Conrad Black: Canada must mature as a nation - National Post
A Canadian and American flag fly along the border at the Detroit River in Windsor. Photo by Dan Janisse /The Windsor StarArticle contentThe trade imbroglio with the United States is escalating and ramifying in ways that are potentially dangerous. The Carney government refuses to release the final offer or produce the conclusive evidence that, contrary to the American version of events, Carney was reacting to provocative and discreditable American attempts to change the deal at the last minute. It has been written here and elsewhere that since the prime minister can resolve this issue and is not doing it, and his explanations have shifted, though as a patriotic matter, we give him the benefit of the doubt, no one should be unaware of that doubt and that the American version of these events is not implausible. As long as this doubt exists, it is going to be difficult to conduct the war that our prime minister has instigated. The anger that is manifest in juvenile acts such as booing and shouting down the U.S. national anthem at sporting events is stirring up unprecedented hostility to Canada in the United States. Of course we must pursue our national interest, but we will not do ourselves a favour by infuriating an entire country of 350 million people with a GDP of US$32 trillion.
If the rejection of the final trade proposals was justified, there has never been one word of justification for breaking off negotiations. Even the trade proposals that were rejected gave this country unequalled access to by far the greatest and most swiftly growing market in the world, an access the world has envied. Of course, we must be prepared to resist American pressures and reply to them, but with this uneven correlation of forces, it is poor tactics for us to escalate the disagreement. If our complaints are well-founded, this is an opportunity for Canada to come of age, and to demonstrate the moral strength that it has always had. This could be a chance to end the nagging suspicion that not only Americans and other foreigners, but many Canadians have had that this is not a mature nationality and that it has still not produced an adequate raison d’etre. Ninety per cent of Canadians live within two hundred miles of the U.S. border and 75 per cent speak the same language. Mr. Carney is trying to lead us on a historic journey; he won’t achieve it by self-impoverishment.
Given the heroic legend that we have managed to make of the Gilbert and Sullivan disturbances of Mackenzie and Papineau in 1837, we do have the potential, if our cause is a righteous one, of re-orienting this country on a more independent course and demonstrating to ourselves and to the world that Canada is an autonomous force to be reckoned with.
American complaints about a trade deficit with Canada are rubbish: when the oil we sell them is subtracted, there is no deficit, and that oil is bought below the world price and the U.S. sells it on at a handsome profit. The U.S. does have a legitimate grievance that we have been importing Chinese auto parts and inserting them into cars that are returned for completion to the United States. This is a violation of the spirit and perhaps the text of existing agreements. This also reinforces President Trump‘s own view that since all components of an automobile are available in the United States, they should be entirely fabricated there. If that is what the Americans wish to do, they have the ability to do it, but then we should produce our own automobiles for ourselves., by an agreement with a foreign manufacturer, such as Sweden and/or China, in formerly U.S.-owned factories in Canada.
