purpose, across partisan, regional, and cultural differences, to look out for one another, to protect our shared interests and assets, and to safeguard our democracy.

Canadians will decide Canada’s future and place in the world.

What is required in this moment is solidarity among Canadians and among our political leaders – federal, provincial, territorial, Indigenous, and municipal. We call on our leaders to work together across partisan divides to forcefully affirm and defend, in word and deed, Canada’s sovereignty, to put in place measures that mitigate the consequences of any unilateral actions on workers, families, and businesses, and to increase Canada’s resiliency in an increasingly turbulent and unpredictable world. …”

A British citizen, Brian Rigby, responded online to the Pledge for Canada as follows: “80 Years ago when I was born, young Canadians were fighting around Caen to help liberate Europe. We owe a debt to Canada. Now Canada faces threats from the USA we Brits should not hesitate to stand shoulder to shoulder with our Canadian brothers and sisters. Just as Canada did in 1939 so the UK and Europe should do in 2025 and declare our solidarity against an authoritarian threat to their liberty and independence”.[346]

In a world divided by differences of nationality, race, colour, religion, and wealth, [the rule of law] is one of the greatest unifying factors, perhaps the greatest, the nearest we are likely to approach to a universal secular religion. – Tom Bingham, ‘The Rule of Law’[347]

This crisis is an existential threat, a David and Goliath challenge that will require all of our courage. As in any uneven fight, we must seek and build alliances with other countries and allies that are also being  targeted with tariffs and threats as a brute force economic weapon by the Trump administration. Alliances with allies who support the rule of law and a rules-based international order, and profoundly understand that Trump’s brute force tariffs and zero-sum game echo a dangerous failed U.S. trade policy of the past[348] that led to an economic disaster for America and the world now known as the Great Depression.  

Trump’s  tariffs on Canadian goods could very well be the catalyst Canada needs to transform its trade approach and reaffirm its sovereignty and position as a global leader. The cost of inaction is not just financial — it is the erosion of democracy, freedom, resilience, and global influence.[349]

By embracing unity, courage, co-operation, diversification, and innovation, Canada has the opportunity to turn this existential threat into a defining moment of progress. The future belongs to those who act decisively – and Canada must rise to the occasion to secure its place as a sovereign country, and its place on the global stage.[350]

Eric Sigurdson

https://www.infoturismiamoci.com/2025/03/sfqo1fktaw Footnotes:

---

[1] Chris Lehmann, We Shouldn’t Be Afraid to Call the US What It Really Is: an Oligarchy, The Nation, February 25, 2025.

[2] David Olive, Trump won’t annex Canada, but he will try to wreck it. Here’s how we can fight ‘the dumbest trade war in history’, Toronto Star, February 3, 2025. Also see, Guardian Staff, Trump threatens to sue media after Wall Street Journal editorial criticizes tariffs, The Guardian, February 26, 2025; Leigh Kimmins, Trump Threatens to Sue the Media Over Stories He Doesn’t Like, Daily Beast, February 26, 2025.

[3] Senator Bernie Sanders, X.com, January 24, 2025.

[4] David Climenhaga, Danielle Smith’s Delusional Response to Trump Tariffs: Alberta’s premier declares victory despite a failed appeasement effort, The Tyee, February 3, 2015; David Climenhaga, Danielle Smith’s Dangerous Sabotage of Team Canada: Trudeau and other premiers adopted a united response to Trump’s tariffs. Alberta opted out, The Tyee, January 16, 2025; Martin Regg Cohn, Alberta’s premier is playing right into Donald Trump’s hands, Toronto Star, January 15, 2025 (“Alberta’s premier appears to believe its every province for itself … desperate to appease … Trump.”); David Climenhaga, Danielle Smith is undermining Canada: former chief trade negotiator, Rabble.ca, January 24, 2025 (“Smith’s position that Canada must appease Trump at any cost”); Steve Burgess, Please advise! Why is Everything Weird?, The Tyee,  January 28, 2025 (“Danielle Smith is drawing more criticism with her appeasement policy toward Trump”); Dan Braid, Smith should have grabbed the pen and signed. She leaves Alberta vulnerable, Calgary Herald, January 17, 2025 (“former premier Jason Kenney … ‘I think it’s also important, to the greatest extent possible, that all premiers in the broader Canadian leadership be united in our approach to these ridiculous threats coming from [Trump]. This is not a game. This is the single biggest potential attack on our economy in our modern history”); Max Fawcett, Danielle Smith still wants us to surrender, Canada’s National Observer, January 22, 2025 (“Smith still seems to think more appeasement is the way to go – and that the real threat is somehow coming from Ottawa, not Washington. … As Churchill know only too well … acquiescence isn’t the path to victory”); Gary Mason, Danielle Smith turns her back on Canada at the worst possible time, Globe and Mail, January 21, 2025; Sean Craig, Trump Summons Canada’s MAGA Groupies for ‘51^st State’ Night, Daily Beast, January 13, 2025; Gillian Steward,  Danielle Smith just might get Trump’s tariff exemption on oil and gas, Toronto Star, January 28, 2025:

“It’s clear that the oil and gas industry for whom Smith was once a lobbyist, gets whatever it wants and that she will go to any lengths to get it for them. That’s why she didn’t join the other premiers in their Team Canada approach to President Trump’s bullying. That’s why she has been criss-crossing the U.S, even dropping in on Mar-a-Lago, in hopes of getting an exemption for Alberta oil from Trump’s tariff threat.

Granted, oil and gas are important to Alberta’s, and Canada’s, economy. But wouldn’t it have been better to join up with Team Canada and hold your trump card in abeyance until the hard bargaining begins? If you know you have a trump card why waste it on seeking appeasement from the king of cruelty.

But Smith sees an opportunity to get on the bandwagon of Trump’s pledge ….”

[5] Eliott Dumoulin, Pierre Poilievre, Canada’s Trump-inspired conservative leader, Le Monde, November 22, 2024; Max Fawcett, What Pierre Poilievre and Donald Trump have in common, Canada’s National Observer, January 4, 2024; Stephanie Taylor and Catherine Levesque, From ‘maple syrup MAGA’ to “Team Canada’: Why Liberals shouldn’t count on Poilievre as they navigate Trump, National Post, November 9, 2024; Justin Ling, Poilievre’s Dangerous Dance with MAGA-Style Politics, The Walrus, September 18, 2024; Warren Kinsella, Trump anchor dragging down Poilievre’s Conservatives fast: By design or happenstance, Poilievre too often sounds too much like Trump, Toronto Sun, February 11, 2025.

[6] Peter Zimonjic, Elon Musk praises Poilievre, mocks Trudeau as he steps into Canadian politics, CBC News, January 9, 2025; Cat Zakrzewski, Elon Musk goes global with his playbook for political influence: The X owner and tech billionaire has boosted far-right figures in Germany, Britain and Canada with a blizzard of social media posts in recent days, Washington Post, January 5, 2025.

[7] Dan Lett, Read the room, Pierre, and quit falling for Trump’s lies, The Free Press, February 5, 2025.

[8] Robert Fife, Canadians believe Mark Carney would be better than Pierre Poilievre in dealing with Trump, poll finds, Globe and Mail, February 7, 2025; Jeremie Charron, Which leader would Canadians prefer to negotiate with Donald Trump? Nanos poll results, CTV News, February 7, 2025.

[9] Steven Chase, Trump’s threats against Canada not the words of a ‘friend, a partner and an ally’, former PM Stephen Harper says, Globe and Mail, January 13, 2025.

[10] Benje Thomas, Hopefully the U.S. and Canada can strike a deal on Tariffs. But that doesn’t fix the real problem, Globe and Mail, February 3, 2025.

[11] Brett Samuels, Trump doubles down on floating Canada as 51^st state amid tariff dispute, The Hill, February 3, 2025. Also see: Michael Drummond, President Trump threatens Canada over trade war – saying it should become ‘cherished 51^st state’, Sky News, February 3, 2025; Trump says Canada would become 51^st state ‘if people wanted to play the game right’, CBC News, February 3, 2025; Trump Calls Again for Canada to Become ‘51^st State’, Barrons, February 2, 2025.

[12] Luca Caruso-Moro, Rachel Aiello, etal, Canada to appoint a ‘Fentanyl Czar’ and bolster border as Trudeau and Trump reach deal to delay tariffs, CTV News, February 3, 2025.

[13] Brett Samuels, Trump doubles down on floating Canada as 51^st state amid tariff dispute, The Hill, February 3, 2025; David Baxter, Trump says his desire to make Canada the 51^st state is a real thing, Globe and Mail, February 9, 2025. Also see: Michael Drummond, President Trump threatens Canada over trade war – saying it should become ‘cherished 51^st state’, Sky News, February 3, 2025; Trump says Canada would become 51^st state ‘if people wanted to play the game right’, CBC News, February 3, 2025; Trump Calls Again for Canada to Become ‘51^st State’, Barrons, February 2, 2025.

[14] Editorial Board, Strong and Free: In memoriam, free trade, 1989-2025(ish), Globe and Mail, February 22, 2025.

[15] Serah Louis, ‘A seismic change’: More than half of Canadian business leaders have lost confidence in the U.S. as a reliable trading partner, Financial Post, February 28, 2025.

[16] Editorial, Taking Trump for the threat he is, Winnipeg Free Press, February 27, 2025; John Paul Tasker, Trump says 25% tariff on most Canadian goods will take effect March 4, CBC, February 27, 2025.

[17] Editorial Board, Trump blinks on North American Tariffs. The President pauses after minor concessions from Canada and Mexico, Wall Street Journal, February 3, 2025.

[18] Andrew Willis, Shopify’s Lutke and other appeasers miss Trump’s real agenda on tariffs, Globe and Mail, February 3, 2025.

[19] Vipal Monga, After 150 Years of Friendship, the U.S. and Canada Come to Blows: Tariff threats and talk of making Canada the 51^st state have unleashed rancor and instability into one of the world’s most powerful partnerships, Wall Street Journal, February 21, 2025.

[20] Editorial Board, Trump blinks on North American Tariffs. The President pauses after minor concessions from Canada and Mexico, Wall Street Journal, February 3, 2025.

[21] Timothy Ryback, The Oligarchs Who Came To Regret Supporting Hitler, Atlantic, February 6, 2025; Athahn Steinback, Dark Apostles – Hitler’s Oligarchs: Goring, Goebbels, Himmler, Heydrich and Revolutionary Totalitarian Oligarchy in the Third Reich, History in the Making: Vol 10, Article 8, 2017.

[22] David Olive, Trump won’t annex Canada, but he will try to wreck it. Here’s how we can fight ‘the dumbest trade war in history’, Toronto Star, February 3, 2025.

[23] David Olive, Trump won’t annex Canada, but he will try to wreck it. Here’s how we can fight ‘the dumbest trade war in history’, Toronto Star, February 3, 2025.

[24] Pete McMartin, Farewell to my American friends. It’s over, Vancouver Sun, February 3, 2025; Linda McQuaig, Donald Trump’s rage toward Canada hides a deeper agenda, Toronto Star, February 6, 2025; Eric Reguly, Trump’s possible not-so-secret agenda: Canadian water exports and lots of them, Globe and Mail, February 8, 2025; Editorial, Taking Trump for the threat he is, Winnipeg Free Press, February 27, 2025.

[25] Tariff announcement ‘turning point’ for Canada: Unifor, CTV News, February 3, 2025.

[26] Arlene Dickinson, LinkedIn.com, February 3, 2025.

[27] Arlene Dickinson, LinkedIn.com, February 3, 2025.

[28] Rob Carrick, The personal finances of the nation need to be on an economic war footing. Here’s the path forward, Globe and Mail, February 2, 2025.

[29] Rob Carrick, The personal finances of the nation need to be on an economic war footing. Here’s the path forward, Globe and Mail, February 2, 2025.

[30] Daniel Tisch, LindedIn.com, February 3, 2025.

