(Part 1 of a three-part series)A Green WallThe Republican National Convention was held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 15-18. As with all conventions, it had its moments and it had moments were newscasters had to fill. The two major outcomes were Sen. J.D. Vance being selected to run as the Vice-President and former President Donald Trump acceptance speech to run for the office a third time. Vance has an compelling back story that should be appealing to many Americans. Part of Trump’s speech recounted his recent assassination attempt which was moving to the crowd. There is more that could be said about these men’s speeches, but I will leave that to others.Trump has repeatedly shown his willingness to move forward with people who have been less than gracious to him to advance his agenda and get a deal. This does not mean he has forgotten or forgiven but progress in whichever area is more important than his emotions in the moment. Relations between Canada and the USA were stormy during the first Trump term. The major aspect of the problem was NAFTA. This should have been anticipated by the Canadian government officials because much of Trump’s base are workers who have been negatively impacted by NAFTA. (More on this in part 2) Another difficulty was the tariffs placed by Trump on Canadian aluminum and steel for security reasons. However, PM Justin Trudeau made unprofessional public statements regarding Trump’s personality, which generally fell in line with the left’s caricature of him. It is doubtful that the former president has forgotten this because respect is important to him. During Trump’s acceptance speech several points were made regarding environmentalist goals as implemented by Biden. First, other commentators have jumped on his statement, “the green new scam.” Next, is the repeat slogan “drill-baby-drill” that is now understood as not only America being energy independent as in his first term where Canadian oil was part of the mix, but America moving into being a major exporter of fossil fuel products. Third, the cancelling of Biden mandate to move from gasoline powered vehicles to electric cars. Car manufacturers have already converted factories to upscale EV production which leads to layoffs to traditional car shop workers. Again, part of his base. In reviewing convention speech, one needs to carefully parse his statements because of his unique public speaking style. Although, EV conversion has slowed because people are not buying EV. Trump objects to the government mandating what people should buy and is an advocate of capitalist markets. More importantly, his statements regarding the elimination of the mandate were framed in the larger context of saving the US auto industry, saving autoworkers jobs, and saving customers money. Next, his “the Green New Scam” statement, which was repeated, is framed by a presentation on the cause of inflation and pressure on the cost of energy. However, the words he chose are important here. The Biden administration in 2019, tried to pass legislation called “The Green New Deal” harking back to President F. D. Roosevelt’s progressive agenda called, “The New Deal." The Green New Deal included significant government intervention, extremely ambitious environmental goals, and using climate change tied to economic disparity. With bipartisan opposition, this bill failed. The Inflation Reduction Act passed into law in 2022, incorporated many of the Green New Deal ideals. According to critics both in the media and in the congressional house, the Inflation Reduction Act is a “scam” because the impact on inflation would be negligible, and it was a repackaging of the Green New Deal. Neither Trump’s statements on EVs nor the “Green New Scam” are anti-environmental concerns statements. In the RNC speech he did not state his opinion on environmental concerns, only his rejection of the approach taken by the current administration.Trudeau has fully embraced the non-Canadian “made in Davos” environmental plan with its approach similar to Biden’s Green New Deal. The PM appointed Steven Guilbeault as the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Guilbeault is a life-long environmental radical. The Ministry’s name was changed by Trudeau’s government to include “Climate Change”. Guilbeault does not have a solid educational background in a hard science but received his degree in Political Science and Theology. Given the history of Trudeau and the Guilbeault it is doubtful that a positive exchange between a second-term Trump government and the Trudeau government on environmental issues would happen. Far more likely is Trudeau’s government building a “green wall” to protect the advancement the environmentalist made under his tenure and an attempt to fortify their position by utilizing connections with other countries that have bought into the Davos view. Such a stance would be detrimental to Canada. It could also be devastating to the oil and coal producing provinces which are already under attack by Ottawa. There is a good likeliness that it would prove to be another nail in the relations with the USA with Trump’s team seeing Canada as “consistently difficult country” instead of a friendly neighbor. Finally, it could also poison any future prime minister’s attempts to rectify the situation with Canada’s largest trade partner. Dr. A.W. Barber is the former Director of Asian Studies at the University of Calgary. He is internationally active and has wide-ranging interests.
