The Courage to Change

“Today I hope for the serenity to accept what cannot be changed, the courage to change what can be changed, and the wisdom to know the one from the other.”  My version of the Serenity Prayer

I am not very religious or spiritual, thus the need for the changes to the prayer. And, I don’t have and have never needed a twelve-step program.   However, at this time of global turmoil the sentiments expressed seem particularly relevant to attaining some level of serenity or maybe that should that be sanity. 

Accept what cannot be changed 

We can’t do anything about the ever-shifting trade policies south of the border. Presidential advisors such as Peter Navarro pine for the McKinley”s “Gilded Age” and hope to turn the clocks back to a time when the US was a manufacturing powerhouse built on cheap, non-unionized labour and racial discrimination that approached slavery. I wonder, do these advisors remember McKinley’s tariffs were deeply unpopular, lead to dramatic price increases, and deep economic depression. The culmination – the McKinley assasination at the hands of Leon Czolgosz, an unemployed American labourer who blamed his job loss on tariffs.  

And the Canada obsession?

Pet theories abound – the original Trump family business in North America or maybe the George Syrovatka factor. The lingering anger from when the Trump named was removed from Canadian properties in Vancouver and Toronto?

These all seem a bit nonsensical to me. I think that Elon Musk must have whispered in his ear that if the US wants to be the crypto-currency capital, “the” world leader  in artificial intelligence, and re-build its capacity to make things,  the US needs Canada for energy and mineral resources.  

The Courage to Change

We have been complacent in our “too cosy” a relationship with the United States.  But the relationship made sense. We share the longest unprotected land border in the world; and, a rich and beautiful continental land mass. We collaborated to build an economic juggernaut that relied on each other’s assets while at the same time protecting and respecting separate national interests and sovreignty.  It has been a trusting relationship that took  years to build.  And now, only days to damage – maybe irreparably and  irreversibly. 

We need the courage to change – to step back from our long time North American partnership. Deep, troublesome political divides south of the 49th parallel make it unlikely that the US can be a reliable partner worthy of any trust for years to come. It will be difficult to adjust but we have to:

• Be optimistic and ambitious
• Eliminate inter-provincial trade barriers
• Find new “best friends” in the Commonwealth of Nations and in Europe. 
• Reduce the animosities that exist between us and emerging economic super powers, India and China.
• Build transportation infrastructure that better serves developing trade partners to the east and west
• Invest in science – we have to hurry as European universities have already begun to recruit researchers who have lost their jobs in the US due to DOGE cost-cutting measures and increasing US science denial
• Invest in National Defence and the defence industry – but with new international partners
• Invest in the development of soft power / global influence

These bullet points will serve as fodder for more posts.

Now, I know I have a few readers in the US. The 51st state / governor garbage may have been a bit funny on day one. The idea may appeal to a tiny sliver of the Canadian population. However, repeat it to 90%+ of Canadians and chances are you may discover what “elbows up” means. So don’t! It has become appallingly rude and infuriating!