[31] Ursula von der Leyen (President of the European Commission), LinkedIn.com, February 12, 2025. Also see, Doorstep by President von der Leyen ahead of the meeting with President Costa and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau, European Commission (ec.europa.eu), February 11, 2025.

[32] Don Braid, Bring on the day when furious countries refuse to trade with U.S., Calgary Herald, February 1, 2025.

[33] See generally, Ira Wells, How an Unstable US Threatens Canada’s National Security, The Walrus, July 20, 2022.

[34] David Graham, The Cases Against Trump: A Guide, The Atlantic, January 6, 2025; Aaron Blake, Judge clarifies: Yes, Trump was found to have raped E. Jean Carrol, Washington Post, July 19, 2023.

[35] See generally, Hilary Matfess and Michael Miklaucic (editors), Beyond Convergence: World Without Order, Center for Complex Operations at National Defense University, 2016 (see, Chapter 2, Nils Gilman, The Twin Insurgencies: Plutocrats and Criminals Challenge the Westphalian State, etc); Rana Dasgupta, The demise of the nation state, The Guardian, April 5, 2018; Chrystia Freeland, Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else, Anchor Canada, 2014; Jeffrey Sachs, Understanding and Overcoming America’s Plutocracy, Huffington Post, November 6, 2014; Leo Gerard, Our Plutocracy Problem: when the 1% and politicians join forces, democracy loses, In These Times.com, March 25, 2014; Professor Robert Finbow (Dalhousie University), Rethinking State Theories for the ‘Deconsolidation of Democracy’: The Rise of Pluralist Plutocracies?, Canadian Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada, June 1, 2017.

[36] Professor Robert Nichols, As the US Oligarchy Expands its War, Middle Class White People Must Take a Side, AbolitionJournal.org, January 31, 2025.

[37] Sasha Abramsky, The Trump Administration Has Gone AWOL from the Union, The Nation, January 31, 2025.

[38] Michael Kelly, Firing Inspectors General Begins Trump’s Assault on the Rule of Law, Jurist News, January 26, 2025.

[39] Jonathan Allen and Allan Smith, Trump is waging war against his own government, NBC News, February 2, 2025. Also see, Stephen Walt, America is its Own Worst Enemy, Foreign Policy, February 12, 2025; Joel Mathis, Would Trump really use the military against Americans?, The Week, October 22, 2024; Matt Ford, Trump is Aiming to Run Roughshod Over the States – the White House is effectively declaring war on federalism, New Republic, February 3, 2025; Philippe Couillard and Jeff Mahon, Why Canada’s old playbook for Trump 1.0 won’t save us this time, Globe and Mail, January 29, 2025.

[40] Sasha Abramsky, The Trump Administration Has Gone AWOL from the Union, The Nation, January 31, 2025.

[41] Sasha Abramsky, The Trump Administration Has Gone AWOL from the Union, The Nation, January 31, 2025.

[42] Adam Spence, Three Ways Canada can mobilize to navigate the great disruption, LinkedIn.com, January 31, 2025. Also see, Stephen Menendian, Trump’s Saber-Rattling is an Ominous Sign of Dangerous Demagoguery, belonging.berkeley.edu, January 17, 2023.

[43] Brian Topp, How can Canada stand up to Donald Trump’s tariffs? Here’s a plan, Toronto Star, February 1, 2025; Murray Brewster, Trump is starting a trade war. If he wants to absorb Canada, what comes next will be worse, CBC News, February 1, 2025.

[44] Rob Gillies, Canadians grapple with a sense of betrayal after Trump’s trade war and 51^st state threats, PBS.org, February 4, 2025.

[45] Jonathan Freedland, Trump and his henchman Musk treat America’s oldest allies as enemies. Britain can’t face that threat alone, Guardian, January 10, 2025.

[46] Editorial Board, The Dumbest Trade War in History: Trump will impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico for no good, Wall Street Journal, January 31, 2025.

[47] Michael Race, Canada imposes 25% tariffs in trade war with US, BBC.com, February 1, 2025.

[48] See generally, Arlene Dickinson, Linkedin.com, January 31, 2025.

[49] Daniel Orton and Billal Rahman, Republicans Reveal Trump Tax Plan Will Cost US $4.5 Trillion, Newsweek, February 12, 2025; Jarret Renshaw, David Morgan, and David Lawder, Trump push to use tariffs to pay for tax cuts faces opposition in Congress, Reuters, January 22, 2025; Jarrell Dillard, Trump’s Threatened Tariffs Fall far Short of Paying for Tax Cuts, Financial Post, February 7, 2025; Policy Brief, 2025 Budget Stakes: High-Income Tax Cuts, Price-Hiking Tariffs Would Harm Families, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, February 4, 2025; Erica York, Garret Watson, etal, Donald Trump Tax Plan Ideas: Details and Analysis, Tax Foundation, October 14, 2025.

[50] Sharon Parrott, House Budget Would Increase Costs and Hardship for Many While Providing Huge Tax Breaks for a Wealthy Few, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, February 25, 2025; Steve Wamhoff, House Budget Resolution Tees Up Damaging Trump Tax Agenda, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, February 26, 2025; Jake Johnson, GOP Plows Ahead With Budget That Would Slash Medicaid, Food Benefits for Millions, Common Dreams, February 25, 2025; Jake Johnson, GOP Proposes $4.5 Trillion Tax Giveaway to the Rich While ‘Ransacking’ Food Stamps and Medicaid, Common Dreams, February 12, 2025. Also see, Greg Sargent, Trump’s Own Pollster Just Hit Him With Very Bad News – and a Warning: A poll of swing-district voters is already showing heaps of warning signs for Republicans bent on helping billionaires, New Republic, February 22, 2025; Michael Arria, Donald Trump Has Launched a War Against the Working Class, Truthout.org, February 16, 2025; Ryan Gellert, Patagonia CEO: Trump Shouldn’t Sell our Public Lands, Time, February 25, 2025; Judith Levine, It’s time for Americans to withhold their taxes, The Guardian, February 20, 2025:

“Maga wants to starve the bureaucracy. But it still wants money. And with the wealthiest awaiting gigantic tax breaks, they need it from the rest of us. With the Internal Revenue Service in effect transformed into a shell corporation laundering the money of the ultra-rich.”

[51] Editorial Board, The Guardian view on Donald Trump’s power grab: a coup veiled by chaos, Guardian, February 3, 2025. Paul Beaudry and Amartya Lahiri, Trump’s tariffs are all about financing U.S. tax cuts, Globe and Mail, February, 4, 2025.

[52] Malcolm Ferguson, Republicans Finally Reveal How They’ll Pay for Tax Cuts for the Rich, New Republic, February 12, 2025;

[53] Editorial Board, The Guardian view on Donald Trump’s power grab: a coup veiled by chaos, Guardian, February 3, 2025.

[54] John Feffer, The End of America Democracy: Is America’s political future either a coup or a civil war?, Institute for Policy Studies, January 27, 2025.

[55] Stefan Dolgert, Canadian loyalty, Canadian Tragedy: Parallels of ancient Greek war, Calgary Herald, February 15, 2025.

[56] America has an imperial presidency, The Economist, January 23, 2025; Robert Reich, Trump is the most lawless president in American history, Guardian, February 12, 2025.

[57] Gary Kasparov, The moment Putin set his course to dictatorship, Globe and Mail, January 31, 2025.

[58] Tariffs will harm America, not induce a manufacturing rebirth: Donald Trump’s pursuit of tariffs will make the world poorer – and America, too, The Economist, January 21, 2025.

[59] Brian Schwartz, Gavin Bade, and Vipal Monga, Trump pushes for early renegotiation of U.S. trade deal with Mexico, Canada: The continental trade pact isn’t up for review until 2026, but Trump’s advisers want to open it up quickly, Wall Street Journal, January 21, 2025.

[60] Campbell Clark, The Trump shock: A trade war that will reshape North America, Globe and Mail, February 2, 2025.

[61] Hayden Godfrey, ‘This is the next four years’: Canadian officials react to Donald Trump’s steel and aluminum tariff threats, Toronto Star, February 10, 2025.

[62] Paul Krugman, The End of North America: Trump pulls the trigger on tariffs, paulkrugman.substack.com, January 31, 2025.

[63] Robert Atkinson, Trump the Protectionist: Canada and Mexico Are the First Salvos, Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, February 2, 2025.

[64] Andrew Willis, Shopify’s Lutke and other appeasers miss Trump’s real agenda on tariffs, Globe and Mail, February 3, 2025.

[65] Colin Robertson, The Antagonist Next Door: Trump’s Tariffs and Our New Bilateral Reality, Policy Magazine, February 1, 2025.

[66] Tony Keller, For Canada, Donald Trump is the end of the world as we know it, Globe and Mail, February 4, 2025.

[67] Andre Beaudry, LinkedIn.com, February 2, 2025.

[68] Editorial Board, The Dumbest Trade War in History: Trump will impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico for no good, Wall Street Journal, January 31, 2025.

[69] Campbell Clark, The Trump shock: A trade war that will reshape North America, Globe and Mail, February 2, 2025.

[70] See generally, Arlene Dickinson, Linkedin.com, January 31, 2025.

[71] Ed Mazza, ‘Let Them Eat Cake’ Moment: Trump’s Big ‘Pain’ Confession Leaves Critics Horrified, HuffPost, February 2, 2025.

[72] Brian Topp, How can Canada stand up to Donald Trump’s tariffs? Here’s a plan, Toronto Star, February 1, 2025.

[73] Margaret Hartmann, Why Does Trump Want Greenland? His Imperialistic Threats, Explained, New York Magazine (Intelligencer), January 31, 2025; Lucas Ropek, Trump’s Greenland Obsession May Be About Extracting Metals for Tech Billionaires: the great battle for Greenland is probably all about resources, Gizmodo, January 30, 2025; Linda McQuaig, Donald Trump’s rage toward Canada hides a deeper agenda, Toronto Star, February 6, 2025; Sean Craig, Trump Really Is Planning to Take Over Canada, Daily Beast, February 10, 2025; Leyland Cecco, Trudeau says Trump is serious about wanting to annex Canada: Prime Minister says US President covets northern neighbour’s vast resources, Guardian, February 7, 2025; CNN, January 8, 2025; Laura Kelly, Trump had ‘fiery’ call with Danish prime minister over Greenland: Report, The Hill, January 24, 2025; Julia Mueller, Trump’s talk of expansion puts world leaders on alert, The Hill, January 12, 2025; Alex Gangitano and Julia Mueller, Why Trump is targeting Panama, Greenland, Canada, The Hill, December 28, 2024. Also see, David Gardner, Putin’s Crazy Carve-Up Could Give Trump Greenland and Canada, Daily Beast, February 12, 2015; Andrew Feinberg, Trump says Ukraine should have surrendered to Russia and blames Zelensky for War, Independent, January 24, 2025.

[74] America has an imperial presidency, The Economist, January 23, 2025; Michael Kelly, Firing Inspectors General Begins Trump’s Assault on the Rule of Law, Jurist News, January 26, 2025. Also see, Leigh Kimmins, Rachel Maddow: Lawbreaking Trump 2.0 Is Already a ‘Red Alarm Screaming’, Daily Beast, February 6, 2025; Robert Reich, Trump is the most lawless president in American history, Guardian, February 12, 2025.

[75] Michael Kelly, Firing Inspectors General Begins Trump’s Assault on the Rule of Law, Jurist News, January 26, 2025.

[76] America has never had state media like it does today: Donald Trump and Elon Musk are revolutionising presidential communication, The Economist, February 27, 2025; Philip Bump, The right-wing media machine is hitting a wall, Washington Post, February 24, 2025 (Fox News host Jesse Watters: “We are waging a 21^st-century information warfare campaign against the left”); Miles Klee, How Elon Musk and X Became the Biggest Purveyors of Online Misinformation, Rolling Stone, August 9, 2024; Anya Schiffrin (editor), Media Capture: How Money, Digital Platforms, and Governments Control the News, Columbia University Press, 2021; Marius Dragomir, The Shift in Media Power: How Media Capture is Changing the Game, Chapter 2, in Manuel Goyanes and Azahara Canedo (editors), Media Influence on Opinion Change and Democracy: How private, public and social media organizations shape public opinion, Springer Nature Switzerland, 2024.

