CANADA TO TRUMP MAKING IT 51'ST STATE: (POUSSE-LE) SHOVE IT!

By Jean Chrétien

Former Canadian Prime Minister

Today is my 91st birthday.

It’s a time to celebrate with family and friends. To look back on the life I’ve been privileged to lead. And to reflect on how this country we all love so much has grown and changed in my nine decades on this earth.

This year, I’ve also decided to give myself a birthday present. I’m going to do something in this piece that I don’t do very often anymore: address a major issue that affects the state of our nation and deeply concerns me and so many other Canadians. 

Of course, it’s the totally unacceptable insults and unprecedented threats to our sovereignty from Donald Trump.

I have two very clear and simple messages.
To Donald Trump, from one old man to another: wake up! What makes you think that Canadians would ever give up the greatest country in the world – and make no mistake, that is what we are – to join the United States?

I can tell you that Canadians value their independence. We love our country. We have built something here that is the envy of the world – in compassion, in understanding, in tolerance, and in finding a way for people of different backgrounds and beliefs to live together in harmony.

We have also built a strong social safety net – including public health care – that we are very proud of. It is not perfect, but it is based on the principle that the most vulnerable among us must be protected.

It may not be the “American way” or the “Trump way.” But it is the reality that I have witnessed and lived throughout my long life.

If you think that threatening and insulting us is going to change our minds, you really don’t know us. You don’t know that when it came to fighting two world wars for freedom, we signed up – both times – years before your country did. We fought and sacrificed enormously.

We also had the courage to say no to your country when it tried to drag us into a totally unjustified and destabilizing war in Iraq.

We built a nation on the most rugged and difficult terrain imaginable. And we did it against all odds. We may appear easygoing and gentle. But make no mistake, we are determined and tough.

A Message to Our Leaders

And that brings me to my second message, to all our leaders, federal and provincial – and to those who aspire to lead our country:

Start showing that determination and that tenacity. This is what Canadians want to see – this is what they need to see. This is what we call leadership. Canadians are ready to follow. You have to lead the way.

I know the spirit is there. Since Trump’s attacks, all political parties have come out in support of Canada. In fact, to my great satisfaction, even the Bloc Québécois is standing up for Canada!

But you don’t win a hockey game by playing defence alone. We all know that even if we meet one demand, President Trump will come back with another, bigger one. This is not diplomacy, this is blackmail.

We need a different approach. One that will break this cycle.

President Trump has accomplished one thing: he has unified Canadians more than ever before! All of our country’s leaders have come together in a determination to defend Canadian interests.

When I became Prime Minister, Canada was facing a crisis of national unity. The threat of Quebec separation was real. We acted to address that existential threat in a way that made Canadians, including Quebecers, stronger, more united, and even more proud of Canadian values.

Now there is another existential threat. And we must once again reduce our vulnerability. That is the challenge for this generation of political leaders.

And you won’t do it by using the same old approaches. Yes, telling Americans that we are their best friends and their closest trading partner is a good thing. So is the intense lobbying in Washington and state capitals, emphasizing that tariffs will also hurt their economies. As for retaliatory tariffs: when you are attacked, you must defend yourself.

Reducing our vulnerability

But we must also play offense. Let’s tell Trump that we have border problems with the United States, too. Canada has strict gun control laws, but illegal guns are flooding in from the United States.

We need to tell him that we expect the United States to act to reduce the number of firearms coming into Canada. We also want to protect the Arctic. But the United States refuses to recognize the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic as Canadian waters and insists that it is an international waterway. We need the United States to recognize the Northwest Passage as Canadian waters.

We also need to reduce our vulnerability in the first place. We need to be stronger. There are more trade barriers between provinces than between Canada and the United States.

Let’s make it a national project to remove those barriers! Let’s strengthen the ties that bind this vast nation together – for example, by creating a real energy grid across the country.

We also need to understand that Donald Trump is not only threatening us, he is also targeting a growing number of other countries and the European Union itself. He is just getting started.

Canada should quickly convene a meeting of the leaders of Denmark, Panama, Mexico, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to formulate a plan to combat these threats. Every time Mr. Trump opens his mouth, he creates new allies for all of us. Let’s organize! To counter unreasonable, raw power, we need strength in numbers.

Respect for our adversaries

The challenge is not to wait in fear for Donald Trump’s next move, but to build a country and an international community that can resist him.

Canadians know me. They know that I am optimistic. That I am practical. And that I always speak my mind. I have made my share of mistakes in my long career, but I have never doubted the decency of my fellow Canadians – or my political adversaries.

The current – ​​and future – generation of political leaders should remember that they are not each other’s enemies, but adversaries. No one has ever loved the harshness of the political arena as much as I have. But I have always understood that each of us is trying to make a positive contribution to making our community and our country a better place.

That spirit is more important than ever as we face this new challenge. They should keep that in mind.
I am 91 years old today and in good health. And I stand on the ramparts to help defend our country’s independence as I have done all my life.

Long live Canada!