No Middle Ground
How This Moment Has Changed Our Relationship With Our Neighbour and The Importance of Self-Respect
I’ve been writing pieces like these online for many years now. Between my original blog, to this Substack, it’s been almost 20 years of writing and sharing my views on the politics of our country (and now I’m feeling very old after writing those words). But over this *sigh* long period of writing and opining, I’ve had a few major rules that I’ve followed to help me do this right:
Never write anything that I wouldn’t say directly to the face of the subject.
Never write when mad.
When mad and you’re thinking about writing, remember rules 1 & 2.
It’s been adhering to those rules that has kept this space silent for the past couple of weeks, and frankly, it’s left me with a dilemma; how do I say anything when so much that’s going on is so enraging and disturbing? Surely silence only helps those who are creating the problems, right? But that’s my dilemma to tackle for the many months and more ahead, because I doubt these circumstances are going to stop all of a sudden.
After last nights Trump rally in the Congress and Trump finally kicking off a stupid trade war with us, it’s clear to everyone that we’re not in Kansas anymore (even if it was already clear to most of us a least a couple months ago). Yesterday we saw pretty much every Federal leader and Premier who spoke out hit the right note. It was a truly united stand, telling the Americans that we’re not putting up with their games or their crap. It was heartening to see so many rise to this moment.
Between the reaction of the markets and the mewling of elected Republicans in Washington who dare not say the truth out loud (such profiles in courage I tell ya), we’re starting to see the Trump team trying to role back towards some “middle ground”, as American Commerce Secretary Howard Lutlick described it. Trump and his team are trying to act as if they haven’t declared economic war on us and as if there is some deal to be made here. And folks, that delusion is why there is no middle ground here to be found.
Firstly, we have a deal, we have an agreement; it’s called CUSMA. You know, that’s updated NAFTA deal that a supposedly amazing deal maker negotiated. Supposedly he even wrote a book about the art of such things. We even have photographic proof of that artist signing this deal:
Funny that, hey? CUSMA may be up for renegotiation in 2026 but that’s a year away and even Trump can’t just pass an executive order to time travel us all a year ahead. The Americans have decided to unilaterally violate that deal, period. There is no middle ground to be found in violating any such deal, let alone one that’s so fundamental to the economy of North America. You want to change the agreement, negotiate that in 2026, because there’s no way that any self-respecting country would accept the idea of rewarding such illegal and unneighbourly behaviour.
Secondly, even if there was a deal to be made, how can anyone trust that the Americans under Trump will keep their word? They have spent their first six weeks back in office reneging on their signature and agreements all over the planet, attacking allies and sucking up to Vlad Putin. Given that Trump himself has reserved special scorn for we, his neighbour and largest trading partner, why should we ever think that we can trust anything that he signs. Hell, just watch how this who tariff episode is going on. One day it’s about supposedly fentanyl, despite the fact that less than 1% of the product getting into the US comes across our border (by their own stats). Then it’s about defending the border.
So, what do we do? We name a fentanyl czar and pour over $1 billion to deal with both issues, to the point where the amount of fentanyl crossing the border dropped by 97% last month (again by the US numbers). And the response to that? Well tariffs won’t stop until fentanyl deaths in the US stop all together, something that Canada can literally do nothing about to control or stop. Oh, and then rambles some lies about US bank access and goes on to say that “wait, you can avoid all those tariffs if you just move your production to the US!”
Most of us knew before this whole episode this had nothing to do with drugs or border safety. There was no target to hit or way to avoid this. This is what Trump wanted to do all along and just couldn’t do it without making up BS excuses, which his own words will likely undermine when they get before the courts. This has shown just how untrustworthy this US administration is when it comes to any deal you might sign, knowing that his signature, word, or handshake means nothing.
If that were the end of things it would still be bad, but we know that’s not the end of this. That brings us to the third reason why there cannot be any middle ground here; the fact that he wants to annex us. Sorry, but there is no middle ground or deal to be made when you’re talking about your sovereignty and Trump is making it clear that’s what he wants with all his “51st state” taunt crap. That has filtered down into the MAGA ecosystem and brought us to sights like this from CNN just yesterday:
Yep, what better way to show you’re a good neighbour Senator Mullin by insulting our Prime Minister, and then when given a chance to back away from it, you double down instead. That is the BS we’re dealing with folks, in an arrogant nutshell. While Mr. Trump and his team demand respect and fawning plaudits from everyone who interacts with them, they turn around and disrespect everyone else with the disdain of a Biff Tannen or worse.
And that brings us to the fourth and last reason why there can be no middle ground; they don’t actually want middle ground. They have zero respect for us, our country, our contributions or what we value. Zero, none, nada. Heck remember this one from none other than Vice President Vance last month:
When I saw that quote, I remembered my days working on Parliament Hill, in particular one spot in the Centre Block near the Parliamentary Library. Just outside the doors for a time there was a display set up there in memorial. It was the memorial that Canadian Forces members had set up in Afghanistan to remember our fallen soldiers who fought alongside the US, in defence of what happened to them on 9/11. Those brave Canadians who served and died in service of the principle of NATO’s article 5; an attack on one is an attack on all. That was not nor ever will be a fucking “sob story”. That’s true bravery and selflessness that the likes of Trump and many in his administration will never understand or appreciate, let alone respect.
The fact is that they don’t respect our country, our right to exist, our importance as a neighbour or anything. When they are faced with their own internal problems of their own making, they yell “Blame Canada!.” And when we dare to point out that far from drugs rush into our country from the US than the other way around, or that we’re being flooded with illegal handguns coming from the US, all of which is killing Canadians, we don’t even get a shrug. Instead, if we get any acknowledgement at all, all we get a lecture about how lucky we are to even exist in their shadow. How in the Hell do you find any middle ground with that?
All that is to say folks that if Trump and his team think that there is any middle ground to be found here, then they are continuing to underestimate us in the most disrespectful way possible. Trump and his team have acted as if they can push us around and that we’ll beg for him to stop, giving him whatever he wants. That was never going to happen, but now that Trump is feeling some domestic pressure, now is not the time to back down. I will wrap this up with one final point, which comes from Joe Weisenthal of Bloomberg in the United States, who made this observation:
It's not obvious to me that Trump has leverage against Canada right now. The incumbent government is paying no price is for playing maximum hardball. In fact, it's benefited them greatly. How often in politics do you get to risk harm to your economy without electoral cost?
And folks, that’s where Trump’s disrespect and underestimation of us probably shows the most. Weisenthal is right in that Trump’s leverage is not what he thought it was, and the longer this goes on, the lesser and lesser it becomes. The fact is that all Canadian political parties are rallying around the flag right now and pushing back; against the tariffs, against the threats of annexation, against all of it. There is no political risk in standing up for our very existence because Canadians understand what is happening and the stakes involved.
This moment has fundamentally changed our relationship with a neighbour we saw as an ally and friend. Now we see them with a very suspicious eye and worry about them more as a threat, like places like Poland, Finland and the Baltic States look at Russia. Heck, as one pollster pointed out today, almost as many Canadians have a positive impression China as they do the United States now. Let that sink in folks.
That is why Canadians will not give in or give up. Unlike for the US, this fight is existential for us. We aren’t going to back down and we won’t concede anything close to middle ground to an aggressor nation. We didn’t pick this fight, but we’ll win it folks. Elbows up folks and keep moving forward!