Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Sunday video was a master class in crisis communications. He reminded Canadians of his credentials managing tough times. He described the urgent challenges Canada faces. He explained what he is doing to tackle them. He promised not to “sugarcoat” anything. He appealed to Canadians’ patriotism. And he promised to keep us posted: bookmark this YouTube channel for the next episode.

In other words, he started to boil the frog. Slowly enough so the frog doesn’t notice. So that by the time the inevitable happens, it’s not only too late, but the frog is fully accepting of the consequences.

The Canadian public is that frog. The consequences are the failure to get a deal on CUSMA (the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement) prior to its six-year review deadline of July 1. On that day, the U.S. could give six months’ notice that it will cancel CUSMA outright (unlikely), keep all current tariff exemptions in place during the review process (equally unlikely), or........

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