The United States is now a country that berates democratic allies and threatens tariffs against its closest trading partners while wooing authoritarian regimes and seeking deeper trade ties with countries like Russia. That shift is antithetical to Canadian values.
Today (February 28, 2025), Pierre Poilievre, Justin Trudeau, and Jagmeet Singh all issued Tweets in support of Ukraine:
“As Leader of Canada’s common sense Conservatives, I have always been clear, we stand with Ukraine in its defence against Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion.
I also firmly believe that the future of Ukraine must be determined by the Ukrainian people.
Conservatives will always stand on the side of freedom and democracy.”
“Russia illegally and unjustifiably invaded Ukraine.
For three years now, Ukrainians have fought with courage and resilience. Their fight for democracy, freedom, and sovereignty is a fight that matters to us all.
Canada will continue to stand with Ukraine and Ukrainians in achieving a just and lasting peace.”
“Zelenskyy is what courage looks like in these times.
This is what it is to resist Donald Trump.
He has no place as part of the next G7 meeting in Canada.
I am calling on the leaders of all political parties to clearly send this message to Donald Trump.
I would rather stand with President Zelenskyy any day, than invite Donald Trump to our country.”
While Singh’s statement is more aggressive than Poilievre’s & Trudeau’s, it’s notable that all three of Canada’s major national party leaders put out those statements today.
Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet also stated support for Ukraine:
The statements of support from Canadian politicians across the political spectrum have been matched by an unprecedented outpouring of statements from leaders across the Western world:
Of course, we know why these statements were issued.
They were issued following an unprecedented bullying session where U.S. President Donald Trump & U.S. Vice President JD Vance spread lies about Ukraine in the presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and then became enraged when he tried to correct those lies:
Trump lied when he said the U.S. has spent $350 billion on Ukraine. It’s not even close to that amount:
And Vance lied when he said Zelenskyy has not said “thank you.” As you can see, he said thank you many times:
Watching Trump & Vance bully Zelenskyy has triggered a wave of revulsion across the Western world, and this is what our political leaders are reacting to. A critical mass of Citizens are deeply incensed by the behaviour of the United States, and are demanding that those who represent us speak out.
The harsh treatment of Volodymyr Zelenskyy unfortunately fits a pattern where the Trump-Vance Administration treats American allies – including Canada and the European Union – with disdain, while treating Russia and China (especially Russia) as quasi-allies.
As noted by Tom Nichols in The Atlantic, it was an ambush that indicates a disturbing shift in America’s alignment:
“Leave aside, if only for a moment, the utter boorishness with which President Donald Trump and Vice President J. D. Vance treated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House today. Also leave aside the spectacle of American leaders publicly pummeling a friend as if he were an enemy. All of the ghastliness inflicted on Zelensky today should not obscure the geopolitical reality of what just happened: The president of the United States ambushed a loyal ally, presumably so that he can soon make a deal with the dictator of Russia to sell out a European nation fighting for its very existence.
Trump’s advisers have already declared the meeting a win for “putting America first,” and his apologists will likely spin and rationalize this shameful moment as just a heated conversation—the kind of thing that in Washington-speak used to be called a “frank and candid exchange.” But this meeting reeked of a planned attack, with Trump unloading Russian talking points on Zelensky (such as blaming Ukraine for risking global war), all of it designed to humiliate the Ukrainian leader on national television and give Trump the pretext to do what he has indicated repeatedly he wants to do: side with Russian President Vladimir Putin and bring the war to an end on Russia’s terms. Trump is now reportedly considering the immediate end of all military aid to Ukraine because of Zelensky’s supposed intransigence during the meeting.”
Canada must choose
The rapid escalation of America’s foreign policy shift has caught many Canadians – including many of our leaders – off guard.
Indeed, it’s not only a foreign policy shift. It’s an ethical shift and a moral shift. America now feels disturbingly similar to Russia and China in their bullying attitude, neo-imperialist rhetoric and aims, and brutally transactional treatment of other nations.
America is not simply entering into an isolationist period, they are actively seeking to boost anti-democracy forces across the globe, including by backing far-right parties in Europe (truly far-right parties like the AfD in Germany), and through an attempt to align the United States with Russia rather than traditional American allies like the European Union.
Here in Canada, we are facing the neo-imperialist threat on a near-daily basis as U.S. government officials threaten to deliberately wreck our economy, redraw our borders, and threaten to withdraw our security guarantee – raising the possibility that we would be left alone to handle a territorial incursion by Russia in the North. Russia and the U.S. are also beginning talks on resource cooperation in the Arctic – something that should send a chill (in more ways than one) down the spines of Canadians.
All of this presents Canadians with a very profound choice:
Do we avert our eyes and sell out our values to try and preserve our connections to the U.S., or do we remain true to our values and chart our own path?
Ultimately, there is only one choice that allows Canada to retain our soul.
For generations, Canadians have given their lives for the cause of freedom. Siding with a pro-Putin and pro-authoritarian U.S. would represent a profound betrayal of those who built this country and those who sacrificed to protect it.
This means we must be willing to go our own way.
And that means accepting that there will be real difficulty ahead.
We may need to withstand tariffs, propaganda barrages designed to divide us, endless bullying and threats, and more – all designed to destabilize our country and erode our sovereignty.
We will need to become a more militarized country to build up our defence capacity and dissuade aggression.
We will need to reorient ourselves towards deeper connections to our sane remaining allies, which means more trade deals and mutual defence pacts with the European Union, CANZUK nations, and countries like Japan and South Korea.
And above all else, we must resist relentless U.S. pressure, even if resisting that pressure comes at immense cost.
None of this will be easy. But this is a moment for choosing, a moment that defines who we are as human beings, and who we are as a nation.
After all, as noted by Anthony Koch, when Dmitry Medvedev is endorsing America’s horrendous treatment of Volodomyr Zelenskyy, “you know you’re wrong.”
As Canadians, we cannot be part of Trump-Vance-Putin realignment.
We must stand on the other side of that – the side of fellow democracies in the European Union and across the world.
Canada must retain our soul as a nation, and right now that means distancing ourselves from our southern neighbours as they morph into something disturbing and unrecognizable.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – Twitter
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.