If this fight continues, the federal government may have to consider overriding Danielle Smith’s objections. The pain of tariffs needs to be shared across the country. If Ontario and Quebec are facing tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles, every province has to do their part. 

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on March 17, 2025.

OTTAWA—The roller-coaster ride facing our country is unlikely to end soon.

U.S. President Donald Trump is doubling down on his false claims that Canada is responsible for the tariff wars engulfing both countries.

And he continues to repeat that Canada’s best economic path would be to simply join the United States. Trump has been publicly questioning the boundaries between the two countries, and the organizations that manage boundary issues and shared watersheds.

The International Boundary Commission has maintained the integrity of the border since a treaty signed in 1925. The current boundary was surveyed and demarcated in 1908. Since that time, there has been zero claim that the border designation is wrong.

But we are dealing with a president who thinks he can rename the Gulf of Mexico simply by executive order.

He can also decide that news organizations refusing to carry the Gulf of America geographic designation will no longer be part of the White House press pool.

Reuters and the Associated Press have both been kept out of White House briefings for not bowing to the president’s order.

The White House Correspondence Association used to be responsible for managing the media membership and presidential pool access. It has criticized the change in policy, but Trump has said he wants new media included.

The president has also decided to further snuff out free speech by authorizing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport anyone in the country on a temporary permit who participates in legal demonstrations.

So much for America’s First Amendment guaranteeing free speech.

Trump’s disrespect for Canada continues apace, even though the vast majority of Canadians have made it very clear that they are not interested in becoming the 51st state.

The only organized group that seems lukewarm to the fight for Canada is the truckers’ Ottawa occupation group.

Leader Tamara Lich—still awaiting the verdict in her trial for mischief, intimidation and counselling people to break the law—went on social media to complain about the slogan “Elbows Up,” calling it “the stupidest slogan I ever heard of.”

Mike Myers didn’t agree with her. In his recent appearance on Saturday Night Live, the Canadian comedian launched the “elbows up” movement after playing Elon Musk on the show. At the very end of the episode, Myers opened his vest, showing his ‘Canada Is Not For Sale’ T-shirt, and mouthed the words “elbows up” message while crooking his left elbow up. Every Canadian knew exactly what he meant. #ElbowsUp became a rallying cry that Liberal Leader Mark Carney referenced in his victory speech at the party convention last weekend, as did outgoing prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Some of the Liberal government’s more vocal opponents don’t like the unity message. It will be interesting to see how the leader of the official opposition manages this national consensus.

Pierre Poilievre has expended so much political energy to convince people that Canada is broken that it is tough for him to embrace a national, united fight for the country.

His core support draws from anti-vax truckers and if he appears to be too pro-Canada, that could cost him dearly. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has made it clear she will risk nothing in her tariff fight.

While most other premiers appear focused on this existential fight of our lives, Smith heads off to Florida March 27 to headline a conservative event with Ben Shapiro, a strong supporter of the plan to overrun our nation.

“When we take over Canada, you will be expelled to Panama to work the canal,” he wrote in a social post to prime minister Justin Trudeau in January.

Alberta New Democratic Party Leader Naheed Nenshi called Smith’s participation in the US$1,500 ticketed event, “Despicable. These are not the kind of people that Albertans want her associating with,” Nenshi told reporters.

Smith defended her participation, saying she will be influencing millions of followers on Shapiro’s social media account.

The premier has also been on Breitbart, saying she is getting the message out, but unlike Ontario Premier Doug Ford, her main strategy appears to be appeasement.

Smith repeatedly states that Alberta will not retaliate with oil and gas tariffs, even though the brief threat of electricity tariffication got Trump’s attention.

If this fight continues, the federal government may have to consider overriding her objections. The pain of tariffs needs to be shared across the country. If Ontario and Quebec are facing tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles, every province has to do their part.

A fuel tariff would be immediate cause a hike in gasoline prices south of the border. Gas-guzzling pro-Trump truckers would not be amused.

Canada needs all elbows up!

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

United States President Donald Trump has been able to turn most of the world against him, but his unfair tariff war against Canada will also bring some positive changes to Canadian public policy.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on March 10, 2025.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is going out on a high.

So much so that some believe he will remain prime minister until a quick election makes a decision on future leadership.

The thinking behind this new political twist is that Trudeau would be able to fight the tariff war internationally while the new Liberal leader would focus on fighting the opposition in a Canada-wide campaign.

That decision will be up to the winner.

United States President Donald Trump has been able to turn most of the world against him, but his unfair tariff war against our country will also bring some positive changes to Canadian public policy.