[77] Janine Wedel, Nazia Hussain, and Dana Dolan, Political Rigging: A Primer on political capture and influence in the 21^st century, Oxfam America, 2017; Jane Mayer, Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right, Vintage, 2017.

[78] Senator Debbie Stabenow etal, Captured Courts: The GOP’s Big Money Assault on the Constitution, Our Independent Judiciary, and the Rule of Law, Govinfo.gov, May 2020; Michael Dichio and Igor Logvinenko, Stewards, defenders, progenitors, and collaborators: Courts in the age of democratic decline, Law & Policy, 2024; Jane Mayer, Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right, Vintage, 2017.

[79] Anya Schiffrin (editor), Media Capture: How Money, Digital Platforms, and Governments Control the News, Columbia University Press, 2021; Marius Dragomir, The Shift in Media Power: How Media Capture is Changing the Game, Chapter 2, in Manuel Goyanes and Azahara Canedo (editors), Media Influence on Opinion Change and Democracy: How private, public and social media organizations shape public opinion, Springer Nature Switzerland, 2024.

[80] Jessica Corbett, Even Most Millionaires Think the Superrich Influencing Trump Threatens Global Stability, Common Dreams, January 22, 2025.

[81] Crawford Kilian, ‘We Are Now Being Extorted’: It’s time for Canada to push back hard against Trump. Here’s how, The Tyee, February 5, 2025. Also see, Associated Press, ‘We don’t trust Trump’: California earmarks $50m to fight administration, The Guardian, February 3, 2025 (“We do not trust President Donald Trump”, said the assembly speaker … describing the president’s administration as “out of control” and a threat to constitutional rights).

[82] Editorial Board, America has turned on its friends: Donald Trump’s abandonment of allies is real and will endure, Financial Times, February 21, 2025; Paul Krugman, Chaos is Bad for Business, paulkrugman.substack.com, February 28, 2025.

[83] Fred Kaplan, Trump Sowed Chaos in His First Week of Foreign Policy, Slate, January 27, 2025.

[84] Gideon Rachman, Trump is sowing the seeds of an anti-American alliance: By targeting allies and neighbours with tariffs, the US is playing into the hands of China, Financial Times, February 2, 2025.

[85] Camille Gus, Giorgio Leali, Jordyn Dahl, and Bartosz Brzezinski, EU to Trump on tariffs: Go ahead, make our day, Politico, February 28, 2025. Also see, Europe faces a new age of gunboat digital diplomacy: Can the EU regulate Donald Trump’s big tech bros?, Economist, January 23, 2025.

[86] See generally, Benjamin Jones, What is an oligarchy, and is the United States poised to become one?, Conversation, January 16, 2025; Daron Acemoglu, J. Bradford Delong, and Joseph Stiglitz, Oligarchy in America, Project Syndicate, January 31, 2025; Democracy Index: conflict and polarisation drive a new low for global democracy, Economist Intelligence Unit, February 15, 2024; Senator Bernie Sanders, Trump Has No Right to Move Us to Oligarchy, Authoritarianism, and Kleptocracy, Common Dreams, February 5, 2025; Study: US is an oligarchy, not a democracy, BBC.com, April 17, 2014; Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page, Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens, Cambridge University Press, September 18, 2014; Larry Diamond, Trump’s America Is in a Free Fall – Not a Slippery Slope – to Tyranny, The UnPopulist, February 20, 2025.

[87] Benjamin Jones, What is an oligarchy, and is the United States poised to become one?, Conversation, January 16, 2025.

[88] John Campion, LinkedIn.com, February 1, 2025.

[89] Lloyd Axworthy, Michael Manulak, and Allan Rock, The Time Has Come for Canada to Hit Back, Policy Magazine, February 4, 2025. Also see, Nathan Vanderklippe, Trump’s annexation threats draw calls for Canada to deepen ties with other Arctic countries, Globe and Mail, February 6, 2025.

[90] Steven Chase and Stefanie Marotta, Donald Trump wants to annex Canada to gain access to its critical minerals, Trudeau says, Globe and Mail, February 7, 2025. Also see, Tonda MacCharles and Josh Rubin, Donald Trump is not joking about making Canada the 51^st state, Justin Trudeau warns in hot mic comments, Toronto Star, February 7, 2025; Linda McQuaig, Donald Trump’s rage toward Canada hides a deeper agenda, Toronto Star, February 6, 2025(“… the acquisition of Canada and Greenland would make the U.S. the world’s largest territorial land mass, giving it access to an enormous store of natural resources, rare minerals and freshwater”).

[91] Canadian Press, Politics and sports collide as Canada, U.S. meet in 4 Nations final, Globe and Mail, February 20, 2025; Cathal Kelly, More than anything, Team Canada finally got us to pull together, Globe and Mail, February 22, 2025; Uday Rana, ‘Can’t take our country’: Trudeau says after Canada’s hockey win over the U.S., Global News, February 20, 2025.

[92] Peter Jones, Philippe Lagasse, and George Petrolekas, Canada: Now is our time to be strong and free, Globe and Mail, February 7, 2025.

[93] Donald Trump poses the biggest danger to the world in 2024: what his victory in America’s election would mean, The Economist, November 16, 2023.

[94] Ryan Cooper, Musk and Trump are Causing the Dumbest Imperial Collapse in History: Empires have fallen before. But it’s never been this purely idiotic, The American Prospect, February 19, 2025.

[95] Chauncey Devega, Americans are sleepwalking into a Trump dictatorship, Salon, December 5, 2023.

[96] Michael Ignatieff, As America retreats, Europe must step up: An unstable world order divided between competing superpowers will force all other nations to make tough choices, Prospect Magazine (UK), February 27, 2025.

[97] Cheryl Mahoney, December, 1941 in Casablanca, marveloustales.com, December 7, 2011.

[98] ‘Welfare’ of a Nation: The Origins of ‘Peace, Order and Good Government’, HillNotes.ca, Library of Parliament, April 26, 2017.

[99] Stephen Hunt, ‘True when I said it, true today’: former Canadian PM Harper pushes back against Trump on social media, CTV News, January 8, 2025.

[100] Brian Lee Crowley, Canada First, Canada Last, Canada Always: A Tribute to the Founder of Modern Canada, MacDonaldLaurier.ca, November 2016.

[101] Brian Bird, Canada is not just a good country – It is one of the best, The Hub, January 8, 2024.

[102] Brian Bird, Canada is not just a good country – It is one of the best, The Hub, January 8, 2024.

[103] R. v. Oakes, [1986] 1 SCR 103, at para. 64 (Chief Justice Brian Dickson).

[104] Democracy Index 2023, Economist Intelligence (eiu.com), The Economist; Vanessa Williamson, Understanding democratic decline in the United States, Brookings.edu, October 17, 2023; Editorial Board, It’s time for Canada to finally grow up, Globe and Mail, January 25, 2025.

[105] Why America is a ‘Flawed Democracy’, The Economist, March 21, 2024; Democracy Index: conflict and polarisation drive a new low for global democracy, Economist Intelligence Unit, February 15, 2024.

[106] Freedom in the World 2024, Freedom House, February 2024; Canada Ranks 5^th on Freedom in the World 2024 Report, CanadaAction.ca, February 28, 2024;

[107] Michael Coren, Donald Trump may just cost Canada’s Conservatives the election, Telegraph.co.uk, February 7, 2025.

[108] Editorial Board, Canada is so much more than ‘Not The United States, Globe & Mail, January 10, 2025.

[109] Rick Salutin, The military is back on the agenda. We may be forced to relive dark days of our history, Toronto Star, January 31, 2025.

[110] Editorial Board, Canada is so much more than ‘Not The United States, Globe and Mail, January 10, 2025.

[111] Note: Canada’s equalization policy is the Government of Canada’s transfer program for addressing fiscal disparities among provinces. Equalization is financed by the Government of Canada from general revenues, which are largely raised through federal taxes. Provincial governments make no contributions to the Equalization program. See, Government of Canada, Equalization Program, Canada.ca , Dec. 23, 2024.

[112] John Manley, Dear Donald Trump: Your plan to create ‘the United States of Canada’ is brilliant, Globe & Mail, January 15, 2025.

[113] Janine Wedel, Nazia Hussain, and Dana Dolan, Political Rigging: A Primer on political capture and influence in the 21^st century, Oxfam America, 2017; Jane Mayer, Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right, Vintage, 2017.

[114] Senator Debbie Stabenow etal, Captured Courts: The GOP’s Big Money Assault on the Constitution, Our Independent Judiciary, and the Rule of Law, Govinfo.gov, May 2020; Michael Dichio and Igor Logvinenko, Stewards, defenders, progenitors, and collaborators: Courts in the age of democratic decline, Law & Policy, 2024; Jane Mayer, Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right, Vintage, 2017.

[115] Jane Mayer, Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right, Vintage, 2017; Chrystia Freeland, Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else, Anchor Canada, 2014.

[116] David Olive, Justin Trudeau – there’s still no arguing Canadians became wealthier while he was in power, Toronto Star, January 13, 2025.

[117] Matthew Mendelsohn, LinkedIn.com, February 2025; Matthew Mendelsohn, The answer to economic threats: Always Canada. Never 51, Social Capital Partners, February 25, 2025. Also see, Marck Carney, Values: Building a Better World for All, Penguin Random House Canada, 2022.

[118] Bryan Walsh, Your brain is lying to you about the ‘good old days’: The science behind why we think the past was better than the present, Vox, January 15, 2025; Editorial Board, Just (don’t) do it: The power of being bored, Globe and Mail, March 1, 2025:

“[T]he inability to find contentment is not just a problem for individuals, but for Western societies as well, which can take for granted levels of prosperity and health that would have astonished earlier generations. That’s certainly playing out today.”

[119] Kate Malloy, Trump Wants Canada economically weak and politically divided, says author of ‘The Adaptable Country’, The Hill, March 1, 2025.

[120] Heather Mallick, As Trump plants landmines, now’s the time for Canadians to pull together, Toronto Star, January 16, 2025.

[121] Scott Gilmore, The American Dream has moved to Canada, Maclean’s, February 28, 2017.

[122] Robyn Urback, We’ve lost our national identity – and with it, our pride in our country, Globe & Mail, December 27, 2024.

[123] Howard Chang, LinkedIn.com, December 2024, citing Scott Gilmore, The American Dream has moved to Canada, Maclean’s, February 28, 2017.

[124] Andrew Coyne, The point is not to be different from the States. It’s to be better than them, Globe & Mail, January 17, 2025.

[125] Joni Avram, LinkedIn.com, January 2025.

[126] Pierre Trudeau, Against the Current: Selected Writings, McClelland & Stewart, 1996.

[127] Ken Dryden, Canada is Taking Trump Seriously and Personally: Sometimes sporting events really are bigger than the game itself, Atlantic, February 23, 2025.

[128] Michael Ignatieff, As America retreats, Europe must step up: An unstable world order divided between competing superpowers will force all other nations to make tough choices, Prospect Magazine (UK), February 27, 2025.

[129] Editorial Board, Understand the past to fight for Canada’s future, Globe and Mail, February 26, 2025; Noella Ovid, Canada needs to gain control over its energy supplies amid tariff threats, says Peter Tertzakian, Financial Post, February 26, 2025..

[130] Editorial Board, Canadians are ready for boldness from their politicians, Globe and Mail, February 8, 2025.

[131] Murray Brewster, Trump is starting a trade war. If he wants to absorb Canada, what comes next will be worse, CBC News, February 1, 2025.

