Canada in His Crosshairs

"Governor Trudeau understood that [President Trump's characterization of Canada's former finance minister Chrystia Freeland as a 'whack']. And he actually fired her because of a meeting he had with me."

"I said, 'She is so bad. She's bad for the country."

"[Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's] biggest problem is he's not a MAGA guy."

"[Poilievre is] not positive about me. I don't know. I mean, I can't tell you, Pierre. I just don't know. I don't like what he's saying about me. It's just not positive about me."

"And we've done a great job."

U.S. President Donald Trump

 

 

Evidently the current political scene in Canada as it prepares for an election that most Canadians hope will result in seeing the last of current prime minister Justin Trudeau has caught President Trump's attention. Trudeau's governing Liberal party has been a decade of declining Canadian fortunes. In the sphere of economics, of social cohesion, of mass immigration that has seen a proliferation of ardent Islamists infiltrating society and government. A lack of adequate attention to incoming migrants and their capacity to accept Canadian culture, laws and social mores has led to increasing criminality and total lawlessness.

 

Their numbers have helped to overwhelm the country's universal medicare system. The housing market is facing severe shortages due to increased demand. The nation's social safety net has been stretched out of proportion to its capacity to do justice to the needs of the established population, now exacerbated by the entry of millions of immigrants, illegal migrants, refugees, foreign students and migrant farm workers. The incompetence of the governing Liberals led by the preening, political/social divisiveness of Justin Trudeau whose normalization of Critical Race Theory, DEI and environmental 'concerns' have torn Canadian society apart, and beggared the economy.

 

 

Through all of this, the last possible thing the country needs is the needling interference of a foreign government, one that threatens to bring the Canadian economy to its knees, offering relief should Canada agree to become the 51st State in the American union. The stiff tariffs he has threatened to impose on Canadian imports to the United States, the country's largest trading partner and neighbour, would be ruinous to Canadian industry and just incidentally impact the American economy deleteriously as well.

 

In the auto sector, for example, the two countries' production is massively intertwined. An additional tax burden would be reflected in an equally troublesome burden for American consumers as well. The former Canadian finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, viewed as distastefully by the Canadian electorate as her formerly-adored boss, Justin Trudeau, is now running for election to replace him, following his resignation after her own, when it was revealed that he had once again undermined one of his top Cabinet ministers. 

 

President Trump recalls his personal distaste for Ms. Freeland who played a key role in the continental trade pact that replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement, during his first tenure as U.S. President. "I don't back down -- and Trump and Putin know it. I'm ready to fight for Canada -- and win", she responded to President Trump's insults expressed during an interview with The Spectator.

 

Canada has been thrown into the disarray of uncertainty following President Trumps executive order implementing a 25 percent tariff on Canadian and Mexican imports, which many experts interpret as a move by the president to place pressure on both countries prior to a re-negotiation of the successor to NAFTA by the Canada-Mexico-United States trade agreement, due to take place in a year's time.

 

Canadian officials have been travelling to Washington and to border U.S. states for months in an effort to rally American support against the imposition of trade tariffs, potentially ruinous to both countries. Canadian law enforcement and border officials have also travelled to the U.S. capital to meet with lawmakers and members of President Trump's inner circle in government. Among the issues Canada and Mexico were charged with, was their lax attention to the opioids and illegal migrants flooding into the U.S. across Mexican and Canadian borders.

 

In the instance of both, Canada is responsible for a vanishingly low number; some 2%, as opposed to maximum numbers around 70% through Mexico. Canada's Public Safety Minister responded that "any test that was put on this country, on Canada, in terms of showing progress and meeting standards for the border -- I believe those have been met."  The President's targets of complaints against his North American neighbours have wide range -- from defence spending to trade deficits. And throughout these complaints have been added President Trump's vision of Canada succumbing to America's Divine Destiny, as a 51st State.

 

In a Fox News interview on Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump said his wish to make the 51st state is real. Photo by JIM WATSON /Getty