Geoff Russ: Opposition to the Liberal regime shouldn’t mean swooning for Trump

Canadian conservatives are walking into a trap, surrounded by two different but related threats.

First, the Liberal regime and its legion of devotees and dependents demand that everyone lock arms and join the line dance of “Elbows Up,” the campaign slogan they rode during the last federal election. Conservatives are therefore expected to adopt that same prescriptive elbowing spirit. They are to remain silent on the long, preventable decline of their country, and mediocre, modern status quo that benefits Liberal voters and few others.

Second, there is the mistake of confusing the Liberal regime with Canada itself — its history and its people. Many conservatives are, understandably, so disenchanted with the Liberal government and their fellow citizens who keep voting for it that they treat almost any critique of Ottawa as justified. That reflex can extend to accepting attempts by the Trump White House or other American politicians to unduly push Canada around.

For many conservatives, that reflex is akin to a very bad nervous tic. It should not be a challenge for the right to balance genuine admiration for American civilization with opposition to the often outrageous treatment Canada receives from the current U.S. administration.

There is much to like on the American right that powered Trump’s 2024 election victory. They have built a mighty ecosystem of conservative literature, media networks, think tanks, and other organs that treat politics as a long march to win elections and shape culture. Their understanding of the nature of power and the role of the state is something that Canadian conservatives should study extensively.

Admiration also does not require a simpering attitude toward the White House. Canadians should be wary of accepting narratives that undermine their own country, as in the case of the current farce over the wildfire smoke from Ontario blanketing American cities.

In what seemed like a coordinated stampede last week, dozens of American political accounts on X began to loudly complain about the smoke. It made Toronto, New York City, and large parts of the Midwest smell like a campfire and forced people to breathe in smoke as they went outside.

These accounts, often owned by Congressmen in swing states who will have to contest the midterms this fall, have demanded that Canada be sanctioned for failing to stop the wildfires. Trump himself has responded to the furore by claiming he will hike tariffs to play for any damages incurred by the wildfires. This is not the first time that naturally occurring wildfire smoke has skipped inspection at the border. Just last month, smoke from wildfires in California coated Vancouver. Last week, infernos in Minnesota crept into Canada.

Many accounts aligned with the Republican Party have declared that the wildfires prove that Canada is some sort of “failed state,” while presumably living within an hour’s drive of Detroit or Gary, Indiana.

Perhaps Canada should propose a deal; it will ramp up its forestry management and fire control strategies, such as keeping a large fleet of water bombers in vulnerable provinces to try and snuff out the conflagrations in their infancy, among other measures.

In return, the United States can crack down on the flow of illegal weapons into Canada, which is arming the criminal gangs plaguing Toronto, Winnipeg, and parts of Greater Lower Mainland B.C. It is a good deal for the Americans, as the latter is far easier to deal with than arresting weather currents.

However, the better option in this case is to simply ignore the social media personalities farming the algorithm for outrage clicks. That would be easier were it not for the rabble of “pick-me” Canadians who swallow any cynical attacks on Canada hook, line, and sinker.

They recently did so with the nonsense over the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge as the U.S . tried to renegotiate the deal at the eleventh hour (Carney shamefully caved to their demands and is trying to cover it up), and the seedy attempts to relabel Canada’s funding of the bridge as a “myth”.

Do they want a Green Card that badly? Last I checked, sycophancy was not a qualification for one. It is unfortunate that so many of these “pick-me” types identity with the Canadian right, whose first and founding principle is to uphold Canadian sovereignty and honour.

Matt Spoke, a leading conservative in Ontario, rightfully declared on X that, “You owe your loyalty first to other Canadians (even those you disagree with), before giving it to conservatives in other countries – no matter how much you might share ideology.”

Conservatives were happy to balance respect and skepticism for Joe Biden, and they should not drop that demeanor because he was replaced by a Republican.

Many were willing to give President Trump the benefit of the doubt on his belligerent approach to cross-border relations after he won the 2024 presidential election, as if there were some unspoken but obvious subtext always present. We are still waiting for someone to crack the code, and ought not to waste our time any longer.

The right in Canada are not bound to traipse after the GOP, or any foreign political party for that matter. They should not be so cowed as to stay silent as their supposed comrades sell out their own people, spiritually or literally.

The left does this too whenever a Democrat holds the White House. Let there be no mistaking the Liberal Party of Canada as anything but an ideological branch plant of the Democratic Party. From John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama and beyond, there is not a single Democratic presidential candidate whom the Liberal Party has not swooned over and tried to emulate.

Furthermore, simply refusing to be led by the politics of a foreign country does that make somebody anti-American.

Truly, official Canadian anti-Americanism as it currently stands is a tedious trend that has more in common with the Ayatollahs of Iran than anything resembling rationality. People who use terms like “Yanks” in a cringeworthy way as if it was 1956 should give it a rest. It is not an act of treachery to like and appreciate American civilization.

Luckily, Americophilia does not begin or end with the current administration in Washington. Many great Americans have been commander-in-chief, such as Richard Nixon or Theodore Roosevelt, both of whom had qualities worth emulating.

America is a beautiful country. There are awe-inspiring natural wonders south of the border, such as the Grand Canyon, the American Rockies, and the California coast. It is often captured in American filmmaking, which is unparalleled in its quality and quantity. Overall, culture in the United States remains vibrant, inventive, and often timeless.

All that can stand alongside a steadfast refusal to partake in the undermining of Canada. If some among us think joining them will get them an American visa, they should go apply and see if they qualify.

Should their efforts be in-vain, it will not be a mystery as to why.

National Post