Canadians are united in their resolve to fight what Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly characterizes as an existential threat.

Former Alberta United Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney has come out gangbusters, lauding Canada’s decision to fight American tariffs with all possible tools at our disposal.

His social media message was an indirect hit at current UCP leader Danielle Smith, the only domestic leader who has been publicly undermining the Canadian tariff response strategy.

Only minutes after Trump announced illegal 25-per-cent tariffs on almost everything, and a 10-per-cent tariff on energy, Smith undercut the feds by announcing on an American media outlet that she would not retaliate with her tariffs on oil and gas.

Any good negotiator would never make such an admission on Fox News in a foreign country without having a discussion with Canadian partners. Smith obviously doesn’t have much concern for industries other than Alberta’s petroleum producers. Her official response is that she is onside with the prime minister and other premiers, but her actions say otherwise. Like Trump, she is an untrustworthy ally.

Compare Smith’s response to that of re-elected Progressive Conservative Ontario Premier Doug Ford. He is threatening to cut off electrical exports, and has cancelled the $100-million Starlink satellite deal with Elon Musk’s company.

Ford’s aggressive response caught Washington’s attention, as well, so much so that he received a call from American tariff designer, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Lutnick tried to convince Ford that Canada should enter into negotiations to lower the illegal tariffs.

Ford pushed back and insisted that the only negotiation was to end the tariffs totally.

United against the tariff war—possibly minus Premier Smith—Canadians have also seen this fight for our sovereignty spread to Quebec.

For the first time, the premier of Quebec is on the same page as the rest of the country. For the first time, the fight for sovereignty is not aimed at Ottawa, but at Washington, D.C.

Josh Morgan, mayor of London, Ont., and chair of the Canadian Federation of Municipalities big city mayors’ caucus, is calling for municipalities to change procurement rules to encourage “Buy Non-American” purchases. Morgan says the 25-per-cent tariffs have forced municipalities to move away from American purchasing where possible.

That means sourcing Canadian or international replacements for anything that municipalities, hospitals, schools, and other public institutions purchase.

A “Buy Canadian” strategy embraced by municipalities across the country could be huge. Provincial and federal institutions need to follow suit, including Crown corporations.

The federal government is the largest property owner and purchaser in the nation, and a shift in procurement policy to buy Canadian could rejuvenate businesses hit by Trump’s economic attack.

Quebecers are motivated because they also know that if Trump’s annexation threat were to come true, he would quickly squash the French language in public policy.

The idea that a country is founded on two official languages is an anathema to Trump’s vision of a white, anti-diversity population.

The president’s new slogan is “Make America Rich Again,” but the stock market reaction to his tariffs doesn’t match his rhetoric.

Fox News carried an analysis of the tariffication on trucks, saying it would boost the cost of a Dodge Ram truck from $80,000 to $100,000.

One dealer in Pennsylvania told Fox News that a truck purchase cancellation has already occurred because of the price hike.

House prices in the U.S. are expected to jump 10 per cent, and Republicans—facing trouble in their districts with lost Canadian booze and orange juice sales—are starting to knock on the president’s door.

Trump’s tariff war has woken up his base at home. When the market for bourbon and trucks is facing a crisis, you know the president will have to act.

An offer to negotiate his illegal tariffs should be a non-starter for Canada.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

Donald Trump keeps saying that Canada will be better off, with a better health-care system, better jobs and a better economy if it joins the United States.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on February 17, 2025.

OTTAWA—Sixty years have passed since Canada broke from British tradition to adopt a unique flag.

The distinctive red Maple Leaf is now recognized around the world as a symbol of Canada, but it was a much more divisive debate six decades ago.

With the exception of U.S. President Donald Trump, most people see our flag as a symbol of freedom and diversity. It often adorns backpacks of young travellers as a flag that is welcomed everywhere.

It wasn’t always so. In 1965, the Progressive Conservatives thought the adoption of a new flag was an insult to those who fought in two world wars under the unofficial national Red Ensign. The ensign included a smaller union jack and a Canadian coat of arms.

Former prime minister John Diefenbaker made it his personal mission to fight the flag.

Prime minister Lester Pearson preferred another design, which included three red flags attached by a stem with a blue border. The original designer of the flag, Mount Allison University historian George Stanley, received death threats.

The Tories voted for the single maple leaf design, thinking Liberals would support the tri-leaf version that was called the Pearson Pennant. Instead, Liberals also supported the single Maple Leaf, and an all-party committee voted 15-0 in favour of the Stanley-designed flag that was inspired by the flag of the Royal Military College in Kingston.

