In January 2017, Donald Trump signed an executive order that banned immigration to the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries. Amid the turmoil that ensued, Justin Trudeau posted a message to Twitter.
“To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith,” he wrote. “Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada.”
Trudeau’s tweet was considered relatively provocative at the time. And later, when asylum seekers began arriving at Roxham Road in larger numbers, the conventional wisdom became that the prime minister’s message was a gaffe. He had either invited the influx of people or the challenge of dealing with that wave of newcomers had shown his tweet to be simplistic virtue-signalling.
But haggling over the tactical value of the message risks missing the basic principle that was being conveyed: Canada does not discriminate against those attempting to immigrate to this country on the basis of religion.
The return of Donald Trump — and his jokes, if that’s what they are, about the 51st state — will likely provide new opportunities for Canada to decide how much and how loudly it wants to differentiate itself from its neighbour. In the process, could Trump also end up recharging Canadian patriotism or nationalism?
Trudeau was predictably asked about Trump’s 51st state comments during his two recent interviews with American media outlets. Unsurprisingly, Trudeau deemed the idea a non-starter.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pushed back against president-elect Donald Trump’s threats in a CNN interview, saying if he does bring in tariffs, Canada would be forced to retaliate. Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre called on the government to be more forceful with the U.S.
“Canadians are incredibly proud of being Canadian,” he told CNN. “One of the ways we define ourselves most easily is, ‘well, we’re not American.’ There’s such a depth of pride that that’s not really an issue.”
It would arguably be a problem if not being American was the entire basis for Canada’s self image. But it’s not a terrible place to start — and has been, to some extent or another, for as long as Canada has existed. And it might be particularly useful now.
The big differences between Canada and the U.S.
As much as Canadians might understand that they live in a distinct and sovereign country, it’s worth highlighting some of the differences.
Consider, for instance, Canadians’ views of the recent U.S. presidential election. Support for Trump in Canada has increased over the last four years, but Environics found last fall that 60 per cent of Canadians still supported Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, compared to 21 per cent for Trump. (If Canada was a state it would be the safest Democratic state by a wide margin, surpassing Vermont, which Harris won by 32 points.)
Two years ago, Environics also asked Canadians and Americans about a number of social and political questions to compare responses. Those surveys found some notable differences.
Seventy-seven per cent of Canadians strongly or somewhat agreed the government should act to reduce the income disparity between the rich and poor, compared to 58 per cent of Americans. Eighty-two per cent of Canadians strongly or somewhat agreed that every woman who wants an abortion should be able to have one, compared to 62 per cent of Americans. Sixty-one per cent of Canadians agreed it should be illegal for civilians to own handguns — just 29 per cent of Americans agreed.
At Issue this week: The prime minister goes on American TV to push back on Donald Trump’s intensifying threats against Canada. Liberals jockey to take Justin Trudeau’s spot as leader. And growing concerns about foreign election interference.
Whatever Trump’s fondness for annexation memes, a vanishingly small number of Canadians are interested in joining the United States. In 2022, Environics found that 83 per cent of Canadians strongly disagreed with the idea and another seven per cent somewhat disagreed. A new poll from the Angus Reid Institute, conducted earlier this month, similarly found that just 10 per cent of Canadians supported the idea.
That’s perhaps unsurprising if you consider some of Environics’s other findings. Eighty-three per cent of Canadians had a favourable opinion of the United States in 1983, but that had fallen to 47 per cent by 2024. And as Andrew Parkin of Environics wrote this week, when Canadians were asked in 2021 to compare the two countries, large majorities of Canadians thought their country did better when it came to health care, quality of life, education, social security, government, individual rights and both racial and gender equality. (The U.S. won when it came to productivity and technology.)
Such findings might be contrasted with recent worries that Canadians are feeling less pride in their own country.
Does Canadian patriotism need a boost?
Blame for that decline is sometimes placed on Justin Trudeau — the theory being that the prime minister has spent too much time dwelling on Canada’s faults and not enough effort toward enthusing about Canada’s successes.
But that narrative is complicated by some of the available data. According to Environics, the most significant drop in pride has occurred among Conservative voters, while the level of pride among Liberal voters has been consistent. Parkin has also suggested the decline is related to pessimism about Canada’s economic situation.
Regardless, maybe Canadian patriotism could still use a shot in the arm — and maybe that explains the positive reaction online to Jean Chrétien’s recent pep talk in the pages of the Globe and Mail.
“To Donald Trump, from one old guy to another: Give your head a shake!” he wrote. “What could make you think that Canadians would ever give up the best country in the world — and make no mistake, that is what we are — to join the United States?”
In the space of 1,100 words, he used five exclamation points.
Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed the United States is ‘subsidizing’ Canada ‘to the tune of $100B.’ Where does that number come from? And is Canada really getting a free ride from the U.S.? Andrew Chang dives into the math, the money and the politics of the Canada-U.S. trade relationship to uncover how much — if any — of what Trump says is actually true.
Images gathered from Reuters, Getty Images, and The Canadian Press.
On the occasion of his 91st birthday, Chrétien was a paean to the country he led for a decade — highlighting many of the things that Canadians believe their country does better than the United States. But he also called on today’s leaders to build an even stronger and more resilient country in the face of threats from the south.
Trudeau’s closing remarks at the end of Wednesday’s first ministers’ meeting seemed to pick up on Chrétien’s vibe.
“Canada is a welcoming, inclusive, innovative and ambitious place. It is home to bountiful resources, breathtaking beauty and a proud people who have come from every corner of the globe to forge a nation with a unique identity worth embracing and celebrating,” he said. “And worth fighting for.”
The return of worrying about American influence?
The reality of a Trumpian America could, as Chrétien suggests, drive Canadian leaders to break down interprovincial trade barriers, expand east-west electricity ties and reinforce the Canadian military’s presence in the Arctic. And it could be motivation to strengthen the institutions and values that set Canada apart from its neighbour — including Canada’s parliamentary democracy.
Could it also lead Canadians to worry more — or rather, again — about American economic or cultural influence?
In an essay in the New York Times in 1974 — entitled “Canada wants out (of the United States)” — Robert Fulford explained to Americans that “resistance to American domination, and assertion of a Canadian identity,” had “become crucial elements in the life of Canada.” Those feelings or worries have arguably dissipated over the last 30 years — Environics has found that support for the North American Free Trade Agreement has actually increased over time.
But could Trump revive that spirit? Perhaps Ontario Premier Doug Ford showing up to Wednesday’s first ministers’ meeting in a “Canada is not for sale” hat is a sign of things to come.
Nationalism is a fraught philosophy. It can curdle into isolationism, jingoism and exclusion. In Canada’s case, aspiring to be merely better or more righteous than the United States could also breed complacency.
In Canada Alone, published in 2023, Kim Nossal, the foreign policy scholar at Queen’s University, speculated that Canada could have to worry about a further increase in the cross-border movement of Trumpism’s ideas. In response to events in the United States, Nossal added, Canada could also see a rise in anti-Americanism, which could further complicate relations between the two countries.
But if American democracy continues down a dark path, not being American might be more than an argument against annexation. In that case, as Rob Goodman, an author and professor of politics and public administration at Toronto Metropolitan University, has written, “Canadian distinctiveness” might be not a “vanity object,” but an “essential safeguard of Canadian democracy.”
