Ever since the re-election of Donald Trump earlier this month, the most interesting question in Canadian politics has been “Who gets it?” That’s the main thing I’ve been looking for, and I think some of our leaders get it — or are starting to, at least.
Doug Ford doesn’t get it. Or didn’t, anyway, up until Tuesday afternoon.
On Monday night, president-elect Trump announced via a post on his Truth Social app that, as one of his first acts upon retaking the Oval Office in January, he would levy a 25 per cent tariff against all goods coming in from Canada and Mexico until those two countries fix the problems Trump says exist along the border. That’s a careful bit of phrasing on my part, so let me explain: I don’t disagree that there are issues for the United States along both borders. I don’t necessarily accept that the issues are the same on both borders or that Trump has accurately characterized the overall situation. But, in any case, Canada now has less than two months to figure out what it can do, assuming it can do anything, to satisfy the president-elect’s demands.
It’s very possible that we can do enough. Trump is a negotiator and a dealmaker, and we have to see his social-media post through that lens. He is establishing a strong opening position, and we’ll negotiate him down from there. That’s the good news, such as it is. The bad news, though, is that there’s no reason to assume Trump is going to do this only once. After we meet his demands on the border, he could demand that Canada take on more of the burden of the military defence of North America and the Western alliance. After we’ve drafted a bunch of people and launched a fleet of new warships and sent a heavily armed stabilization force to Haiti, he could come after us for our dairy subsidies. Once we give way on that, it’ll be getting tough on white-collar crime or telecom access or airline access. And so on and so on and so on. It’ll be one damned thing after another.
The broad contours of this were clear to me by about 1:30 in the morning on the day after (or night of, if you prefer) the U.S. election. As I keep saying, the party is over. Some of Trump’s demands will be basically utterly bogus, and others may be arguably unreasonable, but some of them are absolutely going to be fair, and Canada has, to my enormous frustration, left itself very, very vulnerable to his brand of pressure. We have utterly failed as a country to adapt to a changing world order by getting this country onto a more serious footing on any number of fronts, especially trade and defence. We were warned by friendlier U.S. administrations, including by presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. We didn’t listen. That was idiotic, and I can only hope not suicidal on our parts. Trump is going to get his way.
And, as noted above, the fascinating issue is going to be who figures this out fastest in Canadian politics. It was clearly not Ford.
At apress conference on Tuesday, a clearly emotional Ford lamented that Trump would target Canada, America’s best friend, like this. Ford said he was personally insulted that Trump would compare Canada to Mexico. But the key part of what Ford said is worth quoting directly, if in slightly trimmed form: “We received the biggest threat we’ve ever received from our closest friend and ally, from president-elect Trump ... They are threatening to put a 25 per cent tariff on all goods coming across the border into the U.S ... It’s like a family member stabbing you right in the heart. I spend a lot of time in the U.S. And I have yet to talk to one American that has any issue with Canadians. And I want to emphasize ... to compare us to Mexico is the most insulting thing I’ve ever heard from our friends and closest allies, the United States of America. We want to work together. We will work together. We will resolve this problem.”
Note for future column purposes: What the hell did Mexico ever do to Doug? Is there a story there? The Mexico thing aside, I was genuinely disheartened to hear the premier respond that way — especially because I could tell that he was genuinely upset. I get it, on some level. I do. I too have huge affection and admiration for the U.S., its people, its history, and its traditional values. I am also a regular visitor to the U.S. I have many friends and family members there. I have always felt at home there while visiting.
But none of that matters anymore. Because Donald Trump DGAF.
(DGAF, my editor informs me, shall be understood for the purposes of this column to mean “Doesn’t give a frig.” Sure. Let’s go with that.)
Canada and the U.S. have a long history of peaceful co-existence and co-operation. But Trump DGAF.
Canadian and U.S. troops have fought shoulder to shoulder in many of the world’s great battles, from the trenches of Europe to the beaches of Normandy to the far-flung islands of Alaska to Afghanistan. Blood binds us together. But Trump DGAF.
Canada and America have unbelievably tight cultural and social ties. Probably the best and warmest relationship on the planet. But Trump DGAF.
Canadians and Americans are routine visitors to each other’s countries. Our “people to people” ties are extraordinary. It’s hard to find an American or Canadian without some direct personal link to the other country, often a family one. But Trump DGAF.
Canada and America have a tightly integrated economy and lots of mutual dependency in our supply chains and defence industries. Trump might give a small F about that, but only a very small one.
This is what Ford and others need to understand. It’s not that all the ties that bind Canada and the U.S. together, and Canadians and Americans together, are gone. They’re all still there. But Trump DGAF about them. He has a different agenda. He has different goals. He’s going to act accordingly. And he isn’t going to be deterred by fond memories of Ronald Reagan and Brian Mulroney belting out a rousing rendition of “When Irish Eyes are Smiling” or the awesomeness of the Canadarm.
Trump DGAF. Ford and our other leaders need to get this. We can deal with Trump, but it’s going to have to be exactly that — a deal. Our country depends on our leaders figuring this out. Now. Today.
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