If I were Canadian I’d certainly be all elbows up. The loss of tourists is certainly negatively impacting the economy of my state of Massachusetts and the entire New England region. Part of the reason I will march in the No-Kings parade in Boston tomorrow is to object to how Trump’s treating Canada.
Friends from Boston visited us recently in Toronto. When the Canadian border officer asked when they’d be returning to the US the answer was “never’’. The agent cracked a tiny smile and let them through once he got the real answer to his question.
Although I have the conceit that I can define Canada as something more than just not-America. A country that neither cleanses its history nor is dominated by it, but hopes to build on it. Where the land changes us more than we change the land. And where we need not fear losing everything when we lose an election, or our health, or job; we get a chance to try again, and to offer that chance to others.
It strikes me that our geographic position between the US and the Nordic European countries well reflects the two poles of our nature.
Given the gravity pull of our giant southern neighbour I believe we’d do well to make a more conscious effort to connect with and draw from our smaller, sophisticated friends.
"You Canadians are always so pragmatic. Boring, even. And certainly not prone to mass hysteria. What’s got you all stirred up, all of a sudden?"
Paul—as someone with deep American roots myself (high school, grad school, and a decade working in D.C.)—I couldn’t move past that line. Not because it was flippant, but because it missed the gravity of what’s unfolding.
It is deeply perplexing that anyone—especially Europeans—would greet Trump’s rhetoric and behavior with anything short of alarm. His statements suggesting military action against sovereign nations like Panama, Greenland, and even Canada (yes, he once said he’d use force here if necessary) aren’t just offhand remarks—they’re chilling indicators of a worldview that openly defies international law, democratic alliances, and post-war norms.
How can one ignore a leader who cozies up to autocrats while undermining his own allies? How is it not jarring to witness someone actively working to swap out cooperation among democracies for strongman theatrics? This isn’t a matter of partisan politics; it’s a warning flare for anyone who values rule of law and global stability.
Good questions. If we put aside Trumps rhetoric and look at the facts. We can't pretend to act like it is business as usual because it isn't. I don't believe it will ever be again. What Trump has shown us, Canada's allies are silent on Trump's threats to our sovereignty. Getting to 2% GDP for NATO sounds great except I don't think the organization is going to be around much longer.
For me, we're on our own right now. Canadians need to know what the dangers are in this lovely post WW2 world.. Canadians need to know it's going to cost a hell of a lot and their taxes might go up to cover it. (I still think they should issue defense bonds to generate money) And ... it's our fault. As citizens we have taken our place in the world for granted. We have allowed decades of underfunding and missions that are more to do with looking like the world's super-cops in blue berets than any operational need or threat.
Beautifully written, Paul. For me, it's not just a matter of wounded pride. It's feeling helpless as the U.S. spirals into fascism. Boycotting the U.S. and its products is the only way I have of registering my horror and disgust. The fear of being detained and disappeared is also strong motivation to stay on my side of the border.
I’m an American who has spent decades, from my teens in the 1970s until just a few weeks ago, visiting Canada. Been to all 10 provinces AND The Yukon. My holiday trip this summer is on the Maritime coasts. I expect to reciprocate a “sorry” or two to my Canadian hosts.
I really enjoy your “heart-on-shirtsleeves” approach to topics like this one.
I myself worked in the US government for three years (with the consent of our government). I had never really expected to be there, living in the heart of the hyper-power, as it very much was in the late 1990s.
I marvelled at the richness of cultural life and discourse. I was repelled and fascinated by the over-the-top moralizing about a blowjob in the Whitehouse. I basked in the moment when this country’s greatest living men, including Neil Armstrong, Eugene Cernan and Frank Borman, helped their fellow citizens to celebrate the Apollo program of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
I later lamented with my American friends the attacks on New York City and Washington DC (we were in DC, as it happened).
Yet when I look at the place now, and in particular the utterly stupid boorishness, malice and reactionary politics of Trump and his vandals, I realize that I only partly understood the place at the time.
Like you, I feel like I’ve lost a part of myself. I’m still a Trekkie, and I still keep track of the culture that surges over the border. But now I also find myself fuming every time I hear of Trump’s latest outrage.
I get it. He and his are as much a response to out-of-control capitalist self-aggrandizement as the self-described “progressive left” is.
But they aren’t going to help right things that have gone off track. And they certainly aren’t “making America great again”.
That's a good question your diplomat hosts asked, and as I mull it over, I wonder myself. I agree with a lot of what has already been said in the comments, and I have something a shade different to add...
