By the time anyone chooses to read this column, Canadians may well have already begun referring to it as “T-Day”, as it’s most likely to be the day Emperor Trump finally decided to unleash his tariff demons. Don’t worry, though; we won’t be alone facing such an economic broadside; just be aware that if the inevitable happens, there will be a lot of schools in the province, especially in our rural communities, that will be looking for Spanish teachers, so if you’ve been spending a lot of your winter vacationing in Mexico, now’s the time to “brush up” on your language skills.
Actually, whatever “penalty” U.S. President Donald Trump wants to impose upon Canada or any other country whose diplomatic skills have displeased him since Jan. 20, don’t sweat the small stuff; he’s creating enough legal bombshells even in his own domain that pretty much guarantee that FOX News, CNN and MSNBC will not go bankrupt for the foreseeable future of creating “news” for the Democrat – MAGA/Republican Hate Machine to feast upon.
Even though there have been only eleven days of this new “war” being fought on the economic battlefields of the world, there already are a LOT of intelligent Canadians preparing their thesis paper based upon this subject. For instance, the front page “Letter to the Editor” written by former Regina NDP MP Erin Weir peacefully explaining to the good people of Greenland (with due apologies to our NATO friend, Denmark) how their becoming part of a province of Canada would provide better economic opportunity than whatever Trump’s exploit-driven suggestions might provide. Erin, unfortunately, is basing his suggestions upon economic principles he learned while pursuing his Master’s in Public Administration at Queen’s University and uses a slightly “elitist” form of language, as opposed to the carnival barking style preferred by The Apprentice, but the average Canadian should still have little difficulty in understanding its message.
In actuality, though, I have always been curious as to why people take Trump’s words so seriously. Sure, he seems to “mean” what he’s previously said, and seems to be doing a fine job in following up on these “threats”, but why can’t we just laugh at this man-child, point out what damage he will most likely also inflict upon Americans, then use that nation’s own laws as a weapon repelling his economic onslaught?
Using a nation’s own legal definitions against itself policies is an interesting take. For instance, Trump (and the U.S. Supreme Court [SCOTUS], for that matter) is attempting to convince every state that they should be taking care of the majority of their own business/government dealings by utilizing “states rights” legislation already ensconced in the Constitution. Just because Green Party leader Elizabeth May “jokingly” suggested that California, Oregon and Washington states should cede from the United States and join with British Columbia in forming a Canadian economic/environmental powerhouse, thus moving us far more rapidly in a “greener” economic direction, doesn’t mean that such a “thing” can’t possibly occur.
In reality, every state in the Union can place such a proposition to be voted upon every “Tuesday after the first Monday in November in even-numbered years.” So why stop with just these three? How about adding Michigan, New York, Vermont, Connecticut and maybe even Massachusetts – and while we’re at it, ask Cuba and Puerto Rico to also join our soon-to-be-revised monarchist/republican confederation? Talk about economic “opportunity”; for instance, were Cuba to accept such an offer, we’d instantly solve our doctor “shortage”, and with Puerto Rico under Trump as President, we’d be well stocked with toilet paper for at least four years before having to even consider “harvesting” our own forest, during which time we could then amend home building regulation to require every new home to have at least one bidet.
Am I being “serious” here, or just sarcastic in my suggestions on how to repel this idiot that once again giving blondes a bad name? Maybe it’s both; the point is, from a worldly perspective, perhaps the best lesson that President Trump could learn would be for us – the world, for that matter, to examine the extent to which the United States continues to add to the issue of climate change and its increasingly catastrophic consequences, and sue that nation for the damage it inflicts upon our own economy – or, for that matter, the states that must now endure such punishment because Trump, who still believes that such a climatic condition is a “hoax”, is once again pulling the United States out of the Paris Accord.
There are many within our Conservative Party membership who will, when discussing climate change and global warming (that is, if they even grudgingly admit that such conditions are indeed “real”), maintain that our contribution to global warming is minimal, and that we should first be trying to convince China and India (but not the U.S., for some weird reason) to cut back on their usage of coal to generate electricity before we do anything for ourselves. They’re delusional, and as usual their message is replete with disinformation and really bad science.
Since Canada as become susceptible to having an annual forest fire “season” that feast upon the western slopes of Canada’s Rocky Mountain slopes, we are now the fourth LARGEST contributor to fossil fuel emissions in the world. The weather effect that creates these fires is the same one as currently has the Los Angeles area looking more like Gaza than the 1960’s Sunset Strip – namely, the Santa Ana winds. Increasing numbers of polar vortexes are making their way south, compressing and trapping air over the Nevada Grand Basin, which is then superheated, escapes at its the Pacific exit, only to blowtorch its way back up the California coastline and creating a landscape not even torrential rains can keep from becoming nothing more than mudslide opportunities.
Were we U.S. citizens, we’d be accustomed to suing governments or other sources of irritation requiring litigation, but in British Columbia’s case (or Fort McMurray, for that example), we probably don’t even have an idea as to the monetary value of such damage to our economy, so we don’t go to court with such matters, when in fact it’s what should be done, were there a world court where such a case could be heard.
But – we’re Canadians…and now the plaything of an avaricious thug and a group of oligarchs who worship only in the temple of the self-rewarding. We’re only going to win this economic “war” with Trump IF, following the resitting of Parliament, our leaders should adapt the determination of our soldiers who defended freedom and democracy at Vimy Ridge or Dieppe, instead of the self-serving pawns that Scott Moe or Danielle Smith care to be.
