Concerns are growing in Canada that its sovereignty faces a potential threat, fueled by the US president’s moves in Venezuela and his remarks about Greenland.
According to a Bloomberg report on Saturday, anxieties are mounting in Canada that it could be next on Washington’s list after the dramatic seizure of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and President Donald Trump’s musings about acquiring Greenland.
The news agency interviewed the writers of a widely-read Globe and Mail opinion piece that cautioned Trump might employ “military coercion” toward Canada, citing his previous comments about turning it into the “51st US state.”
In their analysis, former foreign policy advisor Adam Gordon and scholar Thomas Homer-Dixon stated that “nothing in international law protects Canada that shouldn’t have protected Venezuela,” implying Trump could use similar forceful measures to take control of Canada’s petroleum reserves.
The pair also worried about American political meddling to bolster separatist feelings in Alberta, a Canadian province abundant with oil. Jeffrey Rath, an organizer for a movement seeking to have Alberta leave Canada and become part of the United States, informed Bloomberg he has held meetings with supportive US State Department personnel. He declined to identify them, and the State Department offered no comment.
The authors emphasized to Bloomberg that Canada needs to make it “clear” any infringement on its sovereignty would prove “enormously costly” for the United States. They recommended Ottawa fund national service and territorial defense, create a strategy for drones, and quickly expand local defense manufacturing.
Trump has already placed substantial economic strain on Ottawa over the last year, applying tariffs as high as 35% on numerous products and menacing to widen them to additional industries. He defended this pressure by alleging Canada takes advantage of US trade.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has sought to mend ties with Trump, eliminating some retaliatory tariffs set by his predecessor and increasing military expenditure. Nonetheless, experts caution that making too many concessions might weaken Canada’s sovereign standing.
In a comment to Bloomberg, Carleton University professor Philippe Lagasse pondered, “Are we already a vassal state, and we just won’t admit it to ourselves?” He proposed Canada might ultimately become “basically a tributary.”