[132] Don Braid, Bring on the day when furious countries refuse to trade with U.S., Calgary Herald, February 1, 2025. Also see, Editorial, Taking Trump for the threat he is, Winnipeg Free Press, February 27, 2025; John Paul Tasker, Trump says 25% tariff on most Canadian goods will take effect March 4, CBC, February 27, 2025.

[133] Gordaon Pape, Why Donald Trump’s tariffs will ultimately fail, Globe and Mail, February 3, 2025.

[134] Murray Brewster, Trump is starting a trade war. If he wants to absorb Canada, what comes next will be worse, CBC News, February 1, 2025.

[135] Editorial Board, The Dumbest Trade War in History: Trump will impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico for no good, Wall Street Journal, January 31, 2025.

[136] Editorial Board, It’s time for Canada to finally grow up, Globe and Mail, January 25, 2025; Marc Ercolao and Andrew Foran, Setting the Record Straight on Canada-U.S. Trade, economics.td.com, January 21, 2025; John Murphy, We Can’t Stand Still: The Benefits of Trade Agreements in America, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, October 13, 2022; Daniel Griswold and Clark Packard, How Trade Agreements Have Enhanced the Freedom and Prosperity of Americans, Cato Institute, August 27, 2024.

[137] Michael Race, Canada imposes 25% tariffs in trade war with US, BBC.com, February 1, 2025.

[138] Annie Lowrey, Trumpflation, Atlantic, February 13, 2025.

[139] Tariffs will harm America, not induce a manufacturing rebirth: Donald Trump’s pursuit of tariffs will make the world poorer – and America, too, The Economist, January 21, 2025.

[140] Jason Markusoff, U.S. tariffs on Canada: (Almost) nobody wants this, except the guy who really does, CBC News, January 31, 2025.

[141] Gavin Blade, Vipal Monga, and Paul Vieira, Trump Aides Want to Hit Mexico, Canada with Tariffs Before Talks, Wall Street Journal, January 26, 2025.

[142] Jason Markusoff, U.S. tariffs on Canada: (Almost) nobody wants this, except the guy who really does, CBC News, January 31, 2025. Also see, Phil Gramm and Larry Summers, A letter on Tariffs from Economists to Trump: Like our predecessors  in 1930, we oppose the use of tariffs as a general tool for economic policy, Wall Street Journal, January 30, 2025.

[143] See, Ann Fitz-Gerald and Halyna Padalko, Canadians Are Ready to Strengthen National Defence, CIGI, January 13, 2025; James Wither, Defining Hybrid Warfare, Per Concordian (Journal of European Security and Defense Issues), Vol. 10, Issue 1, 2020; Frank Gardner, What is hybrid warfare? Inside the center dealing with modern threats, BBC.com, February 6, 2023 (“another method is disinformation – the deliberate propagating of an alternative, false narrative, often one that appeals to certain more receptive sections of a population”); Heather Gregg, Teaching Hybrid Threats and Hybrid Warfare, War Room – Army War College, October 31, 2024:

“Overwhelmingly, the target of these activities is a country’s population. The objective is to sow discord within populations and undermine trust and credibility of governments in the eyes of their people. These activities also exploit gaps and seams in governments and alliances, including which agencies should respond to such attacks and under what laws and authorities. Ultimately, these activities distract and weaken governments, undermining the ability of states and alliances to respond to other security threats, including adversarial military activities.”

[144] Murray Brewster, Trump is starting a trade war. If he wants to absorb Canada, what comes next will be worse, CBC News, February 1, 2025.

[145] Jim Stanford, In the face of Trump’s tariff threats, Canada can emerge stronger than ever. Here’s the plan, Toronto Star, January 25, 2025.

[146] Mark Sakamoto, The next Liberal leader will have a brief window to do something extraordinary – if they’ve got the courage, Toronto Star, January 26, 2025.

[147] Steven Levitsky, The New Authoritarianism, Atlantic, February 10, 2025.

[148] Keith Johnson, Trump’s Proposed Economic Rapprochement with Russia is Wrongheaded, Foreign Policy, February 26, 2025; Ian Bond, Trump’s Pivot Toward Putin’s Russia Upends Generations of U.S. Policy, New York Times, February 18, 2025.

[149] Editorial Board, America has turned on its friends: Donald Trump’s abandonment of allies is real and will endure, Financial Times, February 21, 2025.

[150] Kevin Newman, LinkedIn.com, February 2025; Phillips Obrien, Weekend Update #120: The US Changes Sides: Is this the week the post-1945 world ended?, Phillips’s Newsletter, February 16, 2025; Tim Ross, Laura Kayali and Nette Nostlinger, Europe targets homegrown nuclear deterrent as Trump sides with Putin, Politico, February 21, 2025.

[151] Nicole Buffie, Canada urged to stick with Ukraine amid U.S., Russia ‘shakedown’, Winnipeg Free Press, February 19, 2025; Jeet Heer, Trump’s Mafia Shakedown Might Destroy NATO – If We’re Lucky, The Nation, February 17, 2025.

[152] Jennifer Hansler, US joins Russia to vote against UN resolution condemning Russia’s war against Ukraine, CNN, February 24, 2025.

[153] Gideon Rachman, Vance’s real warning to Europe, Financial Times, February 17, 2025.

[154] Michael Tomasky, JD Vance’s Debacle in Germany Exposes MAGA’s Sinister Global Endgame, New Republic, February 18, 2025.

[155] Edward Girardet, Remembering the Afghan Debacle: Will Trump do the Same in Ukraine, Global Geneva, February 17, 2025. Also see, Eric Sigurdson, The International Criminal Court: Russia, War Crimes and Accountability – Freedom and the Rule of Law are never more than one generation away from extinction, Sigurdson Post, January 12, 2023; Alex Leff, The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Putin, NPR, March 17, 2023.

[156] Ian Aikman and James Gregory, What we know about US-Ukraine minerals deal, BBC, February 26, 2025.

[157] Rodrigo Menegat Schuinski, Human toll of Russia’s war in Ukraine explained in graphics, DW.com, February 24, 2025.

[158] Rodrigo Menegat Schuinski, Human toll of Russia’s war in Ukraine explained in graphics, DW.com, February 24, 2025; Eric Sigurdson, The International Criminal Court: Russia, War Crimes and Accountability – Freedom and the Rule of Law are never more than one generation away from extinction, Sigurdson Post, January 12, 2023.

[159] William McNutty, Tanya Polsky, Ukraine war begs the question – will we ignore our 20^th century vow of ‘never again’?: The horrors of the war in Ukraine evoke grim memories of the Holocaust and World War II, Fox News, July 15, 2022.

[160] Kevin Newman, LinkedIn.com, February 2025; Phillips Obrien, Weekend Update #120: The US Changes Sides: Is this the week the post-1945 world ended?, Phillips’s Newsletter, February 16, 2025.

[161] David Frum, At Least Now We Know the Truth: It’s ugly, but necessary to face, Atlantic, February 28, 2025.

[162] See generally, Bruce Jentleson, The Peacemakers: Leadership Lessons from Twentieth-Century Statesmanship, WW Norton, 2018; I. William Zartman, Peacemaking in International Conflict: Methods and Techniques, United States Institute of Peace Press, 2007; Chester Crocker and Fen Osler Hampson (Editors), Turbulent Peace: The Challenges of Managing International Conflict, United States Institute of Peace Press, 2001; Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Peacekeepers Need Peacemakers, Foreign Affairs, September 2024. Also see, Romeo Dallaire, Shake Hands With the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda, Vintage Canada, 2004.

[163] Bret Stephens, A Day of American Infamy, New York Times, February 28, 2025; Sasha Abramsky, The Most Disgraceful Foreign Policy Spectacle in US History, The Nation, February 28, 2025. Also see,

[164] Ailia Zehra, Liz Cheney on Trump-Zelensky blowup: ‘History will remember this day’, The Hill, February 28, 2025.

[165] Christian Oliver, Giovanna Faggionato, Victor Goury-Laffont and Max Griera, ‘Free world needs a new leader’: Europe defends Zelenskyy after Trump attack: France, Germany and Poland all make prompt declarations of support as Europe fears Trump’s alignment with Putin, Politico, February 28, 2025. Also see, Danielle de Wolfe, Starmer expresses ‘unwavering support for Ukraine’ as he speaks with Trump and Zelensky following White House clash, LBC.co.uk, February 28, 2025; Tom Lowrey, Anthony Albanese reiterates support for Ukraine after Donald Trump’s clash with Volodymyr Zelensky, ABC.net.au, March 1, 2025; Darren Major, Trudeau voices support for Ukraine following tense Trump-Zelensky meeting, CBC.ca, February 28, 2025; Japan, Poland vow to continue supporting Ukraine in 5-yr action plan, The Mainichi, March 1, 2025; James Waterhouse, Ukrainians back Zelensky after disastrous Oval Office encounter, BBC.com, March 1, 2025; Mary Papenfuss, Zelensky flooded with messages of support from world leaders after Trump meeting: ‘Their fight is our fight’, March 1, 2025.

[166] Daniel Beland, Juliet Johnson, and Maria Popova, Trump’s Attack on Zelensky Sends a Clear Message to Canada and the World, Policy Magazine, March 1, 2025.

[167] Daniel Beland, Juliet Johnson, and Maria Popova, Trump’s Attack on Zelensky Sends a Clear Message to Canada and the World, Policy Magazine, March 1, 2025.

[168] Sasha Abramsky, The Most Disgraceful Foreign Policy Spectacle in US History, The Nation, February 28, 2025.

[169] Editorial Board, America has turned on its friends: Donald Trump’s abandonment of allies is real and will endure, Financial Times, February 21, 2025.

[170] Gideon Rachman, Trump Wants a World Safe for Autocracy, Financial Times, February 24, 2025.

[171] Patrick Wintour, Trump’s proposed ‘land grabs’ mean US now seen as a risk, says Munich security report, Guardian, February 10, 2025.

[172] Nicholas Creel, Our Allies Must Abandon America, For Their Own Good, Newsweek, February 18, 2025.

[173] Jeet Heer, Trump’s Mafia Shakedown Might Destroy NATO – If We’re Lucky, The Nation, February 17, 2025.

[174] Gideon Rachman, Trump is sowing the seeds of an anti-American alliance: By targeting allies and neighbours with tariffs, the US is playing into the hands of China, Financial Times, February 2, 2025.

[175] Jon Shell (Chair at Social Capital Partners), LinkedIn.com, February 28, 2025. Also see, Michael Ignatieff, As America retreats, Europe must step up: An unstable world order divided between competing superpowers will force all other nations to make tough choices, Prospect Magazine (UK), February 27, 2025; Errol Mendes, Time for Canada to work with Europe, Hill Times, February 27, 2025.

[176] Douglas Murray, Mr. President: Putin is the dictator and 10 Ukraine-Russia war truths we ignore at our peril, New York Post, February 20, 2025.

[177] Gerard Baker, Trump forces Americans to ask: are we the baddies now?: In siding with Putin over Zelensky, The Times, February 20, 2025.

[178] Kevin Newman, LinkedIn.com, February 2025; Phillips Obrien, Weekend Update #120: The US Changes Sides: Is this the week the post-1945 world ended?, Phillips’s Newsletter, February 16, 2025.

[179] Evan Dyer, Trump’s talk about Canada parrots Putin’s claims on Ukraine, CBC, February 20, 2025.

[180] Evan Dyer, Trump’s talk about Canada parrots Putin’s claims on Ukraine, CBC, February 20, 2025; Siobhan O’Grady, David Stern, and Serhiy Morgunov, Echoing Kremlin, Trump calls Zelensky a dictator, angering Ukrainians, Washington Post, February 19, 2025.

[181] Sadiq Khan, This is my three-point plan for standing up to the far right and the billionaire bullies, Guardian, January 18, 2025.

[182] Business leaders want Canada to fight U.S. tariffs with tariffs, KPMG.com, January 29, 2025.

[183] Professor Stewart Prest, Canada’s fight with Trump isn’t just economic, it’s existential, The Conversation, January 2, 2025.

