So many of Canada’s problems, across the board, stem from the continued refusal to fully reckon with the negative consequences of four decades of blindly following an increasingly discredited ideology of minimal government and free-market liberalism.
In a better world, an opposition party would use Dan Breznitz’s brilliant, incisive essay in today’s Globe as their roadmap for comprehensive public-sector reform. Clear and correct on the problems and solutions. Essential reading for all Canadians. www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...
Canada’s economic problems stem from a government that fails in basic operation capabilities, lacks the ability to think and is devoid of strategic leadership
I’m actually surprised this point isn’t more discussed, or discussed at all. Anyway, for the moment, while Canada does have to be helpful especially on border security, the US does need us, which gives us some space for independent policies.
Canada’s pre-emptive Trump strategy involves making the US aware of how much they depend on us for trade. But politically that only matters if the US voting system is competitive. If it’s not, then a president won’t really care if voters in Iowa are hurting economically from bad trade policy.
Caveats to my argument that Canada actually has a lot of policy autonomy: the USMCA renegotiation clause exposes Canada to coercive US economic power. And it assumes a democratic, not authoritarian/fascist US. If Trump wins, Canada’s policy space will not disappear, but it will shrink considerably.
These arguments often feature a degree of self-interest, as they are often put forward by longtime supporters of the policy that Canada now needs to adopt to soothe the American beast. There was a whole cottage industry of these post-9/11.
We seem to be entering a doomerism phase of Canada-US relations similar to the post-9/11 period, with Canadian economic dependence on the US used to argue that if we don’t do what the US wants, Canada will be punished. That’s not quite right. The politics is not one of total asymmetric domination.
Short answer: yes. Longer answer: also yes. An undeappreciated aspect of Can-US relations, noted by Stephen Clarkson, is that US dependence on Canada for border security actually gives Canada leeway in our relations. The US has to play ball w/ Canada to get what it wants. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
"The reason we don’t see exploding battery attacks more often is not because it’s technically hard, it’s because the erosion of public trust in everyday things isn’t worth it." www.bunniestudios.com/blog/2024/tu...