While the world may have embraced it, even modern-day Conservative governments have not been so celebratory.

On the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the flag, then-Canadian heritage minister Conservative Shelly Glover refused to organize a celebration of the event.

While local flag-raisings took place across the country, the only official national celebration was held by then-governor general David Johnston.

Current Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has taken a more celebratory approach to the flag.

In Tory advertisements, Poilievre is often seen walking in a field under the shadow of a huge Canadian flag.

The use of the flag as a symbol adopted by anti-vax truckers has now made its display permissible for all political stripes.

Trump recently communicated his message of economic domination by tweeting a photograph of himself standing on a mountain with a Canadian flag flying proudly behind him.

And five living Canadian prime ministers called on all Canadians to fly our flag on the anniversary date as a message to Trump that our country has no intention of becoming America’s 51st state.

In a joint letter signed by former prime ministers Stephen Harper, Joe Clark, Paul Martin, Kim Campbell, and Jean Chrétien, the leaders called on Canadians to fly the flag this past Saturday to answer the “threats and insults from Donald Trump.”

And while in Brussels attending a meeting with European leaders, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made it very clear that there’s “not a snowball’s chance in hell” of Canada joining the United States.

He’s enlisting the support of international partners, including the European Union, as most states have been strangely silent on Trump’s annexation comments.

Europeans are listening now because Trump has been threatening them with tariffs, as well.

The Danish government has reacted to Trump’s announcement that he would like to take over Greenland. As well as threatening retaliatory tariffs on Ozempic, Denmark’s biggest export to the U.S., some Danes have launched a petition to buy California.

While all Canadians are now uniting behind the flag, the Trump threat may also serve to be a catalyst for breaking down interprovincial barriers.

If we can build a pipeline to send Alberta crude for refining in Illinois and Texas, surely, we can do the same for eastern Canada.

So when we have been delivered lemons by Trump, we need to make lemonade. And we need to start recognizing the great benefits that come with life under the Canadian flag.

Poilievre’s message that Canada is broken now needs reworking, and he was slated to deliver a major pivotal speech this past weekend.

His message will need massaging because the idea that Canada is broken plays right into the hands of Trump, who plans to crush our country economically.

Trump keeps saying that Canada will be better off, with a better health-care system, better jobs and a better economy if we join the U.S.

He also revealed earlier last week that when it comes to takeover of foreign lands, he believes he has the legal right to “take over the Gaza Strip and occupy it.”

Insert “Canada,” and we have an idea of what might be coming.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

Up until Doug Ford’s hot mic comments about Donald Trump, he was smooth sailing as Captain Canada, but he’s hit some rough waters.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on February 10, 2025.

OTTAWA—Captain Canada has no clothes. Ontario’s Doug Ford lost that standing when it was revealed last week in a leaked hot microphone recording that he was a huge Trump fan who celebrated when Donald Trump was victorious.

“On election day, was I happy this guy won? One hundred per cent I was,” Ford told supporters while chatting with a few of them on Feb. 3 at a campaign event. “Then the guy pulled out the knife and fucking yanked it in us.”

In that regard, Ford joined a minority of Canadians as the vast majority were hoping for another outcome to the American election.

Ford said all the right things in the lead-up to the tariff war, including wearing the mantle of Captain Canada in multiple American television interviews.

His negative numbers were neutralized as a result of these interventions, and it looked like Ford would be sailing to a second term.

Then came the revelations of what he really thinks. Ford called a snap election banking on two things: the unpopularity of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and the popularity of Ford’s personal fight for Canada.

But now he has faced a serious hit to his plan on both those fronts.

First, the prime minister’s reaction to the tariffs, including an incredible speech to the nation and a robust response to Trump’s proposed plan, have actually boosted his popularity.

It is hard for Ford to run against Trudeau, and then get on television to say how we all want to work together.

Second, Ford’s attachment to Trump, and the fact that he is sticking to a multi-million Starlink satellite contract with Elon Musk is causing pain on political fronts.

Ford briefly announced he would cancel the deal, but then revoked his cancellation when the tariff threat was put on pause for 30 days.

Trump may have paused, and his attention temporarily pivoted to an insane suggestion to kick all Palestinians out of Gaza and turn the place into an American-owned resort. For a president who campaigned on staying out of other countries’ business, he is off to a poor start.

Trump continually repeats his dream to literally turn Canada into the 51st state. And Canadians are literally not buying it. The national move to “Buy Canadian” and to refuse American purchases or travel shows no signs of pausing.

Trump has even managed to turn Quebecers into ardent Canadian nationalists. The boycott is being felt so broadly that Boston Pizza felt compelled to underscore its Canadian identity.

