MACLEOD: Fortress North America – Carney’s anti-American illusion is becoming a national security issue

The idea of “Fortress North America” should not be controversial or difficult to understand. We live on the same continent as the United States. We share the longest undefended border in the world. We share airspace, supply chains, energy systems, intelligence networks, and continental security threats. Whether Ottawa likes it or not, Canada’s defence future is tied directly to that of the US.Yet in recent years, Canadians have been fed a steady diet of anti-American rhetoric from politicians, commentators, academics, activists, and the comfortable central-Canadian class that seems to believe that sneering at the US is a substitute for serious national policy. We are told America is unreliable, dangerous, unstable, too conservative, too aggressive, too unpredictable, or somehow less worthy as a partner than other countries with far less connection to Canada’s actual survival. It is tiresome. Worse, it is dangerous.There is a difference between disagreeing with the US and deliberately poisoning the relationship with the only country capable of defending this continent. Canada can object to American tariffs and disagree with a particular president. Canada can push back on trade disputes, border issues, or foreign policy decisions. Allies disagree. Friends disagree. Neighbours can certainly disagree on a broad range of issues..But the concept of Fortress North America is simple. In a “more divided and dangerous world,” Canada and the US need to operate as a secure, self-reliant, and connected continental bloc. That means a modernized NORAD, Arctic defence, secure borders, energy independence, resilient local supply chains, critical mineral development, military interoperability, and a common understanding that North America is a single strategic space.Albertans understand this better than most. We live in a province built on trade, energy, agriculture, and hard work. We understand that prosperity is not created by slogans. We understand that fuel, pipelines, refineries, ports, rail lines, roads, electricity, farms, and factories all matter. We understand that all of these are deeply interconnected with our largest neighbour. We also understand that a country that cannot power itself cannot defend itself. Ottawa, unfortunately, doesn’t seem to understand any of this.Instead, the federal government has spent years treating Alberta’s energy sector as a problem to be taxed, capped, delayed, regulated, or apologized for. This is actually absurd. Alberta's oil and gas are not a liability to Canada. They are one of Canada’s greatest strategic assets. In any serious North American security strategy, Alberta should be central. Our energy should be seen not merely as an export product, but as a pillar of continental security.A Fortress North America approach would put Alberta near the centre of the map..That is a major reason why this anti-American drift should concern every Albertan. The US is not just another trading partner. It is Alberta’s largest customer and Canada’s most important ally. Millions of barrels of Western Canadian oil move south every day. Our agriculture, petrochemicals, technology, transportation, and manufacturing sectors are deeply tied to American markets. When Carney’s government damages its relationship with Washington, Alberta does not sit on the sidelines. Alberta suffers the consequences.And we are getting tired of paying the bills created by people who neither understand us nor seem especially interested in listening to anything we have to say.NORAD remains the clearest example of the reality of continental defence. Canada and the US already cooperate on aerospace warning, aerospace control, and maritime warning. When threats are assessed in northern airspace, when Russian bombers probe Arctic approaches, when North Korean missile launches are detected, when surveillance networks watch the skies and seas around this continent, Canada does not do this alone. We do it with the US because no other country has the geography, capability, infrastructure, and shared interest to defend North America.When any type of threat comes over the pole, the partner that matters most is the United States. This should be obvious. Apparently, to many of the Laurentien elite, it is not.This Liberal government talks endlessly about diversification, global partnerships, values-based foreign policy, and international leadership. Fine. There is nothing wrong with having friends abroad or diversifying our trade. But no European capital can replace Washington in the defence of Canada. No global forum can defend the Arctic. No Davos speech can intercept a North Korean or Chinese missile. .That is where Canada’s northern weakness becomes almost unforgivable. Russia has expanded and modernized its Arctic military presence. China calls itself a “near-Arctic” state, which is diplomatic language for saying it intends to be involved, whether Canada likes it or not. And what is Canada’s answer? More announcements. More studies. More consultations. More delays. More photo opportunities in parkas. If Canada is