What frustrates me is the narrative â heavily promoted by liberals in both Canada and the US â that Canada was somehow this boundless reserve of goodwill for America before Trump. No. Anti-Americanism, blaming America, and smug righteousness at "not being America" is a defining problem with the psychology of this country, and Trump is just the latest excuse for indulging in it.
One of the big problems with Trump, in fact, is that he makes bog-standard Canadian anti-Americanism seem righteous and principled at a time when the future of Canada-US relations are actually at stake in very real, tangible ways that will have a tremendous impact on the Canadian economy, and thus Canadians' lives. In other words, Canadians are not dealing with a crisis in a clear-eyed or pragmatic way, we are just mashing the same old AMERICA BAD button we bash all the time, in every context, always.
For the record.
The unintended consequence of Canadian voters constantly blaming the United States for this countryâs economic and social decline is that it masks our own accountability. For decades, it hasnât been Washington making our policy choicesâitâs been us. Canadians have repeatedly endorsed governments that erode competitiveness, deter investment, and lower our standards of living. Blaming America for decisions we empowered our own leaders to make is like a child blaming their friend for mischief they chose to join. At some point, the fault lies not in our neighbour, but in ourselves.