by 
U.S.
President
Donald
Trump’s
imbecilic
and
unnecessary
suggestion
that
Canada
should
become
the
51st
state
has
led
some
of
my
own
family
members
—
on
my
wife’s
side,
who
are
Canadian
—
not
to
travel
to
the
United
States,
even
in
the
midst
of
winter.
Now
this
is
personal.
The
dislike
that
some
Canadians
feel
toward
Trump,
and
America
in
general,
is
something
I
experienced
at
a
wedding
of
one
of
my
wife’s
cousins,
shortly
after
Trump’s
first
term.
At
what
should
have
been
a
non-political
event,
one
of
the
speakers
attacked
the
United
States
with
such
vehemence,
it
made
me
want
to
leave
the
room
—
and
I’m
no
Trump
supporter.
Trump’s
recent
pronouncements
have
also
led
to
informal
boycotts
of
U.S.
goods
and
cancelled
vacations
to
the
U.S.
Also
witness
the
almost
un-Canadian
nationalist
celebrations
over
the
recent
defeat
of
the
U.S.
hockey
team.
Although
Trump’s
national
security
advisor,
Mike
Waltz,
has
dampened
“invasion”
talk,
Canadians
have
reasons
to
be
outraged
by
Trump’s
threats,
and
perhaps
there’s
something
good
about
restoring
Canada’s
beleaguered
sense
of
national
pride.
Yet
as
nationalist
surges
tend
to
do,
it
has
led
to
greater
support
for
the
current
Liberal
government.
If
this
allows
the
Liberals
to
stay
in
power,
it
would
be
tragic
for
both
countries.
What
Canada
needs,
more
than
even
good
relations
with
the
U.S.,
is
a
dramatic
shift
from
the
ruinous
policies
that
have
made
it
an
economic
laggard
with
a
stunted
military,
and
now
a
global
partner
in
the
anti-Israel
jihad
of
the
global
left.
Sadly,
if
Conservative
Leader
Pierre
Poilievre
were
prime
minister
instead
of
Justin
Trudeau,
perhaps
Trump’s
rhetoric
wouldn’t
be
so
vociferously
belligerent.
Trudeau
is
everything
Trump
hates
—
a
would-be
European
with
typically
progressive
positions
on
everything
from
COVID
lockdowns
to
internet
censorship,
net-zero
policies
and
racial
abasement.
He
may
not
be
an
authoritarian
of
the
Putin
mould,
but
he’s
hardly
someone
you
would
rely
on
in
the
trenches.
Yet
to
my
Canadian
extended
family,
I
would
say
this:
there
are
lessons
to
be
learned
from
Trump’s
attacks.
Nowhere
is
this
clearer
as
in
areas
like
immigration,
defence
and
protectionism.
For
many
Canadians,
the
threat
of
high
tariffs
is
the
most
pressing
danger,
as
it
threatens
to
unravel
the
last
remaining
stronghold
of
Canadian
industry,
automobiles,
and
could
also
hit
the
country’s
resource
industry,
notably
oil.
In
terms
of
merchandise
trade,
Canada
had
a
$100-billion
trade
surplus
with
the
U.S.
last
year.
Read
the
rest
of
this
piece
at
National
Post.
Joel
Kotkin
is
the
author
of
The
Coming
of
Neo-Feudalism:
A
Warning
to
the
Global
Middle
Class.
He
is
the
Roger
Hobbs
Presidential
Fellow
in
Urban
Futures
at
Chapman
University
and
and
directs
the
Center
for
Demographics
and
Policy
there.
He
is
Senior
Research
Fellow
at
the
Civitas
Institute
at
the
University
of
Texas
in
Austin.
Learn
more
at
joelkotkin.com
and
follow
him
on
Twitter
@joelkotkin.
Photo:
White
House
45
via
Flickr,
under
Public
Domain.
Go to Source
Author: Joel Kotkin
