Linda

How is it possible for a Canadian politician to comment on this *without even mentioning* the constant, unprovoked attacks on our economy, and our sovereignty, by the Trump Administration? This comment👇 bizarrely suggests that the Governments of Canada and Ontario are to blame for MAGA protectionism. Why is the Blame Canada crowd so eager to forget that Canada negotiated and respected the terms of both NAFTA and CUSMA, but that the Trump Administration decided to begin levying prejudicial tariffs on Canada immediately after taking office? Are Mr. Jivani and his fellow travellers suggesting that Canada somehow began this trade war? Or that we should just cravenly surrender to the latest demands of the United States, no matter how outrageous, up to and including a US veto on Canadian trade with other countries? Are Mark Carney and Doug Ford responsible for President Trump threatening to “use economic force” to “annex or acquire Canada?” (January 7, 2020) Did Carney or Ford cause Trump to talk endlessly about making Canada “the 51st state,” or about our “imaginary border” based on a “fake treaty?” Did they send President Trump the maps he displayed in the Oval Office depicting Canada as subsumed by the United States? Are Ford or Carney to blame for dishonouring Canada’s war dead (“they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines;” “they’re never been there for us.”) Was Stephen Harper somehow responsible for hoodwinking the Americans when he agreed that Canadian taxpayers would pay 100% of the Gordon Howe Bridge costs in exchange for toll revenues? Did Canadian governments contrive the calumnies used to justify US tariffs, like: - Canada is a major source of fentanyl exports (when the data confirm that less than 1% of US fentanyl imports are from Canada); - Canada is a major source of illegal migration (when the data confirm that less than 5% of illegal border crossings to the US are from Canada); - Canada is a hotbed of modern slavery / human trafficking (the insane rationale employed for today’s 50% tariffs); When JD Vance said “the whole point of this (dispute) is to change Canada’s behaviour,” what did he mean? Change the behaviour of a reliable friend and ally that honours its trade agreements, while respecting its sovereignty? Of course it’s fair and legitimate to offer constructive criticism of how Canadian governments have managed this impossibly difficult crisis. But surely after 18 months of these provocations and attacks, it’s time to put patriotism ahead of partisanship.