Pope Francis, President Trump and Canada’s reticence to meet
TORONTO – Four months after the American Presidential election, the newly elected President has succeeded in defining …Canada. Yes, you read that correctly. Apparently, the “beer and popcorn” advisors to the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, anxious to get ahead of the game, “scored a private dinner with “the Donald”, in Mar-a-Lago, so he could prove to the rest of us that he – JT – was still “the man”, polls and caucus notwithstanding.
The leader of the world’s most powerful nation was having none of it. Within days, his words literally provoked a Cabinet shuffle in Canada and calls for JT’s resignation. Trump called for increased tariffs on Canadian goods and [jokingly] referred to Canada’s more favourable trade position, if it were to become a 51st State of the USA.
Sovereignty, or the inability to secure it, slipped out of JT’s realm of competencies and he resigned, calling for a convention to replace him, before Canada’s Parliament to reconvene to approve a Budget update. The irony of “foreign interference” is/was the issue of an election campaign that could have been held off until the Fall of 2025, when a more sober approach to assessing “the danger” and making the appropriately vital decision might have been a’ propos.
It can be argued that the matter of “sovereignty” – economic and/or political – in Canada’s post-World War II era is a recurring theme. Even a cursory review of will reveal an “industrial base” in evolution , not always to “our advantage” in such industrial bases as the aerospace, auto, pharmaceutical, steel, agri-production, Wheat Board, National Energy Policy, Softwood, Fisheries etc. The consequent impact of those solutions have been to turn our economy into into an integrated continental “big deal” and less of a vibrant National entity with market affinities to East-West (interprovincial) relationships; regrettably, virtually none of them as significant as those with our North-South clientele (valued at about $1,2 Trillion annually, just under 60% of GDP).
From a political perspective, “the threat to unity” comes more from the Constitutionally recognized and exercised authorities vested in Provincial jurisdictions, most aggressively defended by the province of Quebec and its most current “patriotic” advocates: the Bloc Quebecois. A referendum led by their founder, the Honourable Lucien Bouchard, came within 55,000 votes (largely from the non-francophone Italian dominated west-Montreal). Bouchard [in]famously referred to Canada as “not a real country”. The current Bloc leader, Yves-Francois Blanchet, underscores the “artificial” nature of its borders, its economy and its culture.
How does Trump fit in all of that? He doesn’t; yet party leaders in the campaign have all emphasized that they are best equipped to defend Canada against American predatory designs on our lands and its peoples. They will show it at first chance and once elected. Why wait, just because “beer and popcorn” advisors could not, or would not, see the golden opportunity presented by the invitation to attend Pope Francis’ funeral as part of a special delegation in an area reserved for heads of governments. The cost “in time” away from campaign rallies? No more than 36 hours including return flight – read our previous article here.
A friend from Mississauga expressed disappointment and frustration that her government was not present at one of the most significant Catholic events in the world today. The numbers tell the story: over 250,000 people were at the wake, a further c. 500,000 at the funeral in St Peter’s Square, at least another 500,000 who lined the roads to the final burial place – and national TV networks, including Canadian feeds anxious to underline a Canadian flavour. Nobody would have lost a chance to impress their electorate.
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky seized the moment on the floor of St .Peter’s Basilica, aided by Cardinals to provide an extemporaneous meeting on “peace” in Ukraine. Who is the bad guy now?
In the pic above, US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in conversation in St. Peter’s Basilica: an image that will remain in history ( Twitter X – @VaticanNews)