[184] Professor Stewart Prest, Canada’s fight with Trump isn’t just economic, it’s existential, The Conversation, January 2, 2025.

[185] Thomas d’Aquino, LinkedIn.com, January 2025.

[186] Mark Sakamoto, The next Liberal leader will have a brief window to do something extraordinary – if they’ve got the courage, Toronto Star, January 26, 2025.

[187] David Climenhaga, Danielle Smith is undermining Canada: former chief trade negotiator, Rabble.ca, January 24, 2025. Also see: Gillian Steward,  Danielle Smith just might get Trump’s tariff exemption on oil and gas, Toronto Star, January 28, 2025.

[188] Peter Zimonjic, Elon Musk praises Poilievre, mocks Trudeau as he steps into Canadian politics, CBC News, January 9, 2025; Cat Zakrzewski, Elon Musk goes global with his playbook for political influence: The X owner and tech billionaire has boosted far-right figures in Germany, Britain and Canada with a blizzard of social media posts in recent days, Washington Post, January 5, 2025;

[189] Eliott Dumoulin, Pierre Poilievre, Canada’s Trump-inspired conservative leader, Le Monde, November 22, 2024; Max Fawcett, What Pierre Poilievre and Donald Trump have in common, Canada’s National Observer, January 4, 2024; Stephanie Taylor and Catherine Levesque, From ‘maple syrup MAGA’ to “Team Canada’: Why Liberals shouldn’t count on Poilievre as they navigate Trump, National Post, November 9, 2024; Justin Ling, Poilievre’s Dangerous Dance with MAGA-Style Politics, The Walrus, September 18, 2024. Also see: Mia Rabson, Trudeau accuses Poilievre of voting against Ukraine free trade to appease Putin, Halifax CityNews, January 25, 2024; Mia Rabson, Trudeau accuses Poilievre of voting against Ukraine free trade to appease Putin, Globe and Mail, January 25, 2024; Canadian Press, Trudeau accuses Poilievre of voting against Ukraine free trade to appease Putin, The Gazette, January 25, 2025; Andrew Feinberg, Trump says Ukraine should have surrendered to Russia and blames Zelensky for war, Independent, January 24, 2025; Megan Lebowitz, Trump suggests Ukraine shouldn’t have fought against Russia, NBC News, January 23, 2025; Chris York and Daria Shulzhenko, Trump suspends aid to Ukraine, vita NGOs ‘don’t know if they’ll survive’, Kyiv Independent, January 27, 2025; Warren Murray, Ukraine war briefing: Shock as Trump aid freeze hits Ukraine causes, Guardian, January 28, 2025.

[190] Martin Regg Cohn, Alberta’s premier is playing right into Donald Trump’s hands, Toronto Star, January 15, 2025 (“Alberta’s premier appears to believe its every province for itself … desperate to appease … Trump.”); David Climenhaga, Danielle Smith is undermining Canada: former chief trade negotiator, Rabble.ca, January 24, 2025 (“Smith’s position that Canada must appease Trump at any cost”); Steve Burgess, Please advise! Why is Everything Weird?, The Tyee,  January 28, 2025 (“Danielle Smith is drawing more criticism with her appeasement policy toward Trump”); Dan Braid, Smith should have grabbed the pen and signed. She leaves Alberta vulnerable, Calgary Herald, January 17, 2025 (“former premier Jason Kenney … ‘I think it’s also important, to the greatest extent possible, that all premiers in the broader Canadian leadership be united in our approach to these ridiculous threats coming from [Trump]. This is not a game. This is the single biggest potential attack on our economy in our modern history”); Max Fawcett, Danielle Smith still wants us to surrender, Canada’s National Observer, January 22, 2025 (“Smith still seems to think more appeasement is the way to go – and that the real threat is somehow coming from Ottawa, not Washington. … As Churchill know only too well … acquiescence isn’t the path to victory”); Gillian Steward,  Danielle Smith just might get Trump’s tariff exemption on oil and gas, Toronto Star, January 28, 2025.

[191] David Olive, When it comes to Trump’s tariff threats and Canada’s appeasers, will there be peace in our time?, Toronto Star, January 25, 2025.

[192] Andrew Willis, Shopify’s Lutke and other appeasers miss Trump’s real agenda on tariffs, Globe and Mail, February 3, 2025.

[193] Stephanie Samsel, Kevin O’Leary says Trump is using Tariffs to warn world leaders to ‘get in line’, Fox News, January 23, 2025. Also see generally: Andrew Coyne, Kevin O’Leary explains: not annexation, just an economic union that amounts to the same thing, Globe and Mail, January 14, 2025:

“The last time Kevin O’Leary attempted to intervene in our politics, he was campaigning for leader of the Conservative Party – from Massachusetts. He had just joined the party …

Eight years later, Mr. O’Leary is back with a new grift. No longer pretending to be interested in running the country, his latest scheme is to deliver it into the trembling hands of Donald Trump. No sooner had his fellow TV pitchman expressed interest in making Canada ‘the 51st state’ than the Eyewash Rover was all over everywhere proposing himself as lead negotiator.”

[194] See, Frank Gardner, What is hybrid warfare? Inside the center dealing with modern threats, BBC.com, February 6, 2023 (“another method is disinformation – the deliberate propagating of an alternative, false narrative, often one that appeals to certain more receptive sections of a population”). Also see: Ann Fitz-Gerald and Halyna Padalko, Canadians Are Ready to Strengthen National Defence, CIGI, January 13, 2025; James Wither, Defining Hybrid Warfare, Per Concordian (Journal of European Security and Defense Issues), Vol. 10, Issue 1, 2020; Heather Gregg, Teaching Hybrid Threats and Hybrid Warfare, War Room – Army War College, October 31, 2024.

[195] Andrew Willis, Shopify’s Lutke and other appeasers miss Trump’s real agenda on tariffs, Globe and Mail, February 3, 2025.

[196] Clay Horner, LinkedIn.com, February 1, 2025.

[197] Tonda MacCharles, Canada can dodge tariffs with swift border action, says Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, Toronto Star, January 29, 2025. See, Steven Chase, Danielle Smith proposes joint Canada-U.S. NORAD military base in Canadian North, Globe and Mail, January 30, 2025. Also see generally: David Climenhaga, Danielle Smith’s Dangerous Sabotage of Team Canada: Trudeau and other premiers adopted a united response to Trump’s tariffs. Alberta opted out, The Tyee, January 16, 2025; Martin Regg Cohn, Alberta’s premier is playing right into Donald Trump’s hands, Toronto Star, January 15, 2025 (“Alberta’s premier appears to believe its every province for itself … desperate to appease … Trump.”); David Climenhaga, Danielle Smith is undermining Canada: former chief trade negotiator, Rabble.ca, January 24, 2025 (“Smith’s position that Canada must appease Trump at any cost”); Steve Burgess, Please advise! Why is Everything Weird?, The Tyee,  January 28, 2025 (“Danielle Smith is drawing more criticism with her appeasement policy toward Trump”); Dan Braid, Smith should have grabbed the pen and signed. She leaves Alberta vulnerable, Calgary Herald, January 17, 2025 (“former premier Jason Kenney … ‘I think it’s also important, to the greatest extent possible, that all premiers in the broader Canadian leadership be united in our approach to these ridiculous threats coming from [Trump]. This is not a game. This is the single biggest potential attack on our economy in our modern history”); Max Fawcett, Danielle Smith still wants us to surrender, Canada’s National Observer, January 22, 2025 (“Smith still seems to think more appeasement is the way to go – and that the real threat is somehow coming from Ottawa, not Washington. … As Churchill know only too well … acquiescence isn’t the path to victory”); Gary Mason, Danielle Smith turns her back on Canada at the worst possible time, Globe and Mail, January 21, 2025; Sean Craig, Trump Summons Canada’s MAGA Groupies for ‘51^st State’ Night, Daily Beast, January 13, 2025.

[198] Edity Olmsted, Trump’s Trash Defense Secretary Is Ready to Go to War with U.S. Allies, New Republic, January 30, 2025.

[199] Andrew Willis, Shopify’s Lutke and other appeasers miss Trump’s real agenda on tariffs, Globe and Mail, February 3, 2025; Ryan King, CEO of Canada’s 2^nd-biggest company defends Trump’s tariff demands, slams Trudeau for not stopping trade war, New York Post, February 2, 2025; Ken MacGillivray, Trump’s tariff threats are a ‘wake-up call’ for Canadians, says Alberta premier, Global News, February 4, 2025; Poilievre Launches Plan to Take Back Control of Border, Conservative.ca, 2025.

[200] Alex Ballos, Bashir Bello and Jared Wesley, The Dangerous Americanization of Alberta Democracy: Danielle Smith is looking south for inspiration, ideas and laws, The Tyee, October 28, 2024. Also see, David Climenhaga, Danielle Smith Spends Albertans’ Money to Elect Poilievre, The Tyee, October 16, 2024.

[201] Gary Mason, Danielle Smith turns her back on Canada at the worst possible time, Globe and Mail, January 21, 2025.

[202] Keith Denny, Letters to the Editor, Feb. 3: “It would be naïve to deny there won’t be those eager to sell their country for a regular Mar-a-Largo or White House Invitation’, Globe and Mail, February 3, 2025.

[203] Sarah Ritchie, Smith ‘understands’ need for unity to combat Trump tariffs, Ford says, Global News, January 22, 2025.

[204] Canada says it will appoint ‘fentanyl czar’ to avoid Trump tariff threats, Le Monde, February 7, 2025;

[205] Love Actually (film), wikiquote.org.

[206] Brian Topp, How can Canada stand up to Donald Trump’s tariffs? Here’s a plan, Toronto Star, February 1, 2025.

[207] Brian Topp, How can Canada stand up to Donald Trump’s tariffs? Here’s a plan, Toronto Star, February 1, 2025.

[208] Don Braid, Bring on the day when furious countries refuse to trade with U.S., Calgary Herald, February 1, 2025.

[209] Peter Donolo and Edward Greenspon, Canada’s era of outright dependence on the U.S. must end, Globe and Mail, February 4, 2025.

[210] Joseph Braithwaite, From Challenge to Triumph: Canada’s Bold Response to U.S. Tariffs, LinkedIn.com, January 24, 2025.

[211] Kevin Yin, A bullying U.S.  A fractured world. A chance for Canadian trade to show its quality, Globe and Mail, February 26, 2025.

[212] Raquel Garbers, Welcome to the post-America world, National Post, February 9, 2025.

[213] See, Ann Fitz-Gerald and Halyna Padalko, Canadians Are Ready to Strengthen National Defence, CIGI, January 13, 2025; James Wither, Defining Hybrid Warfare, Per Concordian (Journal of European Security and Defense Issues), Vol. 10, Issue 1, 2020; Frank Gardner, What is hybrid warfare? Inside the center dealing with modern threats, BBC.com, February 6, 2023 (“another method is disinformation – the deliberate propagating of an alternative, false narrative, often one that appeals to certain more receptive sections of a population”); Heather Gregg, Teaching Hybrid Threats and Hybrid Warfare, War Room – Army War College, October 31, 2024.

[214] Tony Keller, Would Trump tariffs ‘kill the Canadian economy completely’? Not even close, Globe and Mail, January 28, 2025.

[215] Tonda MacCharles, Canada can dodge tariffs with swift border action, says Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, Toronto Star, January 29, 2025; Gillian Steward,  Danielle Smith just might get Trump’s tariff exemption on oil and gas, Toronto Star, January 28, 2025; David Climenhaga, Danielle Smith is undermining Canada: former chief trade negotiator, Rabble.ca, January 24, 2025; Kevin Yin, Against Trump’s tariffs, Premier Smith is not as smart as she thinks, Globe and Mail, January 30, 2025:

“While there is no guarantee of success, ultimately Canada has both carrots and sticks at its disposal and should use both. As the other premiers understand, our best strategy is to threaten retaliation while offering Mr. Trump concessions on issues such as military spending that need to be addressed anyway. Ms. Smith’s error is to believe that carrots alone can get Mr. Trump to like her – a mistake his flatterers and sycophants have made many times before.”

