As Prime Minister Mark Carney seeks to negotiate a trade deal with the Trump Administration, former Prime Minister Stephen Harper has revealed that the Canadian government reached out to him two weeks ago for his advice.
His response?
Reduce dependence on the United States.
“I think it’s fair to say I’m probably the most pro-American prime minister in Canadian history,” Harper told Canadian and American legislators gathered for the annual Midwestern Legislative Conference meeting in Saskatoon.
“We’ve got to get something short-term worked out with the Trump administration. But this really is a wake-up call for this country to truly diversify its trade export markets.
“Just because we have that geographic proximity does not justify the degree of dependence that we have on a single market.”
Harper also called for Canada to spend a lot more on the military:
“While the border is a shared responsibility, let’s make sure we spend a lot more on defence so that we can be independently responsible for our own land, seas and skies, independent of the United States,” he said.”
Harper noted that Canadians are upset by the way the U.S. is treating its allies, and said the current government seems to get the need for Canada to build leverage through diversifying our trade relationships:
“We just cannot be in a position in the future where we can be threatened in this way and not have that leverage. The current government does, you know, get it better than their predecessors.”
“Canadians are a combination of just angry and bewildered by what is happening here. And that is very real. And it is very deep and it is across the country, and it is across the political spectrum.”
From the outset of U.S. President Donald Trump’s annexationist rhetoric and tariff threats toward Canada, former Prime Minister Harper has been a strong voice in defence of Canadian sovereignty. Unlike some influencers on the right, Harper has not tried to blame Canada for Donald Trump’s ever-changing whims, and has put responsibility for the breakdown in relations where it belongs – the Trump Administration.
As a former Conservative Prime Minister, and – as he noted – a very pro-American Canadian leader, Harper has significant credibility on this issue. When Stephen Harper speaks, people listen, and his message is very clear: Canada can no longer rely upon the United States as we once we did, and we need new trading partners and a stronger military to ensure our sovereignty.
Note: You can watch Harper’s full remarks below:
Spencer Fernando
Image – YouTube
If this piece left you clearer than it found you, that's the point. I write for readers who want to think past the week, to see the longer pattern beneath the daily story, and to come away steadier rather than more agitated.
That longer view gets built somewhere. On Patreon, essay by essay, I'm constructing The Long Work, a body of analysis meant to outlast the news cycle that prompted it. The readers there make it possible. No subsidies, no strings. The work answers to them.
$8/month to read it as it's built, and to have a hand in building it.