The company took the unprecedented step of clarifying through social media that despite its name, it is not American.

In fact, it is so Canadian, it was even started by a former Mountie.

The Boston Pizza mea culpa is proof positive that the Buy Canadian movement is working. Even after the American president postponed tariff threats for 30 days, Canadians appear to be launching their own trade war.

And if the label or destination is American, the answer is no.

As for Ford’s Conservative counterpart in Ottawa, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is still reeling from the fact that his carbon tax election has been pulverized by a change in Liberal leadership and the fight against Trump’s political agenda.

Poilievre is also too closely aligned with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, the only Canadian politician bent on weakening her country’s leadership by siding with Trump.

It took Smith only hours after the announcement that Trudeau had been successful in postponing tariffs for the Alberta premier to start attacking him again, and defending Trump’s actions as understandable.

Only a month ago, pundits were claiming that Smith was in the ascendancy as Trudeau was leaving and Poilievre appeared poised to become prime minister.

Thank Trump for a trade war that vaults the federal Liberals into top spot in Ontario for the first time in almost two years.

Mainstreet Research polling published last week showed the federal Liberals at 43 per cent while the Conservatives are at 39 per cent. That has not been replicated in the provincial election trending yet, but Ford’s support of Trump is already provoking some movement in the race.

The hatred for Trudeau that was supposed to be the underpinnings of a successful Ford re-election has diminished, and with the fight for Canada, the premier has to be cautious about his attacks on the prime minister.

As for Poilievre, he has largely disappeared, not doubt huddled with supporters trying to craft a new three-word slogan as “Canada is Broken” no longer cuts it.

Perhaps he should pivot to a four-word pitch.

There is a new MAGA hat circulating featuring the Canadian flag, and the words Make America Go Away.

That is a hat the Tories should be wearing because as long as the threat of Trump’s annexation plans remains, Canada will not be broken.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on January 13, 2025.

OTTAWA—Enemy of the state: that is the only way to characterize the threat of Canadian “economic annexation” by American president-elect Donald Trump.

His so-called joke about Canada joining the United States is turning deadly serious.

It is a threat that one would expect from a dictator. It is not a threat that one could expect from the leader of our democratically-elected neighbour, the United States.

All bets are off with the Trump claim that Canada should join the U.S. in the formation of a single country.

He even has the nerve to post a map of Canada absorbed into the United States, with the stars and stripes flag covering all the way from Mexico to the Arctic.

Trump has ruled out military force as a method of annexation, speaking instead about economic annexation.

He continues to falsely claim that Canada receives hundreds of millions in subsidies in America.

He wants to end auto, milk, and lumber imports from Canada, claiming that his country doesn’t need any of our goods to survive.

However, Trump did not mention electricity or oil and gas, Canadian exports that America needs to keep its economy running.

Trump also reached out to support the candidacy of Pierre Poilievre as a future prime minister, saying the pair are on the same political wave length.

Poilievre moved quickly to distance himself from Trump, stating the obvious: Canada will never become the 51st state.

But Conservative allies like Alberta Premier Danielle Smith plan to attend the president’s inauguration on Jan. 20 in celebration of his victory.

The Alberta premier has also refused to join Ontario Premier Doug Ford in denying the export of energy to the U.S. Ford promised to retaliate on tariffs by refusing to export energy south of the border, but Smith quickly rebutted that Ford did not speak for her province.

However, that happened before Trump launched his campaign to annex Canada.

Smith would be hard-pressed to explain her presence at Trump’s inauguration when the leader she plans to celebrate is claiming publicly he will buy Greenland, annex Canada, and take over the Panama Canal.

While Trump’s threats are being widely covered here at home, they won’t make the news very long in the U.S.

Ford was supposed to be interviewed on the subject by CNN, but his presence was cancelled when the California wildfires replaced Canada’s annexation in the news cycle.

While Americans may gloss over Trumpian machinations, we cannot afford to do so.

We need to get tough on as many fronts as possible. One of those could be a refusal to allow the president to enter Canada for the G7 meeting in June because of his recent federal criminal conviction.

Diplomacy could override that refusal, but diplomacy is also a two-way street.

Unless Trump issues a clarification regarding his crazy annexation claims, he should be kept out of the country.

Words have consequences, and the words of a bully need to be met with consequences.

Some might argue that barring Trump from the country would simply poke the bear.

But stroking the bear has not gotten us anywhere.

Peter Donolo, former prime ministerial communications adviser to then-prime minister Jean Chrétien, recently wrote an opinion piece saying that we can’t treat the Trump threats as a joke.