serious about its own sovereignty, then it must build the infrastructure of sovereignty. That means Arctic ports, runways, radar, aircraft, submarines, drones, icebreakers, communications, fuel storage, power generation, and a military large enough and well-equipped enough to matter. But it also means working closely with the US and ensuring that all of our defence systems work seamlessly together, because pretending we can defend the Arctic alone is not patriotism. It is a childish fantasy.Canada’s defence performance has already damaged our credibility. For decades, we have benefited from the American security umbrella while spending too little, procuring too slowly, and acting as though moral superiority could replace military capability. Washington has heard Canadian promises before. It has watched us announce, delay, consult, reannounce, and fail to deliver anything of substance.Now our US allies are watching as Canada considers reneging on its commitment to purchase a full complement of 88 F-35 fighter jets, while our politicians, yet again, go against the advice of our military experts and consider substituting the Swedish Gripen. Surveillance systems from Sweden? Submarines from South Korea? While this Liberal government insists Canada is back, leading, convening, consulting, and all the other polished phrases it loves so much, the hard reality is that our military has and continues to struggle with recruitment, ageing equipment, serious and expensive procurement failures, ammunition shortages, and a lack of northern infrastructure..Missile defence is another example. Canada has long resisted full participation in continental ballistic missile defence. That may have been fashionable politics in another era. Today, it looks increasingly irresponsible. The world now faces hypersonic weapons, cruise missiles, drones, cyber warfare, space-based targeting, rogue-state missile programs, and renewed great-power competition. Canada cannot simply opt out of continental defence and assume geography, luck, and American goodwill will protect us forever.The same logic applies to supply chains. COVID exposed how vulnerable we are when critical goods are made offshore. The war in Ukraine exposed how weak Western ammunition and defence production had become. China’s dominance in critical minerals and manufacturing should have shocked Canada into taking these issues seriously. A Fortress North America strategy means building here, refining here, manufacturing here, and securing the energy and transportation systems that make the continent function.Again, Alberta should be leading that conversation. We have energy, land, critical minerals, and industrial expertise. We have engineers, tradespeople, entrepreneurs, and builders. For now, we still have a working culture that understands production. But Ottawa still seems more interested in managing Alberta down than building Canada up. That is very frustrating to those who are paying attention.There is nothing patriotic about weakening Canada’s relationship with the US. There is nothing sophisticated about insulting the US while depending on its protection. There is nothing sovereign about making Canada less capable, less trusted, and more vulnerable. In fact, as Sam Cooper notes, “China applauds a deliberate loosening of the ties that bind Canada to the United States, even as Carney trumpets forging deeper strategic ties with Beijing in trade, law enforcement, media, and culture.” Canada can either become a serious North American partner or continue drifting with the fantasy that it can further align with China, lecture Washington, suppress Alberta’s energy sector, neglect the Arctic, underfund the military, and somehow remain secure. That is not a national strategy. It is arrogance, or even worse, Chinese duplicity. For Albertans, the conclusion is clear. Fortress North America is not an American imposition. It is a Canadian and an Albertan necessity. It protects our trade, strengthens Arctic sovereignty, supports Alberta's energy sector, improves credibility with Washington, deters Russia and China, hardens supply chains, and gives Canada and Alberta a serious role in defending the continent we actually live on. The alternative is dangerous nonsense: a Canada that distances itself from the US, sneers at its closest ally, restricts and weakens its own resource sector, refuses to defend the North properly, and then expects protection when the world truly does become “a more divided and dangerous place.”Albertans should reject that path loudly and clearly. If Canada refuses to cooperate with the US, then Alberta must do so on its own.The Liberals’ anti-American drift is bad for Canada, bad for Alberta, and reckless for North American security. We do not need more resentment from the US. We do not need to cozy up to China. We need maturity, strength, and energy realism. We need to take the defence of the Arctic seriously. Alberta sincerely needs a renewed and stronger commitment to Fortress North America.

MACLEOD: Fortress North America – Carney’s anti-American illusion is becoming a national security issue

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