[216] David Staples, Excellent signal that Canada will avoid initial Trump tariffs but threat far from over, Edmonton Journal, January 29, 2025; Andrew Phillips, What does Donald Trump really want from Canada?, Public Policy Forum, January 23, 2025.

[217] Andrew Phillips, What does Donald Trump really want from Canada?, Public Policy Forum, January 23, 2025; David Uberti, How a Trump Trade War Puts Cheap Oil From Canada at Risk: a 25% tax on imports would mean new costs for U.S. drivers and fuel makers, Wall Street Journal, January 22, 2025.

[218] Some U.S. lawmakers are pushing back against Trump’s tariffs – and they hope Canada notices: Kentucky governor argues most Americans don’t view Canada how Donald Trump does, CBC News, February 9, 2025; Maddie Gannon, Democrats in Congress blast Trump tariffs on Canada, Mexico, China while Republicans give mixed response, Spectrum News (ny1.com), February 3, 2025; Blake Jones, Newsom dubs Trump’s proposed tariffs a ‘betrayal’ of American consumers, Politico, December 5, 2024.

[219] Daniel Tisch (CEO, Ontario Chamber of Commerce), LinkedIn.com, January 2025; Robert Fife, Ottawa planning pandemic-level relief for workers, businesses if Trump imposes Tariffs, sources say, Globe and Mail, January 28, 2025; Editorial Board, Canada must start talking about the Trump tax, Globe and Mail, January 3, 2025.

[220] Nathan Vanderklippe and Jason Kirby, In Trump’s second term, U.S. companies fall silent on benefits of free trade, Globe and Mail, January 29, 2025.

[221] Robert Fife, Ottawa planning pandemic-level relief for workers, businesses if Trump imposes Tariffs, sources say, Globe and Mail, January 28, 2025; Randy Thanthong-Knight, Canada’s Freeland Calls for Summit of Nations Targeted by Trump, Bloomberg, January 27, 2025; Jana Randow and Jorge Valero, Europe will Struggle to Stand United Against Trump’s Threats, Bloomberg, January 14, 2025; Jonathan Freedland, Trump and his henchman Musk treat America’s oldest allies as enemies. Britain can’t face that threat alone, Guardian, January 10, 2025; Nicholas Cecil, France warns Donald Trump: America has ‘everything to lose from a trade war’ with the European Union, The Standard, January 29, 2025; John Paul Tasker, Canada races to revive Commonwealth ties with its U.S. relationship on shaky ground, CBC, February 27, 2025.

[222] Robert Fife, Ottawa planning pandemic-level relief for workers, businesses if Trump imposes Tariffs, sources say, Globe and Mail, January 28, 2025; Jim Stanford, In the face of Trump’s tariff threats, Canada can emerge stronger than ever. Here’s the plan, Toronto Star, January 25, 2025.

[223] Editorial Board, It’s time for Canada to finally grow up, Globe and Mail, January 25, 2025; Jim Stanford, In the face of Trump’s tariff threats, Canada can emerge stronger than ever. Here’s the plan, Toronto Star, January 25, 2025; Editorial Board, A manifesto for Canadian voters in 2025 (and beyond), Globe and Mail, February 3, 2025; Peter Jones, Philippe Lagasse, and George Petrolekas, Canada: Now is our time to be strong and free, Globe and Mail, February 7, 2025.

[224] Lloyd Axworthy, In facing an imperialist neighbour, Ukraine offers a cautionary tale for Canada, Globe and Mail, February 19, 2025:

“Canada should take bold action, starting with Ukraine. We should secure a defence agreement that deepens military ties, including procurement of Ukraine’s advanced drone technology for our Arctic security. No more hand-me-downs from the U.S. We should also signal to European allies, now rattled by JD Vance’s threats to gut NATO, that Canada remains steadfast in its commitments.”

[225] John Paul Tasker, Canada races to revive Commonwealth ties with its U.S. relationship on shaky ground, CBC, February 27, 2025.

[226] Jonathan Berkshire Miller, Canada Is Merely First in Line, Foreign Affairs, February 5, 2025.

[227] See generally: Lloyd Axworthy, In facing an imperialist neighbour, Ukraine offers a cautionary tale for Canada, Globe and Mail, February 19, 2025; Canada’s Military Drone Base Program & Advanced CNC Machining, BenMachince.com, April 29, 2024; Adam McDowell, Borderline neglect: Canada has massively underinvested in drones for military and border security, TheHub.ca, December 12, 2024; Richard Nghiem, Uncrewed Systems – Drone Wars, Canadian Defence Review, November 22, 2024; Dr. Oleksandra Molloy, Drones in Modern Warfare: Lessons Learnt from the War in Ukraine, Australian Army Research Centre, Australian Army Occasional Paper No. 29, 2024; Briar Stewart, Ukraine war becomes a testing ground for drones that can evade jamming systems, CBC News, January 27, 2025; Geoff Nixon, Ukraine’s homegrown drones have become increasingly lethal, critical tools in war with Russian, CBC, February 22, 2025.

[228] Editorial Board, Mr. Ford, end the Starlink deal with Elon Musk, Globe and Mail, February 11, 2025.

[229] Max Fawcett, Saving the CBC is really about saving Canada, National Observer, November 19, 2024; Michael McEwen, Mark Starowicz, and Kealy Wilkinson, Kill the CBC? Why not just shoot Canada in the foot instead?, Globe and Mail, January 31, 2025.

[230] Marie Woolf, Heritage Minister proposes almost doubling public CBC funding, ending advertising and subscriptions, Globe and Mail, February 20, 2025.

[231] Jonathan Ore, CBC’s new CEO says cutting government funding would ‘cripple’ English and French services, CBC, January 29, 2025; Anja Karadeglija, Trudeau says Poilievre ‘has to run to American billionaires’ to attack CBC: ‘I think it says a lot about the Conservative Party of Canada. They’re choosing to constantly attack independent media organizations’, National Post, April 17, 2023.

[232] Alan Shepard, American turmoil has created an opportunity for Canada to lure top talent – if we act fast enough, Toronto Star, February 6, 2025; Matthew Lebo, The great American brain drain: is Canada ready?, Hill Times, December 11, 2024.

[233] Joseph Braithwaite, From Challenge to Triumph: Canada’s Bold Response to U.S. Tariffs, LinkedIn.com, January 24, 2025; Jordan Gowling, ‘Time to fix this’: Could the tariff threat bring down Canada’s interprovincial trade barriers, once and for all?, Financial Post, January 30, 2025; Laura Osman and Joanna Smith, Trump’s trade war threat pushes Ottawa to bust up interprovincial trade barriers: U.S. tariff fears are shining a light on a very Canadian problem, The Logic, January 24, 2025.

[234] Peter Jones, Philippe Lagasse, and George Petrolekas, Canada: Now is our time to be strong and free, Globe and Mail, February 7, 2025.

[235] Peter Armstrong, Trump’s trade threats are just the beginning, CBC, February 6, 2025.

[236] Kevin Jiang, Donald Trump is driving a wedge between Canada and the United States. Could we join the EU?, Toronto Star, January 30, 2025. Also see, Borge Brende, Europe needs to adapt or it will get left behind: Boldly aiming for ‘strategic interdependence”, Politico, January 20, 2025.

[237] Joseph Braithwaite, From Challenge to Triumph: Canada’s Bold Response to U.S. Tariffs, LinkedIn.com, January 24, 2025.

[238] Nathan Vanderklippe, Trump’s tariff threats may push Canada to trade more with China, a strategy that could backfire, Globe and Mail, January 24, 2025.

[239] Andrei Sulzenko, Playing poker with the elephant: Canada should call America’s bluff, and raise a new trade agreement, Globe and Mail, January 27, 2025; Jerome Gessaroli, Enough is enough. It’s time to renegotiate USMCA, Globe and Mail, February 11, 2025.. See Brian Schwartz, Gavin Bade, and Vipal Monga, Trump pushes for early renegotiation of U.S. trade deal with Mexico, Canada: The continental trade pact isn’t up for review until 2026, but Trump’s advisers want to open it up quickly, Wall Street Journal, January 21, 2025; David Bond etal, North America Prepares for 2026 USMCA Review and Potential Renegotiation, White & Case (whitecase.com), November 14, 2024:

“The three parties to the United States – Mexico – Canada Agreement (USMCA) are beginning domestic consultations ahead of the scheduled 2026 joint review, which could lead to changes in the agreement. Under a novel provision in USMCA Article 34, the 2026 review also starts a 10-year clock for expiration of the free trade agreement. To prevent expiration in 2036, the parties must submit notifications at or after the 2026 review approving the renewal of the USMCA for another 16-year term. For the United States, the Trump administration will likely withhold US renewal approval to compel a partial renegotiation of certain commitments through the joint review. The full scope of the US plan has not yet been developed, but initiatives under discussion in Washington include modifications to the automotive industry rules of origin, strengthened forced labor import prohibitions, new restrictions on Chinese companies in North America, and resolutions to ongoing USMCA implementation disputes.”

[240] Christyn Cianfarani, Getting Canada to a Wartime Footing: Clear Parameters are Required, Canadian Global Affairs Institute, January 2023; Murray Brewster, Thinking the ‘unthinkable’: NATO wants Canada and allies to gear up for a conventional war, CBC.ca, September 26, 2024.

[241] Lawrence Hatter, Trump Shares the Founders’ Delusions on Canada, Time.com, February 4, 2025.

[242] Andrew MacNaughtan, Here is what the Canadian ‘elite’ consistently get wrong about this country, Toronto Star, February 14, 2025.

[243] Kevin Yin, Against Trump’s tariffs, Premier Smith is not as smart as she thinks, Globe and Mail, January 30, 2025.

[244] Dylan Robertson, Observers call for pressure on U.S. corporations as Trump, Musk take aim at Canada, Canadian Press, February 3, 2025.

[245] Jeff Gray, Ontario pauses plan to cancel $100-million contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink, Premier Ford says, Globe and Mail, February 3, 2025.

[246] Sadiq Khan, This is my three-point plan for standing up to the far right and the billionaire bullies, Guardian, January 18, 2025.

[247] Jonathan Freedland, Trump and his henchman Musk treat America’s oldest allies as enemies. Britain can’t face that threat alone, Guardian, January 10, 2025.

[248] Meena Jagannath, Calling for a Global Approach to Countervailing Oligarchic Power, Movement Law Lab, 2024.

[249] Kristofer Harrison, Canada’s Other Anti-Trump Weapon: Fighting Corruption: Beyond waging a tariff war, target the US president’s dependence on dirty money, The Tyee, February 17, 2025.

[250] Hannah Ritchie, Australia approves social media ban on under-16s, BBC, November 28, 2024.

[251] EU is fully enforcing social media rules, says digital chief, Reuters, January 15, 2025;

[252] William J. Barber II, America’s Moral Malady, The Atlantic, March 30, 2018. Also see, Mark Rank, Poverty in America is Mainstream, New York Times, November 2, 2013; Associated Press, Census data: Half of U.S. poor or low income, CBS News, December 15, 2011; Annalisa Merelli, The US has a lot of money, but it does not look like a developed country, Quartz, March 10, 2017; Neal Gabler, The Secret Shame of Middle-Class Americans: Nearly half of Americans would have trouble finding $400 to pay for an emergency, The Atlantic, May 2016.

[253] Chris Lehmann, We Shouldn’t Be Afraid to Call the US What It Really Is: an Oligarchy, The Nation, February 25, 2025.

[254] Professor Robert Nichols, As the US Oligarchy Expands its War, Middle Class White People Must Take a Side, AbolitionJournal.org, January 31, 2025.

[255] Is the U.S. Witnessing the rise of oligarchy?, OxfamAmerica.org, January 17, 2025.

[256] Sadiq Khan, This is my three-point plan for standing up to the far right and the billionaire bullies, Guardian, January 18, 2025.

