Does anyone think for a second that a man [(Trump)] who brags about attacking his own citizens will let Canada off with a gentleman’s trade agreement?

The rhetoric from Washington is escalating. FBI director Kash Patel accused us of flooding the United States with terrorists. Homeland Security director Kristi Noem says our border represents a threat to American safety. Now Attorney General Pam Bondi is accusing Canada of creating a crisis in human trafficking.

These are orchestrated outbursts of falsehood to demonize Canada. This is the part of the fascist playbook. The stakes are frighteningly high so I understand the PM’s desire to tread carefully. But there are areas where we can’t cede ground. If we do, the fascists will take it. That is how they operate.

What keeps me up at night are the words of Louis Fischer, a journalist who documented the Nazi rise to power. He wrote that Hitler’s opponents couldn’t comprehend the real nature of the Nazi threat. As reasonable and democratic people, they made the mistake of believing that they could negotiate with Hitler. Or they thought that they were wiser than Nazi street thugs. They reassured themselves that Hitler was “just being Hitler.”

And so, they willingly ceded ground, believing it was a strategy to bring the Nazis into the democratic fold or outwit them. In ceding ground, they fell into the abyss.

~

This is what concerns me about the Roberts’ invitation. It signals either naivety or desperation. If Roberts was the one who blew off the meeting, it’s because he didn’t need to take the measure of the new government. The invitation alone gave him all he needed to know.

In writing this, I feel the need to state that I am rooting for Prime Minister Carney. Everyone knows that I am not a Liberal. I never will be. But he won the election by offering himself as a wartime prime minister.

We need him to be that war time prime minister now.

  • KanadrAllegria@lemmy.ca
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    4 days ago

    I see a point;

    This is the story of fascism. And you either stand up to fascists . . . or you will end up in the cages yourself. In the case of Canada, our options are either resistance or accommodation.

    . . . The risks of antagonizing Trump are clear, but so are the risks of trying to accommodate the profoundly anti-democratic and thinly-veiled violence of a gangster regime.

    . . .

    We need [Carney] to be that war time prime minister now.

    . . .

    . . . The PM needs to bring his case to the people and tap into their determination to hold our ground. We need to show men like Kevin Roberts that the Canadian people and government are not going to be worn down.

    The PM used the term “elbows up” in the election - Canadians are not willing to put them down now.

    (Emphasis mine)

    To summarize: do not accommodate. Resist.

    Seems pretty clear to me.

            • threeonefour@piefed.ca
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              4 days ago

              I’m that obtuse apparently. As far as I know every Canadian politician has denounced Trumps 51st state rhetoric. Is there something I’m missing?

              • KanadrAllegria@lemmy.ca
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                4 days ago

                There’s a lot more than just the 51st rhetoric, and not all Canadian politicians have been proving they have a backbone.

                See: Danielle Smith, Scott Moe, Pierre Pollievre, and Andrew Scheer, among others.

                • threeonefour@piefed.ca
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                  4 days ago

                  Should Carney be included in that list? Genuine question. I wouldn’t put him in the same league as the others but, from the article and the way people are commenting, it seems like people would disagree.

                  • KanadrAllegria@lemmy.ca
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                    4 days ago

                    I think that’s basically what this article boils down to. We haven’t seen as much of Carney’s backbone as we’d like, and for a lot of people he probably is on the list of politicians who have disappointed their constituents. Not as bad as some, yes, but still not holding up his end of the bargain as well as people had hoped. Hence this article, where Charlie Angus is asking that the government resist not accommodate, and keep the elbows up.

                    You asked in another comment what Carney can do to prove he’s a strong PM… There are myriad ways, but what it comes down to is not letting Trump or his minions walk all over him, nor control the narrative. As the article says it’s risky to push back, but it’s also risky to be too passive. Carney will probably have to find the line and walk it as best he can, as he promised the Canadian people he would.

                    Anyway, I feel like our discussion has gone full circle at this point, and I’m not sure what else I can add to make anything clearer.