Prime Minister Mark Carney can’t categorically rule out the possibility of participating in US President Donald Trump’s illegal war against Iran — and that may be because he believes another conflict in the Middle East will be great for Canada’s fossil fuel sector.

Carney’s actions are hard to fathom: just a few weeks ago he correctly told a crowd at Davos that the Pax Americana was effectively over, thanks to the increasingly reckless actions of the Trump administration. 

And given Trump has started both an unjust trade war against Canada — to say nothing of his repeated calls for our annexation — and has further threatened the political, economic and territorial sovereignty of myriad Canadian allies, Carney’s apparently unwavering support for Trump’s foreign policy seemingly defies explanation.

Until you consider that the price of a barrel of crude rose by US$10 in just a few days.

America’s imperial conflicts have always been good for Canada’s oil patch. 

When OPEC initiated an oil embargo against Western nations that supported Israel during the Yom Kippur War of 1973, Canada’s nascent oil patch was ready and available to supply not only Canada, but the United States. As recounted by journalist and former roughneck Don Gillmor in his recent book On Oil, “in the 1970s you could still hear Texan or Oklahoman accents on the street. Calgary was more aligned with those states, its allegiances formed on a north/south axis.” 

Canada’s role as........

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