[257] Laura Kelly, Trump had ‘fiery’ call with Danish prime minister over Greenland: Report, The Hill, January 24, 2025; Julia Mueller, Trump’s talk of expansion puts world leaders on alert, The Hill, January 12, 2025; Alex Gangitano and Julia Mueller, Why Trump is targeting Panama, Greenland, Canada, The Hill, December 28, 2024.

[258] Laura Kelly, Trump had ‘fiery’ call with Danish prime minister over Greenland: Report, The Hill, January 24, 2025; Julia Mueller, Trump’s talk of expansion puts world leaders on alert, The Hill, January 12, 2025; Alex Gangitano and Julia Mueller, Why Trump is targeting Panama, Greenland, Canada, The Hill, December 28, 2024.

[259] Murray Brewster, Trump is starting a trade war. If he wants to absorb Canada, what comes next will be worse, CBC News, February 1, 2025; Warwick McKibbin and Marcus Noland, Trump’s threatened tariffs projected to damage economies of US, Canada, Mexico, and China, Peterson Institute for International Economics, January 17, 2025.

[260] Warren Kinsella, Trump not a friend of Canada, he’s our enemy, Toronto Sun, January 25, 2025; Jonathan Freedland, Trump and his henchman Musk treat America’s oldest allies as enemies. Britain can’t face that threat alone, Guardian, January 10, 2025; Stewart Prest, Canada’s fight with Trump isn’t just economic, it’s existential, The Conversation, January 2, 2025; Nathan Greenfield, Trump’s aggressive rhetoric aims to reset the narrative on Canada, January 27, 2025; Conrad Black, In treating Canada as an enemy, Trump made a serious mistake, Brussels Signal (eu), February 5, 2025; Daniel Beland, Juliet Johnson, and Maria Popova, Trump’s Attack on Zelensky Sends a Clear Message to Canada and the World, Policy Magazine, March 1, 2025..

[261] C.J. Polychroniou, Trump’s Vision for a ‘Golden Age of America’: Oligarchy Plus Ultranationalism, Trouthout.org, January 24, 2025.

[262] Charlie Savage, Jonathan Swan, and Maggie Haberman, Deploying on U.S. Soil: How Trump Would Use Soldiers Against Riots, Crime and Migrants, New York Times, August 17, 2024 (updated November 6, 2024); Jeff McCausland, I gave decades to our military. A Trump win could make me feel it was in vain, MSNBC, October 31, 2024; Ellen Mitchell, Trump’s threat to deploy military against ‘radical left’ draws backlash, The Hill, October 16, 2024.

[263] Letters, Beware Trump’s coercive campaign against Canada, Guardian, February 10, 2025.

[264] See, Hafiz Rashid, Trump Declares Himself the Law in Fight with Democratic Governor, New Republic, February 21, 2025; Associated Press, Trump’s moves test the limits of presidential power and the resilience of U.S. democracy, CTV News, March 2, 2025 (“The president declared, “we are the federal law” and posted on his social media site that “He who saves his country does not violate any law”); Maggie Haberman, Charlie Savage, and Jonathan Swan, Trump suggests No Laws Are Broken if He’s ‘Saving His Country’, New York Times, February 15, 2025.

[265] John Feffer, Billionaires vs Democracy: The rich are trying to buy elections all over the world and consign democracy to the trash bin of history, inequality.org, October 25, 2025.

[266] See generally, Lynn Parramore, ‘Democracy’ From the Big Finance Oligarchy, Institute for New Economic Thniking, January 6, 2025; Michael McCarthy, The Master’s Tools: How Finance Wrecked Democracy (and a radical plan to rebuild it), Verso, January 2025.

[267] Thom Hartman, The Hidden History of American Oligarchy: Reclaiming our Democracy from the Ruling Class, Berrett-Koehler, February 2021.

[268] Trump tariffs: Making sense of the senseless: Ivey Impact spoke with Professor Romel Mostafa, Ivey.uwo.ca, February 6, 2025.

[269] Mark Norman, Canada’s relationship with the U.S. can’t be saved, National Post, February 14, 2025. Also see, Lee Moran, Canadian Ex-Defense Official Gets Real On Trump Threats: ‘We Are Under Attack’, Huffington Post, February 18, 2025.

[270] Jonathan Chait, Trump’s Second Term Might Have Already Peaked, Atlantic, January 22, 2025.

[271] America has an imperial presidency, The Economist, January 23, 2025; Robert Reich, Trump is the most lawless president in American history, Guardian, February 12, 2025.

[272] Margaret Hartmann, Why Does Trump Want Greenland? His Imperialistic Threats, Explained, New York Magazine (Intelligencer), January 31, 2025; Lucas Ropek, Trump’s Greenland Obsession May Be About Extracting Metals for Tech Billionaires: the great battle for Greenland is probably all about resources, Gizmodo, January 30, 2025; Linda McQuaig, Donald Trump’s rage toward Canada hides a deeper agenda, Toronto Star, February 6, 2025; Sean Craig, Trump Really Is Planning to Take Over Canada, Daily Beast, February 10, 2025; Leyland Cecco, Trudeau says Trump is serious about wanting to annex Canada: Prime Minister says US President covets northern neighbour’s vast resources, Guardian, February 7, 2025; CNN, January 8, 2025; Laura Kelly, Trump had ‘fiery’ call with Danish prime minister over Greenland: Report, The Hill, January 24, 2025; Julia Mueller, Trump’s talk of expansion puts world leaders on alert, The Hill, January 12, 2025; Alex Gangitano and Julia Mueller, Why Trump is targeting Panama, Greenland, Canada, The Hill, December 28, 2024; Editorial, Taking Trump for the threat he is, Winnipeg Free Press, February 27, 2025.

[273] Jonathan Chait, Trump Signals He Might Ignore the Courts: yesterday, the president said that no judge ‘should be allowed’ to rule against the changes his administration is making, The Atlantic, February 10, 2025; Michael Daly, The ‘Terrifying’ Warning Signs Trump and Allies Will Ignore the Courts, Daily Beast, February 11, 2025.

[274] Edity Olmsted, Trump’s Trash Defense Secretary Is Ready to Go to War with U.S. Allies, New Republic, January 30, 2025.

[275] Fred Kaplan, Trump’s Obsession With Greenland is Funny. But It’s Sending a Dangerous Message to the Exact Wrong People, Putin and Xi are listening, Slate, January 10, 2025.

[276] Julia Mueller, Trump’s talk of expansion puts world leaders on alert, The Hill, January 12, 2025.

[277] Maya Yang, Trump again demands to buy Greenland in ‘horrendous’ call with Danish PM, Guardian, January 25, 2025. Also see, Sarah Fortinsky, Murkowski: Greenland is ‘an ally, not an asset’, The Hill, January 27, 2025:

“Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) joined with a Danish lawmaker on Monday to push back against President Trump’s continued insistence that U.S. control of Greenland is necessary for American national security. …

‘As legislators representing Greenland in Denmark and the United States, we see a better path forward’, the two lawmakers wrote in the statement.

‘The United States, like Denmark, should recognize that the future will be defined by partnership, not ownership’, they continued. ‘To ensure our alliance reaches its full potential, Americans must view Greenland as an ally, not an asset. Open for business, but not for sale’.”

[278] Stewart Prest, Canada’s fight with Trump isn’t just economic, it’s existential, The Conversation, January 2, 2025; Thomas Hughes, Allies or enemies? Trump’s threats against Canada and Greenland put NATO in a tough spot, Conversation, January 19, 2025.

[279] Jonathan Freedland, Trump and his henchman Musk treat America’s oldest allies as enemies. Britain can’t face that threat alone, Guardian, January 10, 2025.

[280] Alex Therrien, Germany and France warn Trump over threat to take over Greenland, BBC.com, January 8, 2025.

[281] EU military chief wants European troops in Greenland after US, Press TV, January 25, 2025; Andrey Sychev, EU military chief says it would make sense to put European troops in Greenland, Welt reports, Reuters, January 24, 2025; General: Logical to have EU soldiers on Greenland, Sweden Herald, January 25, 2025.

[282] Dominique Soguel and Anna Mulrine Grobe, When Trump hints at Greenland military action, Europe can’t ignore it. Here’s why, Christian Science Monitor, January 15, 2025. Also see, Nicholas Khoo, Friend or foe? How Trump’s threats against ‘free-riding’ allies could backfire, Conversation, January 20, 2025; Scott Neuman, Is Trump’s rhetoric on Greenland, Canada and Panama Canal a ‘Madman Strategy’?, NPR.org, January 11, 2025.

[283] Dominique Soguel and Anna Mulrine Grobe, When Trump hints at Greenland military action, Europe can’t ignore it. Here’s why, Christian Science Monitor, January 15, 2025. Also see, Nicholas Khoo, Friend or foe? How Trump’s threats against ‘free-riding’ allies could backfire, Conversation, January 20, 2025; Scott Neuman, Is Trump’s rhetoric on Greenland, Canada and Panama Canal a ‘Madman Strategy’?, NPR.org, January 11, 2025.

[284] Dominique Soguel and Anna Mulrine Grobe, When Trump hints at Greenland military action, Europe can’t ignore it. Here’s why, Christian Science Monitor, January 15, 2025.

[285] Statement by the Expert Group on Canada-US Relations, A Canada-First Response to Donald Trump, Policy, January 1, 2025.

[286] Don Braid, Expand Canada needs a wartime military – to defend against Trump, Calgary Herald, February 10, 2025.

[287] Anja Karadeglija, Trump’s invasion threats violate international law: Canadian ambassador, The Canadian Press, February 10, 2025.

[288] Justin Tang, Canadians need to resist Trump’s bullying and intimidation. Here’s how – the Pledge for Canada is a commitment to a strong, unified response to an emerging threat, Toronto Star, February 10, 2025.

[289] Michel Saba, Canadian pride is on the rise in wake of Trump’s tariff threat, polls suggest – With Canada on the brink of a tariff war, Trump has become ‘common enemy’, political scientist says, CBC.ca, February 6, 2025.

[290] Don Braid, Canada needs a wartime military – to defend against Trump, Calgary Herald, February 10, 2025.

[291] Stephen Marche, Why America Can’t Conquer Canada: Donald Trump’s nonsensical threats are an attempt to distract from his own country’s self-destruction, Macleans, January 9, 2025.

[292] Statement by the Expert Group on Canada-US Relations, A Canada-First Response to Donald Trump, Policy, January 1, 2025.

[293] Statement by the Expert Group on Canada-US Relations, A Canada-First Response to Donald Trump, Policy, January 1, 2025.

[294] Statement by the Expert Group on Canada-US Relations, A Canada-First Response to Donald Trump, Policy, January 1, 2025.

[295] Michael Ignatieff, As America retreats, Europe must step up: An unstable world order divided between competing superpowers will force all other nations to make tough choices, Prospect Magazine (UK), February 27, 2025.

[296] Steven Levitsky, The New Authoritarianism, The Atlantic, February 10, 2025.

[297] Joel Mathis, Would Trump really use the military against Americans?, The Week, October 22, 2024.

[298] Nikke McCann Ramirez, Maine Gov. Spars with Trump at White House Event: ‘See you in Court’, Rolling Stone, February 21, 2025.

[299] Ben Blanchet, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker Scorches Trump, Musk in Speech: ‘We Don’t Have Kings in America’, Huffington Post, February 20, 2025; Natasha Korecki, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker amplified his fight against Trump, NBC News, February 28, 2025.

[300] Matt Ford, Trump is Aiming to Run Roughshod Over the States – the White House is effectively declaring war on federalism, New Republic, February 3, 2025.

[301] Frank Kendall, America Has a Rogue President, New York Times, February 24, 2025.