Instead, we need to act with political muscle. That muscle should include testing Trump in international fora.

The Organization of American States is where the unilateral declaration of annexation theory could be tested. Last year, the OAS issued a condemnation of Venezuela’s move to annex the Essequibo region of Guyana.

Canada, and the rest of the Americas, has an interest in dampening down Trump’s rhetoric.

Annexation is not legal, which is why the world has been working to get Russian troops out of Ukraine.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization should also be asked to take a stand on the American president-elect’s annexation ruminations.

The United Nations could also be an appropriate forum for condemnation of Trump’s hostile annexation rhetoric.

These claims need to be fought at the highest level of international diplomacy, including the potential for legal remedies.

The International Court of Justice should be asked for its opinion as to the legality of Trump’s annexation threats. It has a mandate to give advice on international legal issues. What could be more pressing than a claim that one democratic country will undertake ‘economic annexation’ of another?

Trump must be taken seriously. It is time to fight a bully by destroying his bully pulpit.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on December 16, 2024.

OTTAWA—The most popular guessing game in Ottawa these days is how to stare down a bully.

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump lost no time in poking fun at his favourite punching bag, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, by posting a social media message suggesting it was great having dinner with “Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada. I look forward to seeing the Governor again soon so that we continue our in depth talks on tariffs and trade, the results of which will be truly spectacular for all.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford had a soft response: “I am sure not thinking of Justin Trudeau at midnight so if he is thinking of Justin at midnight, it’s probably a good relationship.”

It wasn’t the first crack that Trump has taken at Canada recently. After the prime minister met him at Mar-a-Lago, Trump said in an interview on Meet the Press that Canada could become the 51st state.

“We’re subsidizing Canada to the tune of over $100-billion a year … if we are going to subsidize them, why not become a state?”

Trump’s comments on subsidies are incorrect. He is referring to a trade imbalance between Canada and the United States, largely driven by the sale of Canadian electricity and gas to the U.S. If those sales are cancelled—which is the rationale behind imposing a tariff on incoming goods—much of America’s manufacturing production would be stalled due to lack of energy.

The U.S. needs Canada’s energy, and it also needs our water. We are sitting on 20 per cent of the world’s supply of fresh water while several states in the U.S. are suffering from a water shortage.

So Canada has some cards to play in this tit-for-tat verbal slugfest. Trudeau is getting lots of advice on how to deal with it.

Peter Donolo, former communications advisor to then-prime minister Jean Chrétien, told the CBC last week Trudeau should stand tough.

“It isn’t the first time in Canadian history that the possibility of a union with the United States has been on the table. It’s a mistake to laugh it off … this is an insult to Canada. This is the guy’s [Trump] MO …. we have had 150 years as an independent country … what starts off as a joke is a seed planted … our leaders should push back and not make light of it. … given Donald Trump’s own history of lawlessness … when we let Trump get away with stuff … all he does is do it again harder.”

Donolo also referred to past Canada-U.S. relations, from the charm offensive then-prime minister Brian Mulroney used on then-president George Bush, to Chrétien’s decision to refuse the American invitation to join the invasion of Iraq.

He characterized the two as the suck-up versus the stand-up approach.

Donolo also decried provincial premiers for “sucking up” to Trump, specifically citing the premiers of Quebec and Alberta: “history proves that when you cave to a strongman all it does is whet his appetite for more.”

Provincial premiers are supposed to be working with the prime minister on a united strategy to dampen Trump’s appetite for tariffs. But Donolo’s point is that if the country looks like it is running scared, Trump is the kind of bully who will simply increase tariffs and put more pressure on the Canadian economy.

The U.S. president-elect’s instability is something Canadians will have to learn to live with. But we certainly cannot allow ourselves to be bullied into submission by denying our status as an independent country.

Statistics came out last week showing that the U.S. has the highest health care costs in the world. Meanwhile, our nation has been able to shape a system where every Canadian who is sick can go to the hospital with no fear of being turned away because of money.

Canada’s level of gun violence is seven times lower than that of America’s. And while the Canadian government has just introduced legislation to further reduce assault rifle access, the U.S. cannot seem to get past its obsession with second amendment gun-toting rights adopted almost 250 years ago.

The gun-toting path chosen by Americans for their own country is definitely not one that Canadians would follow.

We will not be bullied into denying our identity, nor should our leaders be trying to assuage the ignorant comments of the American president.

Trump’s backhanded denial of Canada’s existence as a country is no joke.

And we need to push back—hard.

That is the only language that a bully will understand.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.