Canada’s pivot to Europe is a sound strategic move

The idea that borders cannot be changed by force and that trade deals and commitments should be respected is under siege, most of all by Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, and to a lesser extent by US protectionism and questioning of alliances, alongside China's hostility to freedom in Taiwan and the CCP's highly repressive political system.

However, the ideas underpinning the rules-based order remain worth protecting. Who wants to return to an era of dictators redrawing borders and destroying smaller countries through a 'might-makes-right' mindset? While it's easy to look at the rules-based order as overly utopian or naive, the fact remains that it helped contribute to a long era of relative global peace, and was itself built on a foundation of centuries of thinking about how to best avoid war and encourage human flourishing through mutually beneficial cooperation and trade.