Message for Canada – Beware the Ides of
March and a Trump Presidency
“Perceptions” by Gerry Warner
Surprise, surprise. I didn’t get an
invitation to President Trump’s inauguration. But in the unlikely event I had,
would I have attended? Not likely and I suspect most other Canadians wouldn’t
either except for Kevin O’Leary, the reality TV star – if “star” is the right
word – of the Dragon’s Den and Shark Tank and would-be leader of the
Conservative Party.
That’s right. After the devastating defeat
of the Iceman himself, Stephen Harper, Kevin O’Leary is now considered one of
the frontrunners in the Conservative leadership race. Can you imagine a North
America led by Donald Trump and Kevin O’Leary, both of whom learned their
political chops in the la la land of reality TV?
Perish the thought! But in a digital world
ruled by Facebook and Twitter this is not as bizarre as it sounds. In a world where the American president is one
of the biggest fans of Vladimir Putin, anything is possible.
But let’s get back to the Great White
North, which like it or not, shares the world’s longest undefended border with a
country led by a loquacious loudmouth determined “to make America great again.”
What will this mean for the 35 million of us shivering in the snowy attic of
North America? Nothing good, I’m sure.
For starters, the Home of the Brave and
Land of the Free has caught another bout of protectionist fever and Trump with
his world-wide business empire is the Ultimate Protectionist. The implications of this for Canada are
starkly obvious. Good-bye North America Free Trade agreement. Good-bye the
newly signed Trans-Pacific Partnership and good-bye making any agreement that
will benefit Canada in its dealings with the Colossus of Washington. How can a
country whose industry is already largely owned by Wall Street stand up to the
American juggernaut? The only reason we’ve done as well as we have is that,
like it or not, Americans are hardly aware of us and when they do think of us
it’s in terms of the Gentle Giant of the North that always does what it’s told
by Uncle Sam and wouldn’t harm its biggest trading partner.
Hey, don’t knock it. It’s thanks to this
indifferent attitude towards Canada that we’ve done as well as we have in
dealing with the American Empire. They haven’t invaded us since the War of
1812. Despite their bellicose policy of
Manifest Destiny more than a century ago, all they did was gobble up large
parts of Mexico, the Caribbean, Hawaii, the Philippines and the Alaskan pan handle,
when the British sold us out, and left us blissfully alone to cut down trees,
till the land and play hockey. In fact, we did remarkably well in some of our
past dealings with the “Military Industrial Complex” (Eisenhower’s term) such
as NAFTA, the Columbia River Treaty and the Softwood Lumber Agreement. With
more than 10 times our population and the world’s most powerful military, they
could have dictated those agreements to us, but instead they negotiated and
agreements were signed that allowed both countries to prosper.
Do you think Mr. “Make America Great” again
is going to treat us so kindly? If you do, you’re dreaming in 3-D because Trump
has already rattled his saber on NAFTA and his administration has engaged in
similar saber rattling over re-negotiating the Columbia River Treaty and the Softwood
Lumber Agreement, both of which affect us directly in the Kootenays.
However, maybe there’s hope. The last time
Trump was in Canada he was caught in a brief CBC video in September boarding a
plane and said he “loved Canada” and wouldn’t build a wall on the Canadian-US
border. Maybe the great 18th-century poet Alexander Pope said it
best: “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.”
Is there any “hope” for Canada in Trump’s
breast? We’re soon going to find out.
Gerry Warner is a retired journalist, who’s
hoping that Trump will act completely out of character as president.
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