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Conrad Black: This is an opportunity Carney, don't squander it

The prime minister should produce a national policy that defends the irreducible requirements of Canadian sovereignty

The current trade dispute with the United States will become a real crisis if President Trump doesn’t come to his senses (quite possible), before the imposition of our retaliatory tariffs on Sept. 8. The unprecedented explosiveness of this controversy comes from the fact that Donald Trump has clearly stated that he does not believe that Canada is a serious country. He recognizes that we have a civilized and commendable population and that Canada is a treasure house of resources of all kinds, but he is unaware of any significant distinction between Americans and English-speaking Canadians. He considers, not without some reason, that we have been an incoherent nationality whose modus operandi has been a dishonorable freeloading on the Americans for national defense, and absolute commercial dependence upon the United States as if we were states of the American Union, while only masquerading as an independent country.

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We could manage that more easily if most Canadians didn’t recognize that there is an element of truth in it, and if the real distinctions between the ethos of this country and that of the United States were less subtle. Trump’s view is false but not unfounded, and he is striking very close to the core civic sensibilities of many Canadians. It is fashionable to dismiss Trump as a boob, and his public personality sometimes........

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