Canada is the mouse that roared. Trump has awakened Canadian pride

 

In March of 1969, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 15th prime minister of Canada, travelled to Washington to meet with then-president Richard Nixon.  While in Washington, Trudeau addressed the Washington Press Club.  He spoke these memorable words, which have come to define Canada's relationship with its southern neighbour.

"Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt."

Pierre Trudeau 1969 Washington Press Club

Pierre Trudeau could not have envisioned an American president as unstable and vindictive as Donald Trump. Yet, 56 years later, his words seem more prescient than ever.  Ironically, Trudeau's own son, Justin, is Canada's current prime minister and has to deal with the very aggressive elephant next door.  The elephant is cranky and rude.  The mouse has no choice but to roar.

I have lived in Canada my entire life, and I have never seen Canadians so upset with the United States. Trump's actions feel like a slap in the face from a good friend.  It really hurts.  Can you blame us for being outraged?  What has Canada done to deserve this treatment from Donald Trump and his supporters?  We've been loyal and trustworthy.  America couldn't have chosen a better neighbour and ally.  Trump is using fentanyl as an excuse to bully us.   By the way, it's the U.S. users who have created a demand for the drug.

By the numbers, Canada lets in only a fraction of America's fentanyl.  Here are the facts as provided by data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

In the 2024 fiscal year (October to September), some 43 pounds (19.5 kg) of the drug fentanyl were seized at the border, bound for the United States, with an additional 10 pounds (4.5 kg) intercepted since then.

This is a large increase over 2022 and 2023, which saw seizures of 14 pounds (6.3 kg) and two pounds (almost 1 kg) respectively. However, the numbers were also buoyed by two months (June and July) that saw 23 pounds (10 kg) seized.  Is this a large amount compared to Mexico.?  Not at all, according to the National Post. "Those figures amount to little more than a rounding error when compared to numbers from the southern border. Fentanyl seizures there last year amounted to approximately 21,100 pounds, or 9,500 kg. In the last three years, the lowest monthly figure for fentanyl seizures at the southern border was 461 pounds, or almost seven times the amount seized at the Canadian border during the entire three-year period."  Is this a large amount compared to China?  Not at all.  "U.S. coastal and interior seizures, which would presumably include China, totalled 1,583 pounds (718 kg) over the last three years — 10 times less than the supply from the southern border, yet still more than 25 times as much as was arriving from Canada."

There is a lot of talk about fentanyl.  Why isn't there more discussion about all the illegal American guns that are smuggled into Canada. They are used to commit crimes in this country.  One of the many reasons why most Canadians don't want to become the 51st state is America's lack of gun control laws.  Most Canadians don't want automatic weapons and school shootings.  

Most Canadians value our public heath care.  We don't want to lose the Canada Health Act.  The people of the province of Quebec do not want to be forced to abandon the French language.  That's exactly what will happen if Trump lays his grubby hands on our country.

Yet, Trump insists on slapping tariffs on Canada.  As of the writing, he has announced a 25 per cent tariff on steel and aluminum.  Guess which country sells the most steel and aluminum to the United States?  Canada does, by far.  Wouldn't it be preferable for the United States to work with Canada in order to solve problems, rather than to punish Canada.  Unfortunately, that's not the way Trump operates.

Donald Trump has colonial ambitions.  He seems to have a great deal in common with his good buddy, Vladimir Putin of Russia.  It's likely Putin will equate Trump's quest for empire with his own invasion of Ukraine and future invasions of other territories..  If the United States can annex Canada and Greenland, why can't Russia annex Ukraine?" Putin will ask.

Sadly for the United States, America's image around the world has suffered greatly since Trump's return to the White House.  I realize that millions of Americans did not vote for that madman.  I am not blaming them.  I hope that they let their voices be heard in defence of Canada.  However, Trump was duly elected and he is already causing chaos around the globe.

Donald Trump, stay away from Canada!.  Leave us alone and mind your own business!  We don't want a trade war.  We have never asked for this.  You have foisted it upon us.  You are threatening our sovereignty.  You are also punishing American consumers.  Nobody wins a trade war.  It is a lose-lose proposition.  

Canada's very existence as an independent nation is being threatened by a big bully.  We have to resist the bully or we will lose our precious country.  That's why Canadians are boycotting American products.  That's why Canadians are cancelling vacations to the United States.  That's why the sales of Canadian flags have hit the roof since Trump announced his plans to impose tariffs.  By the way, February 15th is Flag Day in Canada.  We officially adopted our Maple Leaf flag on February 15, 1965, almost exactly 60 years ago.  According to Murray Jefferies of Flying Colours International in Toronto, sales of Canadian flags have increased "I would say 50 per cent."  It's heartening to know that some of those purchasing Canadian flags are Americans.

In the words Canadian-born singer Joni Mitchell in her song Big Yellow Taxi:

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone

- Joanne