Trump, “the great Canadian”
TORONTO – I cannot recall a time in Canadian history since I became fascinated by the individuals and cultures who adapted themselves to the emerging visions, organic or imported, of the northern half of north America, when one political persona became so dominant and intrusive in the affairs of “our country”. This being an opinion piece in the nature of year-end reviews, what follows is bound to offend somebody. You may be surprised, but I am speaking of President D. Trump.
With tongue-in cheek, I think Canadians have been less than generous in acknowledging the “great nation-building” initiatives he has altruistically contributed to solidifying the historical project we call Canada. Ours is a vast territorial expanse, greater in size than either Europe or the USA, but with a population one tenth (10%) their size, administered [loosely] by historical governance models reflecting far-away societies whose experiences were millennia in the making.
It appears to this humble servant that our history is nothing if not marked by the attempt to commercialize the enormous economic potential inherent in the natural bounty that few countries can match: wood, minerals, hydro, petroleum and natural gas, fisheries, agricultural expanse, meat processing… It must be “worth something to somebody”.
There has never been a shortage entrepreneurialism here, just the question “how does one acquire rights to and control of the capitalization of this bounty?” Depending on the era and the extent of Industrialization, Demand and Market Access, the leadership of the day opted to “secure rights” via direct purchase (buy-sell agreements with Indigenous peoples or who claimed to have exclusivity, Hudson’s Bay Co. /[Prince] Rupert’s Lands).
Canadians (“British subjects” until 1949) did whatever they could to develop conditions to stimulate commercial ties with “preferred clients”, real or desired, with… you guessed it, preferential tariffs to favour trade direction, East-West (British Columbia to the Maritimes) and trans-Atlantic (to Britain). Transportation and Immigration policies developed to accommodate that until the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement of 1988-89 and the North America Free Trade Agreement of 1993 included Mexico, thus effectively ensuring that the Canadian economy would continue to develop as a Continental partnership.
North-South relationships were from then on were no longer resisted but nurtured as the trans-Atlantic once were. Canada remained reliant on trade, as per Statistics Canada figures, 2024, fully 66% of its GDP was trade based, and 70% of that with the USA (all figures rounded). Worse, we remained and exporter of primary goods and an importer of downstream, consumer-friendly, products. Our federal governance structure began to underscore provincial rights – which had always existed – at the expense of broader “national” powers exercised by a trans-provincial authority.
Donald Trump realized that from the moment a former Canadian Prime Minister asked to meet with the newly elected, but not officially sworn-in, president, in November 2024. He has been testing it may be because the pressure points since then, causing us as a country to double our expenditures in Defense spending during the current fiscal year and doubling that amount by 2030 when it is expected that we will spend beyond $100 billion annually to maintain an armed forces we cannot muster nor equip.
If our priorities seem to be “constantly challenged”, it may be because Trump has decided to speak to “local barons” rather than to reach an accommodation with our national representative. Some Canadians – “provincialists” in my view – seem to prefer it that way.
