— Feature, Musings —03.07.2025 08:49 AM
Every Canadian needs to read this New York Times report
I’m a longtime subscriber – that’s not going to change, either, because (a) they are the official opposition in the United States and (b) they are literally the only American media that pays serious attention to the Canadian perspective – so I will share with all of you, who are my friends, this story by the Times’ Matina Stevis-Gridneff. It contains truly shocking details which no Canadian media outlet has published to date.
We are under attack, friends. Trump’s America is the enemy. Read this.
After President Trump imposed tariffs on Canada on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an extraordinary statement that was largely lost in the fray of the moment.
“The excuse that he’s giving for these tariffs today of fentanyl is completely bogus, completely unjustified, completely false,” Mr. Trudeau told the news media in Ottawa.
“What he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that’ll make it easier to annex us,” he added.
This is the story of how Mr. Trudeau went from thinking Mr. Trump was joking when he referred to him as “governor” and Canada as “the 51st state” in early December to publicly stating that Canada’s closest ally and neighbor was implementing a strategy of crushing the country in order to take it over.
The February Calls
Mr. Trump and Mr. Trudeau spoke twice on Feb. 3, once in the morning and again in the afternoon, as part of discussions to stave off tariffs on Canadian exports.
But those early February calls were not just about tariffs.
The details of the conversations between the two leaders, and subsequent discussions among top U.S. and Canadian officials, have not been previously fully reported, and were shared with The New York Times on condition of anonymity by four people with firsthand knowledge of their content. They did not want to be publicly identified discussing a sensitive topic.
On those calls, President Trump laid out a long list of grievances he had with the trade relationship between the two countries, including Canada’s protected dairy sector, the difficulty American banks face in doing business in Canada and Canadian consumption taxes that Mr. Trump deems unfair because they make American goods more expensive.
He also brought up something much more fundamental.
He told Mr. Trudeau that he did not believe that the treaty that demarcates the border between the two countries was valid and that he wants to revise the boundary. He offered no further explanation.
The border treaty Mr. Trump referred to was established in 1908 and finalized the international boundary between Canada, then a British dominion, and the United States.
Mr. Trump also mentioned revisiting the sharing of lakes and rivers between the two nations, which is regulated by a number of treaties, a topic he’s expressed interest about in the past.
Canadian officials took Mr. Trump’s comments seriously, not least because he had already publicly said he wanted to bring Canada to its knees. In a news conference on Jan. 7, before being inaugurated, Mr. Trump, responding to a question by a New York Times reporter about whether he was planning to use military force to annex Canada, said he planned to use “economic force.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
During the second Feb. 3 call, Mr. Trudeau secured a one-month postponement of those tariffs.
This week, the U.S. tariffs came into effect without a fresh reprieve on Tuesday. Canada, in return, imposed its own tariffs on U.S. exports, plunging the two nations into a trade war. (On Thursday, Mr. Trump granted Canada a monthlong suspension on most of the tariffs.)
Glimpses of the rupture between Mr. Trump and Mr. Trudeau, and of Mr. Trump’s aggressive plans for Canada, have been becoming apparent over the past few months.
The Star, a Canadian newspaper, has reported that Mr. Trump mentioned the 1908 border treaty in the early February call and other details from the conversation. And the Financial Times has reported that there are discussions in the White House about removing Canada from a crucial intelligence alliance among five nations, attributing those to a senior Trump adviser.
Doubling Down
But it wasn’t just the president talking about the border and waters with Mr. Trudeau that disturbed the Canadian side.
The persistent social media references to Canada as the 51st state and Mr. Trudeau as its governor had begun to grate both inside the Canadian government and more broadly.
While Mr. Trump’s remarks could all be bluster or a negotiating tactic to pressure Canada into concessions on trade or border security, the Canadian side no longer believes that to be so.
And the realization that the Trump administration was taking a closer and more aggressive look at the relationship, one that tracked with those threats of annexation, sank in during subsequent calls between top Trump officials and Canadian counterparts.
One such call was between Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick — who at the time had not yet been confirmed by the Senate — and Canada’s finance minister, Dominic LeBlanc. The two men had been communicating regularly since they had met at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s home and club in Florida, during Mr. Trudeau’s visit there in early December.
Mr. Lutnick called Mr. LeBlanc after the leaders had spoken on Feb. 3, and issued a devastating message, according to several people familiar with the call: Mr. Trump, he said, had come to realize that the relationship between the United States and Canada was governed by a slew of agreements and treaties that were easy to abandon.
Mr. Trump was interested in doing just that, Mr. Lutnick said.
He wanted to eject Canada out of an intelligence-sharing group known as the Five Eyes that also includes Britain, Australia and New Zealand.
