President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hold a joint press conference on February 13, 2017, in the White House. Photo by Benjamin D. Applebaum/Wikimedia Commons.

Donald Trump says he doesn’t need Canadian oil or anything else Canadian. Let’s face it, Canada has been dumped and is on its own.

By raising tariffs unilaterally, Trump will grossly violate USMCA, the former NAFTA. It’s no use doing deals with Trump, that he will break. Instead, let’s dust ourselves off and make things by Canadians for Canadians. Canada was tossed out of similar arrangements before. We picked ourselves up, became more self-reliant and thrived. Can we do so again?

First, a little history. Canadians know far more American history than their own. It’s time to change that. For most of our four centuries as a settler society, Canada was in the secure but subordinate embrace of more advanced powers. First France, then Britain, and finally the US. After what we thought........

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