Trust in Canada, badly broken by prolonged Laurentian Elite intransigence, may now be very difficult to reestablish.’
During a presentation in Dallas almost a year ago, George W. Bush made a comment that has stayed with me. Referencing the 2008 credit crisis that threatened the world’s financial system, Bush said the US survived because “our institutions held.”
This leads to a question — are Canada’s institutions failing?
President Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s televised berating of President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine suggests that things could be worse between Canada and the U.S.
But when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau steps down in a few days, his successor will face the worst relations between the U.S. and Canada since the trade war of the Great Depression. Arguably they are nearing a nadir not seen since the 19th century.
After a week of confusing signals from the White House, Mr. Trump said he was committed to imposing potentially devastating 25 percent tariffs on most exports from Canada except oil and gas, which face a 10 percent tax.
The New Deal of R.B. Bennett during the late 1930s expanded the purpose of the federal government in Canada. The expansion continued during the war under William Lyon Mackenzie King, and afterwards as well, now justified by Keynesian economic intervention. For more than half a century the public service in Ottawa grew and grew.
The Americans followed a similar trajectory and added the Great Society program of President Johnson in the mid-1960s. In Canada a few years later the impact of Pierre Trudeau’s “Just Society” proposals had less of an impact, but the centralization and triumph of expert bureaucratic control of the daily life of Canadians was, if anything, greater than it was in the States.
A diplomatic row has exploded after Sir Keir Starmer declined to back Canada against Donald Trump’s ambitions to turn it into the 51st state of the USA.
A Conservative MP in Canada and a former ambassador are among those to criticise the UK prime minister for failing to stand up for their country.
Mr Trump has made repeatedly made calls for Canada to become America’s 51st state in recent months, including a claim that without a massive subsidy from the US “Canada ceases to exist as a viable country”.
The backlash followed The Independent’s White House correspondent Andrew Feinberg challenging Sir Keir on his position on Canada during a press conference after the meeting between the US president and prime minister.
Reporter's White House question to Starmer "And for the prime minister, did you discuss with President Trump his repeated statements of desire to annex Canada?"
"And has the king expressed any concern over the president's apparent desire to remove one of his realms from his… pic.twitter.com/6BpzQrxd6k
— cbcwatcher (@cbcwatcher) February 27, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump often talks about Canada. Frequently disparagingly, and lately menacingly. But it’s not often he opines on the country’s internal politics.
He broke from that pattern in a just-published interview with a U.S. conservative writer who asked him about the country’s upcoming election.
In that interview with The Spectator, Trump is asked whether Canada’s Conservatives can still pull off a win in the next election, despite the tightening polls.
I’m no fan of Michael Moore’s politics or his propaganda films sold as “documentaries,” but there is one entry on his résumé that I thoroughly enjoy: Canadian Bacon, featuring the great John Candy in his final film. Moore wrote and directed this comedic gem about an American president starting a war with Canada in order to gain traction in the polls. Candy, one of Canada’s most beloved entertainers, plays a hilariously anti-Canadian American sheriff who is thrilled about taking up arms against our northern neighbors. The whole thing is top-notch farce earning a funny disclaimer in the final credits: “No Canadians were harmed during this production.” Strangely, it’s Moore’s only non-documentary effort in three decades.
Liberal leadership frontrunner Mark Carney is the star of social media on Friday.
But it’s a spotlight he won’t be happy with.
Some excellent memes!
Brace yourselves: whatever crazy, awful things Trump may have done to date, it’s only going to get worse
Skate to where the puck is going, not to where it’s been. That bit of trite wisdom, attributed to Wayne Gretzky, might usefully be applied in assessing the risks posed by Mr. Gretzky’s political idol, Donald Trump.
Every time we think we have taken the measure of Mr. Trump, every time we think we have understood the depths of his depravity, the absoluteness of his nullity, the scale of the threat he represents – to American democracy, to Canada, to the peace of the world – he defeats us. He does or says something far worse than we had ever thought possible, even of him.
OTTAWA — Canada may have difficulty taking part in a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine after a future ceasefire because it has clearly taken a side in the conflict, an international affairs expert suggests.
During a visit to Kyiv on the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion on Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not rule out deploying Canadian troops to the region as part of a possible peace deal.
But that decision isn’t entirely up to Canada.
In the weeks following U.S. President Donald Trump’s initial tariff threat, Canada has experienced a renaissance of hope that it could become the free-trading energy superpower it was always meant to be; that by dreaming big and diversifying our exports, we could punch above our weight in the global economy and create a more prosperous future for our children.
We sure hope someone is still keeping an eye on Daniel Khoshnood.
The 33-year-old has just returned to Toronto from a three-year stint in a British Columbia jail on charges he threatened to harm his parole officer. He was arrested in June 2022, right after his 10-month terrorism peace bond had expired.
U.S. President Donald Trump is weighing in on domestic Canadian politics as his deadline to impose steep tariffs on Canada inches closer.
In an interview with The Spectator, Trump called Liberal leadership candidate Chrystia Freeland terrible and “a whack” — and claimed credit for her resignation as finance minister.
Trump also remarked on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, saying that “his biggest problem is he’s not a MAGA guy.”
If the Poilievre team is smart they'll take this remark from Trump and blast it everywhere, with Poilievre saying:
"He's right, I'm not a MAGA guy, I'm not a Trump guy, I'm a Canada guy…" etc etchttps://t.co/xgnvVDtVa1 pic.twitter.com/HPabgOC3Bf
— Robyn Urback (@RobynUrback) February 28, 2025
The Spectator’s interview with President Trump: full transcript
OTTAWA — From the billionaire financier who dined with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the adviser who warned there was “a special place in hell” awaiting Trudeau, some key figures have emerged in U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration as the faces redefining Canada’s relationship with its closest ally.
During Monday night’s Liberal leadership debate, there was a lot of talk about President Donald Trump. But whatever your views on Trump, one thing is certain — he’s revitalized his country’s energy sector. Through executive orders, Trump instructed agency heads to identify “actions that impose an undue burden on the identification, development or use of domestic energy source” and “exercise any lawful emergency authorities available” to facilitate energy production and transportation. In other words, let’s become an energy superpower.
In a speech this month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, clearly annoyed by import tariffs levied by President Trump and his threats of making Canada “the 51st state,” suggested that Canadians might act individually to respond to the affronts.
“Now is also the time to choose Canada,” Mr. Trudeau said, adding, “It might mean changing your summer vacation plans to stay here in Canada and explore the many national and provincial parks, historical sites and tourist destinations our great country has to offer.”
In the weeks since, it appears that at least some Canadian citizens are taking his directive seriously.
