Canada Is Having the Wrong Fight

While Canadians tear each other apart over left versus right, the president next door has already told us what he wants.

Something about Canadian politics has been bothering the hell out of me.

We’re fighting the wrong war.

Alberta versus Ottawa.

East versus West.

Liberals versus Conservatives.

Carney versus Poilievre.

Left versus right.

Meanwhile, just south of the border sits the president of the United States… a man who has repeatedly talked about Canada becoming America’s 51st state.

And somehow we’re still treating Canadian unity like just another partisan issue.

It isn’t.

Not anymore.

Trump Already Told Us

This is the part Canadians need to stop explaining away.

Donald Trump was asked whether he would use military force to take Canada.

His answer was no.

Then came the part that mattered.

Economic force.

Think about that for a moment.

The president of our largest trading partner publicly discussed using America’s overwhelming economic power against Canada while simultaneously talking about eliminating the border between our countries.

That isn’t something I invented.

It isn’t Liberal propaganda.

It isn’t something Mark Carney dreamed up to scare voters.

Trump said it.

And since then Canada has faced tariffs, trade threats and continuing economic pressure from Washington.

So perhaps Canadians should start taking the man at his word.

And Then Something Even Stranger Happened

While all this was happening, Alberta separatists weren’t merely complaining about Ottawa from Calgary.

Representatives of the Alberta Prosperity Project travelled to Washington and met officials from the Trump administration.

The Americans described these as routine meetings with civil-society organizations and said no commitments were made.

Fair enough.

But stand back from Canadian partisan politics for ten bloody seconds and look at what happened.

A movement attempting to separate a Canadian province from Canada sought discussions with officials representing a foreign government whose president had openly talked about absorbing Canada.

You don’t need an ugly word to describe that.

You don’t even need me to tell you what to think about it.

Just read the sentence again.

Canadians Have Every Right to Fight With Their Government

This needs saying because somebody will deliberately pretend I said otherwise.

You have every right to hate Mark Carney.

You can despise the Liberal Party.

You can think Pierre Poilievre would make a better prime minister.

You can protest.

You can organize.

You can campaign.

And when the next election comes, you can throw the government out.

That’s Canada.

That’s democracy.

But there is a difference between opposing your government and weakening your country while another government is applying pressure against it.

That distinction matters now.

A lot.

Why Are We Campaigning Like There’s an Election Tomorrow?

Open Canadian social media and you’d swear the writ had dropped this morning.

Carney hate.

Poilievre for Prime Minister.

Liberal hate.

Conservative hate.

Alberta rage.

Ottawa rage.

Memes, clips, insults and outrage fired back and forth all bloody day.

We’re becoming so consumed with defeating one another that sometimes you’d barely know the country itself was under external economic pressure.

And that should worry every Canadian — Liberal, Conservative, NDP, Green or somebody who wouldn’t vote for any of the bastards if you paid them.

Because sovereignty isn’t partisan.

Left Versus Right Is the Wrong Map

I think this is the biggest mistake we’re making.

We’re still looking at Canada through the old political map.

Left over here.

Right over there.

Liberals here.

Conservatives there.

But there’s another line running through Canadian politics now.

Canada decides Canada’s future.

Or somebody else gets increasing power to decide it for us.

That’s the line I care about.

I don’t need Conservatives to become Liberals.

I don’t want Albertans to shut up about legitimate grievances.

I don’t expect 40-plus million Canadians to suddenly agree on pipelines, taxes, immigration, climate policy or what colour the bloody curtains should be.

I want something much simpler.

Canada first.

Then we fight among ourselves.

East Versus West Is a Luxury We Can’t Afford Right Now

Western alienation is real.

So are grievances in Quebec.

Atlantic Canada has its grievances.

Ontario has grievances.

Hell, complaining about Ottawa may be the closest thing Canada has to a national sport that doesn’t require ice.

Fine.

Fight about them.

But they’re Canadian fights.

We settle them with Canadian elections, Canadian courts, Canadian legislatures and Canadian voters.

We don’t need Washington helping decide them.

Especially not this Washington.

Because the United States isn’t currently behaving like a neutral spectator in Canada’s future.

Its president told us that himself.

Here’s My Line

I don’t require anybody to support Mark Carney 100%.

That’s democracy.

I don’t require anybody to vote Liberal.

That’s democracy too.

But I absolutely expect Canadians… especially Canadian political leaders… to put the sovereignty of this country ahead of their opportunity to damage another Canadian political party.

If Washington attacks a Liberal government, Conservatives don’t have to defend Liberal policies.

They should defend Canada.

If Washington attacks a Conservative government someday, Liberals should do exactly the same thing.

Because governments change.

Countries shouldn’t.

Maybe We Need to Ask a Different Question

Instead of asking…

Are you Liberal or Conservative?

Maybe the question for this moment is…

Does what you’re doing strengthen Canada’s ability to determine its own future… or weaken it?

That’s a much more uncomfortable question.

It applies to politicians.

It applies to separatists.

It applies to influencers.

It applies to me.

And it applies to every Canadian sharing political content online.

We can settle left versus right later.

We can settle Alberta versus Ottawa.

We can settle pipelines.

We can settle carbon taxes.

We can settle equalization.

We can settle Carney versus Poilievre at the ballot box.

But first there has to remain a sovereign country called Canada in which to have those arguments.

And when the president next door has already told us he wants that country absorbed into his own?

Maybe tearing Canada apart on his behalf isn’t the smartest bloody strategy.

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ONE SMALL ASK: SHARE THIS.

Canada can survive political disagreement.

What we cannot afford is allowing those disagreements to become more important than the country itself.

Liberal. Conservative. NDP. Green. None of the above.

For this fight, the jersey says CANADA.

If this article made you think, pass it to another Canadian.

Canada first. We can fight about the rest tomorrow.

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