[302] Michael Harris, Trump’s ‘Civil War’ Includes Smashing News Media, The Tyee, January 3, 2025; Edith Olmsted, Pete Hegseth Says Quiet Part Out Loud on Why He Fired DoD Lawyers: Pete Hegseth bragged about getting rid of roadblocks to Donald Trump’s agenda, New Republic, February 24, 2025; Peter Wade, Hegseth: Trump will install new military attorneys who won’t be ‘roadblocks to anything’, Rolling Stone, February 23, 2025;  Donald Trump sacks America’s top military brass: The navy chief, the air force second-in-command and military lawyers have all been fired, too, The Economist, February 22, 2025; Tom Nichols, A Friday-Night Massacre at the Pentagon: Trump’s purge started with his firing of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top Navy officer, and the vice chief of the Air Force, Atlantic, February 21, 2025.

[303] Tom Nichols, A Friday-Night Massacre at the Pentagon: Trump’s purge started with his firing of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top Navy officer, and the vice chief of the Air Force, Atlantic, February 21, 2025.

[304] Charles Bethea, The Americans Prepping for a Second Civil War, New Yorker, November 4, 2024. Also see, Kate Duguid, Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio warns of danger of US debt to Treasury market – concerns abut rising financial burden, global conflict and growing possibility of ‘civil war’, Financial Times, May 16, 2024; Thom Hartmann, US Oligarchs Started One Civil War – and they could do it again, Common Dreams, May 17, 2024; Thom Hartmann. Are our Oligarchs Going to Drag Us into Civil War?, New Republic, May 17, 2024.

[305] Kevin Rector, Project 2025, GOP platform blast California, teeing up critiques of Biden stand-ins, LA Times, July 14, 2024.

[306] Melanie Mason, The anti-Trump resistance roars back – with California at the forefront, Politico, November 6, 2024.

[307] Hayley Durudogan, Sydney Bryant, and Devon Onbres, Domestic Deployment of the Military: The Past, Present, and Potential Future, American Progress, February 4, 2025.

[308] Hayley Durudogan, Sydney Bryant, and Devon Onbres, Domestic Deployment of the Military: The Past, Present, and Potential Future, American Progress, February 4, 2025.

[309] John Feffer, The End of America Democracy: Is America’s political future either a coup or a civil war?, Institute for Policy Studies, January 27, 2025.

[310] David Colborne, If California secedes, Nevada should follow, The Daily Indy, January 21, 2025. Also see, Jeffrey Goldfarb, California will put secession back on the map, Reuters, December 20, 2024; Marco della Cava, Newsom attacks Trump in State of the State: California will not be part of ‘political theater’, USA Today, February 12, 2019; Associated Press, ‘We don’t trust Trump’: California earmarks $50m to fight administration, The Guardian, February 3, 2025 (“We do not trust President Donald Trump”, said the assembly speaker … describing the president’s administration as “out of control” and a threat to constitutional rights); Edward Lempinen and Jason Pohl, Trump may be planning a sharp, extended conflict with California, experts say, UC Berkeley News, January 10, 2025; Dan Walters, If California split from the US and became a nation, it would be comparable to Canada, January 24, 2025; Letters: If California’s fight against Trump becomes a losing cause, here’s what the state should do, San Francisco Chronicle, December 9, 2024; Marc Sternfield, Could Californias see a ballot measure to secede from the U.S.?, KTLA.com, December 20, 2024; Elizabeth Weise and Josh Peter, A free California? Trump visits as initiative to leave U.S. cleared to gather signatures, USA Today, January 24, 2025; James Bickerton, California Independence Could Be on 2028 Ballot, Newsweek, January 25, 2025.

[310] Edward Lempinen and Jason Pohl, Trump may be planning a sharp, extended conflict with California, experts say, UC Berkeley News, January 10, 2025; Dan Walters, If California split from the US and became a nation, it would be comparable to Canada, January 24, 2025; Letters: If California’s fight against Trump becomes a losing cause, here’s what the state should do, San Francisco Chronicle, December 9, 2024.

[311] Paul Krugman, Oppose, Oppose, Oppose – and Do it Loudly – Opponents of MAGA: don’t despair and don’t appease, paulkrugman.substack.com, January 31, 2025.

[312] Sabine Nolke, Like dictators before him, Trump threatens international peace and security, Conversation, February 13, 2025.

[313] Joel Rosenthal, General Milley’s Ethical Dilemma: The Letter That Was Never Sent, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, August 30, 2022.

[314] Theodore McLauchlin, Canada Must Prepare for the Seismic Shakeup that the Pentagon will Face, Network for Strategic Analysis, December 6, 2024. See generally, Rosa Brooks, How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything: Tales from the Pentagon, Simon and Schuster, 2016.

[315] Theodore McLauchlin, Canada Must Prepare for the Seismic Shakeup that the Pentagon will Face, Network for Strategic Analysis, December 6, 2024.

[316] Irvin Studin, Preparing for a Predatory Presidency – The Consequences of Trump 2.0 for Canada, Conseil des Relations Internationales de Montreal (blogue.corim.qc.ca), February 26, 2024.

[317] Chris Knight, How Trump would violate international law if he invaded Canada, Greenland and Panama, National Post, February 11, 2025. Also see generally, Pala Najana, Military members can be prosecuted for obeying illegal orders, Fearless Integrity, January 13, 2025; Pala Najana, Why military action against Canada, Greenland or Panama would be illegal, Fearless Integrity, January 13, 2025; Pala Najana, ‘I, a proud member of the U.S. military, won’t obey illegal orders to attack our allies: knowing your duties is key – and executing illegal orders isn’t one of them, Fearless Integrity, January 14, 2025.

[318] Professor George S. Rigakos, Attempting to annex Canada would spell disaster for the U.S. at home and abroad, The Conversation, January 9, 2025. Also see, Stephen March, Why America Can’t Conquer Canada: Donald Trump’s nonsensical threats are an attempt to distract from his own country’s self-destruction, Macleans, January 9, 2025.

[319] Mark Norman, Canada’s relationship with the U.S. can’t be saved, National Post, February 14, 2025. Also see, Lee Moran, Canadian Ex-Defense Official Gets Real On Trump Threats: ‘We Are Under Attack’, Huffington Post, February 18, 2025.

[320] Professor Aisha Ahmad, Why annexing Canada would destroy the United States, Conversation, February 11, 2025.

[321] Stefan Dolgert, Canadian loyalty, Canadian Tragedy: Parallels of ancient Greek war, Calgary Herald, February 15, 2025. Also see: Michael Evans, Why Macron is offering France’s nukes to Europe, Spectator, February 26, 2025; German minister calls for British and French nuclear weapons to protect Europe, EuroNews, February 15, 2025; Simon Tisdall, As the US retreats, Europe must look out for itself – so is Macron’s nuclear offer the answer?, Guardian, February 17, 2025.

[322] Stephen Marche, Why America Can’t Conquer Canada: Donald Trump’s nonsensical threats are an attempt to distract from his own country’s self-destruction, Macleans, January 9, 2025.

[323] Anthony Joseph, Billionaires’ Power Grab Endangers Democracy and Public Trust, Caribbean Camera, January 24, 2025.

[324] Mark Sakamoto, The next Liberal leader will have a brief window to do something extraordinary – if they’ve got the courage, Toronto Star, January 26, 2025.

[325] Marcus Kolga, Restoring pride in Canada’s military essential to democracy, Toronto Sun, January 24, 2025. Also see, Sean Boynton, Canada must take ‘responsibility’ for its sovereignty defence chief says, Global News, January 26, 2025.

[326] Editorial Board, A cold front emerges in Canada’s Arctic, Globe and Mail, February 19, 2025.

[327] Crawford Kilian, ‘We Are Now Being Extorted’: It’s time for Canada to push back hard against Trump. Here’s how, The Tyee, February 5, 2025. Also see, William Lewis Morton and Norman L. Nicholson, World War II: Canada in History, Britannica.com, Last Updated February 4, 2025.

[328] Don Braid, Canada needs a wartime military – to defend against Trump, Calgary Herald, February 10, 2025.

[329] Richard Nghiem, Uncrewed Systems – Drone Wars, Canadian Defence Review, November 22, 2024.

[330] Dr. Oleksandra Molloy, Drones in Modern Warfare: Lessons Learnt from the War in Ukraine, Australian Army Research Centre, Australian Army Occasional Paper No. 29, 2024; Briar Stewart, Ukraine war becomes a testing ground for drones that can evade jamming systems, CBC News, January 27, 2025; Geoff Nixon, Ukraine’s homegrown drones have become increasingly lethal, critical tools in war with Russian, CBC, February 22, 2025.

[331] Lloyd Axworthy, In facing an imperialist neighbour, Ukraine offers a cautionary tale for Canada, Globe and Mail, February 19, 2025.

[332] Professor Roman Sheremeta, LinkedIn.com, February 2025.

[333] Lawrence Hatter, Trump Shares the Founders’ Delusions on Canada, Time.com, February 4, 2025.

[334] See generally, Adrienne LaFrance, Capitulation is Contagious: When fear spreads in a society, powerful people who know better are often the first to show weakness, The Atlantic, January 23, 2025.

[335] Jeff Gray, PM says tariff response will be ‘forceful but reasonable’, Globe and Mail, January 31, 2025.

[336] Gwynne Dyer, Take Trump’s threat to annex Canada seriously, London Free Press, February 9, 2025.

[337] Martin Pengelly, Jewish non-profit chief says Musk will spur violence with his ‘Nazi salute’, Guardian, January 26, 2025. Also see, Ben Makuch, Energized neo-Nazis feel their moment has come as Trump changes everything, Guardian, January 26, 2025; Bernard Condon, Musk’s straight-arm gesture embraced by right-wing extremists regardless of what he meant, APnews.com, January 21, 2025.

[338] Jessica Murphy, Trudeau says ‘not a snowball’s chance in hell’ Canada will join US, BBC.com, January 7, 2025.

[339] Leyland Cecco, Trudeau says Trump is serious about wanting to annex Canada: Prime Minister says US President covets northern neighbour’s vast resources, Guardian, February 7, 2025.

[340] Lawrence Hatter, Trump Shares the Founders’ Delusions on Canada, Time.com, February 4, 2025.

[341] Ian Bailey, Five former PMs urge Canadians to show national unity on Flag Day, in the face of Trump’s ‘threats and insults’, Globe and Mail, February 11, 2025.

[342] See generally, Paul Krugman, Oppose, Oppose, Oppose – and Do it Loudly – Opponents of MAGA: don’t despair and don’t appease, paulkrugman.substack.com, January 31, 2025.

[343] Paul Krugman, Oppose, Oppose, Oppose – and Do it Loudly – Opponents of MAGA: don’t despair and don’t appease, paulkrugman.substack.com, January 31, 2025.

[344] Ian Bailey, Five former PMs urge Canadians to show national unity on Flag Day, in the face of Trump’s ‘threats and insults’, Globe and Mail, February 11, 2025.

[345] Launch Committee (John Cartwright, Chairperson, Council of Canadians;, Alex Himelfarb, Former Clerk of the Privy Council and Canadian Ambassador, etal), Sign the Pledge for Canada, actionnetwork.org), January 2025. Also see, Justin Tang, Canadians need to resist Trump’s bullying and intimidation. Here’s how – the Pledge for Canada is a commitment to a strong, unified response to an emerging threat, Toronto Star, February 10, 2025.

[346] See, Alex Himelfarb, Pledge for Canada, afhimelfarb.wordpress.com, Comments (Brian Rigby, January 31, 2025).

[347] Tom Bingham, The Rule of Law, Penguin Random House, 2011.

[348] Becky Little, The Great Depression Lesson About ‘Trade Wars’, History.com, February 3, 2025; Serah Louis, How Trump’s threatened tariffs echo a failed American trade policy of the 1930s, Financial Post, January 31, 2025.

[349] Joseph Braithwaite, From Challenge to Triumph: Canada’s Bold Response to U.S. Tariffs, LinkedIn.com, January 24, 2025.

[350] Joseph Braithwaite, From Challenge to Triumph: Canada’s Bold Response to U.S. Tariffs, LinkedIn.com, January 24, 2025.

---