HANNAFORD: Yes, this was hostile, no, Trudeau is not the man to deal with it

To be fair to Mr. Trudeau, there wasn’t a kill-dead response that he could have offered to the Trump tariffs. When the elephant moves, everything else adjusts its position. If Trump is determined to squeeze Canada, damn his eyes, there probably isn’t anything but tiresome negotiation to be done about it, with who knows what hope of success?The facts here, are hard and distasteful.However, Mr. Trudeau’s remarks moments ago were hard to listen to and certainly offered no confidence to anybody who has watched his handling of Canada’s national life for the last nine years-plus.His chickens have come home to roost.It is, for example, simply not true that Canada and the US have built a strong military relationship. It was true once; but under Prime Minister Trudeau’s administration it has not been so and it is simply laughable for Mr. Trudeau to make such a claim.Nor, having denigrated our national narrative for his entire ministry, does he have any right to now wrap himself in the flag. Canada is the country that he has called out as racist and the murderer of indigenous children. He has in the past decried the colonialism upon which it is founded, and condemned the country-building achievements of the Canadians of a hundred years ago. When he talks of settlers, it’s not a compliment.But now, dear heavens, when it is necessary to say it is the best country in the world, Mr. Trudeau finds it has been so all along. Former prime minister Stephen Harper made the same claim, and meant it. When Mr. Trudeau says the same thing, it comes across as insincere, to be as kind as one can be.The simple fact is that Mr. Trudeau has never paid much attention to the Canadian economy or the American border. And a few years ago, he made the utterly incomprehensible mistake of personally insulting Donald Trump.Now he quotes President Kennedy who said many kind words about Canada, but said them more than 60 years ago when they arguably were true…. And standing before us looking for an issue to save his electoral skin, he tells us we must all get behind him, stand united and ‘this is Team Canada at its finest.’Upon Mr. Trudeau’s lips, these are empty words.Having said all that, and recognizing that even if this is the consequence of Mr. Trudeau’s maladministration, it is still a massive problem for this country. Even an all-star Team Canada composed of the most capable leaders would be challenged.However, Mr. Trudeau is no all-star.If he really believes that appealing to Americans over the head of their president is the way to go, he does not merely misread the character of Americans (and tests their knowledge of where Canada is.)He also fails to understand the fundamentally transactional nature of US-Canada relations. It has nothing to do with sentiment. American relations with any country has everything to do with ‘what are you going to do for me next?’ It is no different for Canada.Meanwhile, as Mr. Trudeau addresses the nation and says that (ah, as a result of his errors…) that we’re all in this together, we must stand together, and with his COVID response as a model no doubt, the government has our backs. (What now, CERB 2, and a new round of inflation?) What I’m seeing here is a drowning man who thinks he has spotted a lifeline. You’ll notice he sees no need to expose himself to the risk of a confidence vote by recalling Parliament in the name of national unity. Now, that would be a Team Canada symbolism, would it not? But no, he has the tools he needs, he says…Mr. Trudeau thinks ‘saving the country’ with patriotic rhetoric and massive handouts will save his ministry.Getting sucker-punched by somebody you thought was your friend is hard to accept. But, as Jordan Peterson wrote last week, have we really been the friend to America that we think we have been?No. What Canada needs is an election as soon as it can be called and a credible team assembled to salvage what it can from the mess.Mr. Trudeau has nothing to offer.

HANNAFORD: Yes, this was hostile, no, Trudeau is not the man to deal with it

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