Evan Saugstad: Oh, Canada! A point of view from a small town guy living in rural Canada (part 3 as the Canadian takeover saga continues)

While I write part 3, the Canadian government’s response to Donald’s tariff and annexation threats has been one of relative silence as we wait to see which version(s) the U.S. government will bring against Canada.  While Canada has been clearly told that we must take Donald at face value, we are still not sure from which mouth of Donald’s many faces will come his official version.

Canada’s ‘wait and see’ attitude may be frustrating to some but to me, is currently the appropriate response.

One could write volumes on what we should or should not do, or how we should respond. One of the most intelligent pieces on the subject comes from our former Prime Minister Steven Harper in a letter to the Globe and Mail on Feb 20th titled “Stephen Harper: This is the moment to make Canada a proud and serious country again”.

Harper starts the letter by saying:

“I am frequently asked what to make of U.S. President Donald Trump’s intentions toward Canada and what we are to do about them. On the former, I do not know, and I suspect there is no way of really knowing. On the latter, however, Canada must have a plan.” 

If you haven’t read it, you should.

This article should also give pause to those who think only the ‘experience’ of the “Trudeau-less” Liberals can address the threats, their issues and negotiate with Donald. 

What has become clear over the past few weeks is that the U.S. is no longer a country or neighbour that can be trusted to tell the truth, be forthright, use facts to advance its position or consider anything that may be of a mutual benefit.

Case in point is Donald’s assertion that Ukraine started the war. It incidentally helps Canada and advance our cause as the rest of the world wakes up to the realization that we have a very different U.S. led by a president who cannot be trusted and who is, so far, supported by a government which has given him free reign to wreak havoc and chaos on the rest of the world.

Feel sorry for the Ukrainians who must now deal with a person who is not afraid to use fiction, threats and coercion as a negotiation tool and is more than happy to kick someone when they are down. I hope the rest of the Western world will step up and replace Donald on the world’s centre-stage.

Feel sorry for those U.S. citizens who are now waking up to the realization that – after a bragging session by Donald at a technology conference for more than an hour – they now have a president who the rest of the world considers to be closer to Russia and North Korea in ideology and they now live in a country which is on its way from being known as beloved and respected to reviled and detested.

Given the current circumstances, Canada doesn’t have much choice but to look to ourselves for our own solutions to get through what is certainly going to be a time of a whole lot of hurt. Growing our economy and productivity is number one.

Buy local and buy Canadian when and where we can, and when we can’t, then any country but the U.S. (or Russia).

Less travel to the U.S. by Canadians to stop spending our money in their country.

Do what we can to raise the consciousness level in the U.S about Trump.  Booing the American national anthem at the recent 4 Nations hockey tournament sent a message to the U.S., as I believe most of their citizens have paid little to no attention to Donald’s threats against Canada and are now beginning to ask why.  

At a larger scale, removing interprovincial trade barriers will increase spending on Canadian-made products and increase our productivity, but we will need to do much more.

The much more starts with producing more that can be sold across the world and that reduces our reliance on the U.S. economy.  We have lots that we can produce and have lots of what the world wants and needs.

Producing more of our natural resources is our best and quickest starting point, despite that many will say we need to move past the “hewers of wood, drawers of water” monicker.  We have what the world needs and it only needs to be developed and offered for sale.

A new high-speed rail line from Toronto to Montreal should not be the starting point. It’s a nice project and great to cut down travel time, but that doesn’t do much to advance our economy.

What will pay our bills and move us past the dependence upon the U.S is growth in what we produce and sell, and keeping prices competitive.  New natural gas and oil pipelines to both coasts, new and improved ports for international shipments of goods, upgrades to rail lines to those ports to move greater volumes of goods, the speedy approvals of mines and facilities, and raising trade levels with all those other countries we have trade agreements with are what is needed.  

If we have energy, rare-earth minerals, aluminum, fertilizer or canola for sale and other countries want it, why not give them priority and sell to the U.S. as a last resort?

An overhaul of our tax system, a streamlined environmental assessment process for major projects, reduction/elimination of rules and regulations that slow or impede development and the reduction of the size and scope of government will help speed development and reduce costs, I believe all which are long overdue and are not likely to be achieved by extending the reign of our Liberal government who created them, no matter who becomes their new leader.

More problematic, but just as important, is the Indigenous land claim questions. Canada cannot afford to dither for months or years on determining who owns the land, what is a consultation, what is consent, or what are constitutional rights.  In the short term, Canada can no longer afford the time it takes to negotiate new agreements on land rights, land managers or who will be the boss and have the final say.  Our senior governments need to respect the urgency to Canda’s predicament and approve projects with the view that national interests take precedence over regional and local ones, and over time, commit to addressing the issues and hopefully, resolving them.

Canada needs to take our military and defence of our country seriously. Not only from what could be perceived as threats from Russia or China, but also from our southern neighbors who have taken it upon themselves to move from the friend list to foe. Not only are new military bases needed in the Arctic, but two or three new bases along our southern border should be considered, fully stocked with long and medium-range missiles that can be pointed in any direction.

While we wait for the military to be reorganized, rescind the “assault-style” gun bans and move to encouraging every Canadian citizen to purchase those same assault-style weapons with sufficient ammunition that Canadian citizens can be relied upon for our second line of defence, should any of our not-so-friendly neighbors believe they can cross our border in search of new lands.

Finally, and as Stephen Harper inferred in his letter to Canada, don’t sign any agreement or promise anything to the Americans unless we fully understand what it means and is beneficial to Canada.

Evan, and in the next article, a more provincial and local focus.

Part 1 – President Trump’s wish to annex Canada
Part 2 – Canada’s response, so far