OTTAWA—In the years preceding the Second World War, there were extensive negotiations to avoid conflict with Germany. Then, in early September 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, and Great Britain declared war, followed by Canada. Poland fell, and Europe was quiet for several months. The period known as the “phoney war” had begun.

Since last year’s inauguration of Donald Trump for his second term as the United States president, we have been living through the phoney war. Canadian officials have been negotiating with a man who refers to our sovereign country as “the 51st state.” Never mind we had a trade deal in place, the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, from the previous Trump administration; the attacks rained down, placing tariffs on our exports for the flimsiest of reasons.

In response, American liquor was taken off our shelves, American food was shunned in our grocery stores, tariffs were placed on American goods, and many Canadians boycotted travel to the U.S.  

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Since Trump’s election, that has been our reality. But despite Prime Minister Mark Carney’s 2025 election “elbows up” rhetoric, the Davos “rupture” speech earlier........

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