The Republican convention scenario could not have been scripted better if it had been written in Hollywood. 

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on July 22, 2024.

OTTAWA—What a difference a day makes. Donald Trump now appears unbeatable.

Even senior Democrats are reported to have quietly conceded the election which has the younger congressional leaders like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seeing red.

The Republican convention scenario could not have been scripted better if it had been written in Hollywood.

The week leading up to the four-day love-in in Milwaukee, Wisc., was awash with negative news about the mental acuity of U.S. President Joe Biden. Numerous Democrats, including at least 17 members of Congress, came out publicly calling for the president to step aside in time to secure a replacement for the November vote.

Then, there was an attempted assassination attempt on Trump on July 13.

Trump himself said the bullet would have struck, but at the last minute he turned his head to review details of a graph on immigration that had been exhibited as part of his presentation.

That subtle shift saved his life, and the bullet intended for him instead hit and killed a former fire chief. News reports said Corey Comperatore used his own body to shield his wife and family from the attack.

His last words were “Get down,” before Comperatore was struck dead by a bullet intended for the former president.

His wife, who described her husband as a hero, refused to take a call from President Biden after the attack. Instead she said her husband was a lifelong Republican, and he wouldn’t have wanted her to talk to Biden.

Even the previously absent Melania Trump was part of the narrative. Within hours of the attack, she penned a long letter suggesting that it was time for all Americans to rally around the theme of unity.

“A monster who recognized my husband as an inhuman political machine attempted to ring out Donald’s passion—his laughter, ingenuity, love of music and inspiration. … Donald, the generous and caring man I have been with through the best and the worst of times.”

Even Melania sensed this was a historical moment for Trump. Expect to see her at his side soon even though, notwithstanding her penmanship, she has been absent from all his recent trials, travails, and campaign trails.

But she obviously understood the import of the failed assassination attempt.

“The winds of change have arrived. For those of you who cry in support, I thank you. I commend those of you who have reached beyond the political divide—thank you for remembering that every single politician is a man or woman with a loving family.”

While Americans were rallying around Trump, Canadian premiers were gathered for their usual annual whine fest.

This year’s theme was “federal creep.”

According to premiers, they are unhappy with the fact the national government is bypassing them to get municipal housing agreements to kickstart construction in the midst of a housing crisis.

Why would the federal government waste time to partner with the provinces who are largely responsible for the current shortage of available, affordable housing?

They inherited the social housing file with plenty of cash from the federal government in a transfer of responsibility that happened almost 40 years ago.

Since the transfer, social housing momentum has stalled in many provinces. Ontario has received billions of dollars for housing with very little new construction to show for it.

At their annual meeting last week in Halifax, the provinces also attacked national dental care as another infringement on their authority.

They would not dare touch medicare because it is deeply entrenched and valued by Canadians.

But that didn’t stop premiers from also opposing the federal government’s promise to establish a national school food program.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford told a press conference that his province is feeding many more children with fewer dollars than the proposed federal program.

The Council of the Federation meeting was not surprising as every year provincial premiers get together to demand more money with less accountability.

The council was formed on Dec. 5, 2003. In its founding document, it acknowledges that Canada was created in 1867. But beyond that, they don’t even include a Canadian flag in its circular flag logo.

They complain about duplication, but there is no reason why a country with only 39 million people cannot have a school lunch program, dental care, medicare and childcare.

Maybe the premiers need to upload some responsibilities, and get out of the way.

Canadians need and want a national vision for Canada.

Now more than ever.

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 July 16, 2018.

OTTAWA—Politics is about making choices. Every country has a sovereign right to make choices in the best interest of its people.

Politicians in the United States of America do not support public health care. Even the watered-down version of so-called Obamacare got short shrift from the Trump administration.

Many Americans erroneously believe that government-funded universal access is a communist concept and that Medicare results in inferior treatment for all. Statistical evidence to the contrary does not matter.

Citizens in many other western countries, including Canada, might prefer investment in heath care to military spending. That is certainly not a viewpoint shared by the United States. Americans have historically and consistently made defence spending a top priority. That position also just happens to align with a domestic jobs agenda dependent on the arms race.

According to U.S. President Donald Trump, the United States just approved the largest defence budget in the country’s history at $716-billion. That is more than double Canada’s total federal budget.

Americans reap tremendous economic benefits from defence spending. At one point during his impromptu NATO press conference, Trump sounded more like a pitchman than a president. After stating he intended to help others meet defence targets by assisting indirectly in equipment purchases, he bragged “The United States makes the best everything. Our (military) equipment is so much better than anyone else’s equipment … everybody wants to buy our equipment.”

While Trump claimed victory, Canada and other countries diplomatically reiterated their existing commitments to additional defence financing.

The two per cent benchmark by 2024 was a target set four years ago. Only days ago, the American president was demanding that all NATO countries double that commitment to four per cent. He had no takers.

While Trump pussyfoots with Russia, he derides America’s best allies. After the G7 attack on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, last week Trump added Germany and the United Kingdom to the growing list of countries on the receiving end of a Trump dump. So why take his advice on where Canadian public expenditures must be made?

The two per cent defence target for NATO mirrors another two per cent promise made by many of the same countries.

That is the amount of money every country should devote to foreign aid.

Assistance to developing countries is one way of making the world a safer place, without the use of military might. But soft power also includes a vision that embraces the world.

Instead, Trump launched an anti-immigrant rant at his presser, crediting his own electoral victory and that of the Brexiters to an anti-immigration platform. Trump is the son of an immigrant and married to an immigrant. But that reality counted for nothing as he railed on about immigration “taking over Europe.” I assume he was referring to non-white migrants.

Trump’s rant was eerily Aryan. It was not surprising, given one of his most high-profile and controversial decisions was to snatch children from their parents’ arms as part of a border arrest strategy.

Trump is broadly supported by hate groups in his own country. He has also complained in an Oval Office meeting about receiving refugees from “shithole countries” and claimed that all Haitians have aids and Mexicans are criminals and rapists.

Stoking immigration fear and fomenting racial and religious tensions in the United States and around the world will simply encourage hate and division. Trump’s leadership has done more to damage global stability than the defence spending tallies of all other NATO partners.

Iran is erupting, America is currently in a trade war with the East and the West, and Trump’s position on the illegal annexation of Crimea is still a question mark. The rest of NATO is strong and united on Russia.

While the president decries Russian interference, he seems more than happy to cozy up to “competitor” President Vladimir Putin.

On the Canadian side, Trudeau underscored the increase in spending and characterized it as a result of the Wales Declaration, where all NATO partners agreed to move toward a two per cent of GDP defence investment by 2024.

Canada has committed to a 70 per cent defence spending hike over the next 10 years. Non-American NATO partners have already increased by $87-billion with more to come.

If Trump continues his slash and burn approach to geopolitics, the resulting chaos may stoke the need for more defence spending.

Maybe that is the plan of this self- proclaimed “stable genius.”

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