How often have we seen in comic books, cartoons and movies the familiar archetypal bully named Moose or Biff or something like that? They’re often portrayed as stocky, with light coloured hair, a low IQ and surrounded by anxious minions. 

Not for the first time, the word bully is being used a lot these days to describe Donald Trump as he escalates the trade conflict between our two countries. As negotiations continue behind the scenes to renew the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, the U.S. president noisily threatened new tariffs of 50 per cent starting next month on certain Canadian products — even CUSMA-compliant goods. To justify his actions, he has cited, among other things, the provincial bans on U.S. alcohol and what he calls unfair trade practices regarding dairy quotas.  

The premiers, meeting in Prince Edward Island this week, were all abuzz in reaction to this latest threat from the White House. Some treaded cautiously, vowing to continue working toward a deal. Others were more confrontational — notably Doug Ford of Ontario, who said: “You have to........

© Montreal Gazette