He wanted to tear up the Great Lakes agreements and conventions between the two nations that lay out how they share and manage Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario.
And he is also reviewing military cooperation between the two countries, particularly the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
A spokesperson for Mr. Lutnick did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Mr. LeBlanc declined to comment.
In subsequent communications between senior Canadian officials and Trump advisers, this list of topics has come up again and again, making it hard for the Canadian government to dismiss them.
The only soothing of nerves has come from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the four people familiar with the matter said. Mr. Rubio has refrained from delivering threats, and recently dismissed the idea that the United States was looking at scrapping military cooperation.
But Canada’s politicians across the spectrum, and Canadian society at large, are frayed and deeply concerned. Officials do not see the Trump administration’s threats as empty; they see a new normal when it comes to the United States.
On Thursday, at a news conference, a reporter asked Mr. Trudeau: “Your foreign affairs minister yesterday characterized all this as a psychodrama. How would you characterize it?”
“Thursday,” Mr. Trudeau quipped ruefully.
This is a despicable act of betrayal. Americans and Canadians flooded the battlefields of history with mingled blood. They suffered horrifically as they sacrificed themselves on the alters of freedom, ferociously fighting for those who could not fight for themselves. War helped create an inseparable bond of brothers in arms. Woe for those valiant hearts to witness what is happening between our beloved countries, that their peaceful hearts would bleed once again. The agony of their despair cut deeper by treason.
Hasn’t history taught us that those tyrants who force people to take a knee are the same who plan their execution?
Pipes,
I can’t improve on your comment. Thank you.
Anyone can read the NYT free of charge. Open the article you want to read. Copy the URL. Open archive.ph. Insert URL, hit save. Read the article. Comments are not visible.
Wow. Nice trick. I have a Press Reader subscription which gets me thousands of newspapers and magazines but not the NYT or WP.
This is “realpolitik”. Trump is looking at a realignment of the international order. And whether or not it is a fair comment, Canada appears vulnerable, particularly under the last government. We don’t know the degree to which our country has (or hasn’t) been penetrated by the CPC. It is possible the CIA has information about our government that we don’t. Trump may feel this is the time to make American more dominant. He obviously is a believer in the Monroe Doctrine. From our perspective, rallying around the flag isn’t enough. We need to prepare a robust response, including one involving what military capacity we have. Bringing home our troops from Latvia would be a good start.
EHWAL,
Latvia is in far greater danger of invasion than Canada is. Our blood and treasure must be on the front line if NATO remains relevant and effective. WHEN Putin invades Eastern Europe, which is coming, we better damned well still be there.
Warren,
Poland will now require that all males undergo military training to potentially double the size of its armed forces. And so, a more robust defence posture begins.
BTW, by “CPC” I mean Communist Party of China.
Word is Alberta’s sending a delegation to Washington to talk about statehood.
It would be sweet justice for them to force eastern Canada to play suitor just to keep them from going south. One would say that it would have central Canada scrambling faster than you can say “equalization”!
“Word is.” Let’s see some proof. We’ll wait.
Even Albertans don’t want to become a US State give me a break. Danielle Smith would be insane to try this.
St-Hubert,
No one in AB is stupid enough to go there. Or at least almost no one.
Are there not enough decent Republicans in America to put a stop to this madman?
SE,
No. They’re all cheap political whores.
The orange syphilitic-brained turd needs an obituary as soon as possible. He certainly eats enough fast food to bring this about shortly…
Derek,
God has already predetermined that the American people haven’t suffered enough yet. Since they won’t repent for their sins, they get to enjoy Trump for quite a while longer. Lucky them!
Warren,
God help us if Carney wins the election. A mentally ill, erratic, delusional, narcissistic, sociopath fool in the ring against a rank amateur who knows less than diddly about retail politics and national governance. Pierre better win or we’re already doomed as can be against PresidentAssholeTM.
Ronald,
MSM is going out of its way to prop up and protect the Banker. Carney is getting a free ride.
Conservatives must change up its messaging to:
“Remember the last nine years? (Images)
Well, with Mark Carney, you’re getting more of the same.
The same political backroom, and the same crop of MPs and insiders. (Images)
Canada and Canadians cannot afford four more years of Liberal government.
We need change.”
We need someone with global experience. Has Poilievre ever been out of the country? I don’t think he has the depth of experience or worldview to deal with this urgent, challenging time in our history. Carney has those qualities. And more. He presents as the adult in the room. Poilievre comes across as an angry punk-ass kid.
Art comes across as a boring bureaucrat because that is literally what he is/has been. Why do you think he possesses the qualities you think the country needs at this some? Based on what? What the CBC has told you? I have news.
Christine,
As a pro-Liberal, are you okay with the way the country has been governed the past nine years?
