Saturday January 25, 2025 | LANGFORD, BC
Opinion-Editorial by Devin Dignam | Posted by Island Social Trends
Since Donald Trump was elected a second time, the federal and provincial governments have been scrambling to decide how to respond to his threat of applying tariffs to Canadian goods.
“Is he joking?”
“Does he really mean it?”
“What should we do about it?”
The panic really started to set in when Trump said he would use “economic force” to annex Canada.
But the reality is that Canada gave away most of its sovereignty decades ago. Internationally, Canada largely does what the United States tells it to do.
In the 80’s, supposedly worried about being overrun by the US, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney promised not to pursue a Canada-US free trade deal. A few years later, he changed his mind – and as John Turner put it – “sold us out”. Ultimately, Canadians agreed with Turner, because they reduced Mulroney’s Conservative Party to just two seats at the next available opportunity.
NAFTA factor:
The next PM, Jean Chretien, had campaigned to renegotiate or pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). When he called up Bill Clinton to ask to change the terms of the agreement, Clinton refused and told Chretien that Canada could either accept NAFTA as it was or cancel it altogether. Given that choice, Chretien broke his promise and stuck with NAFTA.
But he did get Clinton to write a non-legally binding letter that said that the US wasn’t interested in Canada’s energy and water, which was just as meaningful as Mulroney’s and Chretien’s promises.
In subsequent decades, NAFTA allowed increasing foreign investment in Canada, and the Canadian and US economies became further entwined.
As Canada has urbanized and our governments have pursued policies that encourage suburban sprawl, our concrete jungle is largely filled with US franchises like Walmart and Costco; on South Vancouver Island, there are 15 McDonald’s restaurants south of the Malahat. Even iconic Canadian brands like Tim Horton’s, The Bay, and Canada Dry are US-owned.
American cultural & media dominance:
Our media, too, is dominated by US companies. While Canadian actors, musicians, directors, and even cities continue to have a strong presence, most of the TV, films, and music Canadians consume are set in the US and created by US companies. The CBC, which once dominated Canadian airwaves, is a shell of its former self, and if Canadians are foolish enough to put Pierre Poilievre in charge, it may cease to exist entirely.
As the rise of the internet has killed off print media, small communities have lost their local news, and our larger communities are dominated by just a handful of media conglomerates.
Postmedia, Canada’s largest print news media company, runs more than 130 brands, including major papers like the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Ottawa Citizen, Vancouver Sun, and Toronto Sun. And it’s owned by a US hedge fund.
To paraphrase Sonny Vaccaro, Canada has already sold its soul, and as long as we keep pulling political parties and leaders from the same tired pile of corporate propagandists, it will continue selling it.
Demand more of politicians:
What should we do about it? For starters, we need to demand more from our politicians. When Donald Trump decided that he could gain concessions from a renegotiated NAFTA, he was right: the Canadian team, led by Justin Trudeau and Chrystia Freeland, caved like a Walmart folding chair. Now, after being elected a second time, Trump isn’t satisfied with his 2018 deal and is pushing for more concessions, this time via tariffs.
Trump has also already compared Canadian water supplies to “a very large faucet” that he wants to direct southward. If you give this man a centimetre, he’ll take a mile; tell the man that he deserves to treat himself to a very personal, very intimate moment of self-care, and be done with it.
While the Liberals have failed to meet the challenge, Poilievre and the Conservatives are busy genuflecting to Trump and his merry band of tech robber barons. Poilievre has enjoyed having his imitation junk raised by Trump’s far-right tide and is loath to criticize him. Meanwhile, having made itself entirely irrelevant during the last parliamentary session, the NDP wanders about fecklessly, believing that what Canadians want right now is just another version of the Liberals, but with less historical baggage.
Canadians need to do more:
Canadians must exert their power in response to ‘leadership’ of this calibre. In France, people jump at the slightest chance to march in the streets, but in recent decades Canadians won’t budge even in the face of blatant provocation. Workers need to join and form unions, go on strike, and ignore attempts to force them back to work using legislation designed to serve corporate interests.
Canada needs more crown corporations and co-ops to ensure that all Canadians benefit from national prosperity. Instead of relying on raw material exports, Canada needs to develop its own industries. Finally, Canada needs to diversify its trading partners; it’s no longer safe to put so many eggs into the cuckoo’s nest.
This is just a start; through incompetence and malice, Canada is facing several simultaneous crises. If we want Canada to exist 25 years from now, these crises must be resolved relatively quickly. We all need to realize that there is more to the political process than simply voting every four years and insist that our voices take priority over the corporate propaganda that got us into this mess.
===== ABOUT THE WRITER:
Devin Dignam is a Langford resident with his eye on the political ball.
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