Are you okay with the corruption.
The incompetency?
The constant lies?
Four more years with essentially the same gang?
Really?
No thanks
Douglas,
Amen.
Douglas,
Agreed.
I would also do this: have the CPC pay Forbes for its estimate of Carney’s net worth and then build a commercial blitzkrieg around those results.
I don’t get the 120 day disclosure thing. I have filled them out for politicians and if you have any financial chops at all, it should be about a ten minute job. Doesn’t Art have those chops? Asking for a friend.
Ronald,
Brilliant
Douglas,
Merci. I do what I can even though they won’t listen.
Martin,
Why does this suddenly remind me of numbered and offshore shell companies? Hum.
Martin,
Hum. Why does this suddenly remind me of numbered and offshore shell companies?
As I read that I thought this was a bit of a harsh description of Art:
“A mentally ill, erratic, delusional, narcissistic, sociopath fool…”
You’re being generous
Mentally ill etc. Etc.?
Take your medicine. Does your face feel funny?
I’ve taken my medicine. It helps me to see the true reflection of an individual, you know, a guy who is so totally insecure and inadequate that he has to spend his off-time trying to limit the free speech rights of his fellow Canadians and block their right of expression. A guy who can’t really live up to the job. A third-tier candidate for a first-tier job. At least I will have the quiet satisfaction of watching this know-it-all blow himself right out of the race to occupy the PM’s chair. Maybe you need meds to fix your myriad of self-induced inadequacies. I can pass along my psychiatrist’s phone number since it already shows how much help you need. See you on the election trail!
This would be really good time for a massive 9.6 richter earthquake to hit California. And a massive swarm of 25,000,000,000 locusts to descend upon Washington DC. And a massive 6 mile wide meteorite to strike Florida.
The question is: what do we do? Military buildup is needed but will take time. Can we join the EU security apparatus they’re envisioning? If so, how? Do we work to stand up an EU-Canada-Japan-Australia security arrangement? This is beyond terrifying. I didn’t think he was joking back in December when too many people were trying so sluff it off, and I’m damn near beside myself now. My thinking is he has a deal with Russia for a false flag operation in the North that will see America come to our “protection” and then never leave.
Ejecting Canada from Five Eyes would be a completely reasonable proposition from any US government given Canada having willingly become the Western world’s hub of money-laundering, particularly from China and Iran.
Vichy Canadians unite.
Nice one!
Pedant,
Yet another example of you not seeing the forest for the trees…
Of course, we’ve become the world hub for money laundering. No one can dispute that. BUT an incoming CPC government will be more intelligent than you: instead of justifying an American reprisal for the Trudeau government’s inaction, Pierre will be smart enough on his first day in office to clean this mess up and rapidly put in jail all those convicted. As for those with diplomatic passports, they should immediately be declared persona non grata and expelled from Canada. See how easy this is? Thank God, Pierre is far more politically sophisticated than you are.
Oh and Pedant, Pierre if he has the guts will also come down on the provincial Attorneys General, you know, the gang that are also looking the other way. Fines for this and that bank just don’t cut the mustard anymore.
Mr. Trump keeps bringing up treaties and “agreements” that he believes are unfair to the United States. There must be some agreements between them and us that advantage or perceive to advantage the United States. Our Politicians should talk about those and repeat them every time. We should also, when he complains, list all the times we came to their aid, the fires in California, 9/11, Afghanistan, and several other times. And we need to repeat it as often as possible. That is how he gets Americans to believe him, by repeating constantly.
Michèle,
Trump’s worldview is an exact reflection of his psychosis, where the United States is always the victim of everyone else. Put another way, supposedly, up until Trump, the United States was incompetent and allowed trade partners to take deliberate advantage of the United States.
Take Canada’s trade surplus with America: remove oil and gas exports to the United States and THEY actually have a trade surplus with Canada. That’s why Trump doesn’t want CUSMA-USMCA renegotiated next year. He wants it dead. Period.
The USA has a much larger population than Canada, so of course it should buy more from us than we buy from them.
All those who buy into this anti-American sentiment play right into the hands of the Liberals who are playing this up to the max in order to divide and rule. The message being, ‘only the Liberals can stand up the the Southern Bully’. Look at lunatic Freeland calling for the Brits and their nukes to protect us from imminent attack. Right beside her Singh wants to ban Trump from attending the G7. These people are insane and the only one they are looking out for is themselves.
Milan,
The Liberals want the ballot question to be who do you like, Carney or Poilièvre? Will it work? Some polls already say Yes while others say No. So, we’ll find out on election night.
Warren,
An attempt was made again today to block my comments on this website by that persistent third-party. Naughty, naughty!
DM me
Ronald,
Me too