As with many things, I think the "elbows up/angry Canadian" attitude also has a lot to do with how we see ourselves. Apparently we have kidded ourselves that the American government is our friend. We have allowed ourselves to become too dependent on America - from produce to cars, culture to defense - we depend on the benevolence of the States for so much of our wellbeing. I think that, under the surface, this is what is getting us so riled up... we know we should have been doing more for ourselves, and now that terrible, uncooth man is calling us out, and we feel both silent shame and white hot anger. We are shocked and appalled by him and his behaviour, AND we know that on some level, he's right - we should have been doing more for ourselves. Ouch.
So we are pissed at him, and also pissed at ourselves, for becoming so dependent. I know that I am never so mad as when I know I created a problem for myself that I now have to fix.
And now we have to do something, and quick.
I think that's as much where the anger is coming from... that and that the 47th President is upsetting the apple cart not just for us but for the whole world, threatening 80+ years of peace and progress and prosperity... and for what? He's upsetting many of his own citizens, people we Canadians see as friends and family, and that too seems senseless. Yes, we needed to adjust the system, but really, do we have to upend the whole lot like this?
I was born in the US and lived there in several states until coming to Canada in 2010. I've watched my former country slowly implode and it's been tough; I still have family there.
The dichotomy you mention, the greatness and the evil, has gotten a lot harder to swallow in the last several years. The evil has been pulling ahead for far to many of my former countrymen. I have no plans to visit the US any time soon. I've been a Canadian for a while now and am grateful and willing to keep working to make this country all it can be. Thanks for sharing your thoughts Paul.
Your comments resonate strongly with me. Like a lot of Canadians, I live about 1.5 km from the US border in Vermont. My first LP ( Rolling Stones Out of Our Heads) was purchased in Newport VT in 1966. When we crossed the border, the friendly American customs officer would ask: are you all born in Canada ? When we answered yes, we were waved through with a smile.
The people of Vermont are mostly anti Trump and are very sympathetic to our boycott of all things American. But it really does feel like we have lost something and wont soon be getting it back. There is a meaness to the current US administration that hurts. To wit, the US Homeland Security Secretary came to our local library which straddles the border and is a strong symbol of the friendship that we once felt , she put one foot in the US and claimed: best country in the world, then the other foot on our side and said: 51 st state.
Thanks for putting in writing what a lot of us feel right now.
A meaness to the current US administration. You put your finger on it. This element of meaness is a central feature of Trump and his government. He and his Cabinet continually act like grade 5 bullies.
Your article certainly resonated with me. Having grown up in the USA and then immigrated to Canada, I have always felt I had the best of both worlds. When I realized I would never live in the USA again, I became a Canadian citizen. I love this country that has been my home for longer than the country of my birth. I’ve been mourning the USA I remember and fiercely proud of my adopted country. Will not be traveling to the USA in the foreseeable future. Canada will be better off being much less dependent on the USA and reinvesting in other partnerships around the world with like minded countries. Elbows Up everyone! ❤️🇨🇦
I'm going to my parents in rural Virginia for the weekend. There are No Kings protests being held in the county seat of their tiny rural county, so small that naming it would be docking myself. And in the county seat next to us, and the one next to us the other way, and in Richmond.
Great piece. As with many Canadians I grew up very close to the US border and my experiences there in my youth helped shape me as well. The not so subtle, direct threats to our sovereignty, with few coming out to support Canada - just makes me, sad.
This post completely captures my thoughts about my relationship with the US since the start of the year. I, too, grew up in Sarnia. I’m a couple of years older but experienced the same almost border less crossings to Michigan for a restaurant meal, ice cream, a hobby store or a Tigers game. My last visit to Michigan was a play at Detroit’s Fisher Theater the first week of January. Since then, I have cancelled any plans to visit the US and seek out non-American goods and services. Since the 51st state rhetoric, I find myself angrily thinking that the US electorate voted for this president knowing what he stood for. At other times, as you suggest, I am saddened and worry for our neighbours.
I was born in the US to CDN parents and returned to Canada at about two years of age. As a child and young adult I always thought of myself as half-CDN and half-American. I had to decline hockey scholarships because of the Vietnam draft, but I did work as a cowboy in CO and WY in my early teens. I well recall watching the Wayergate hearings in the CO bunkhouse.
After the US invasion of Iraq I started the process of renouncing US citizenship (A part of my frustration was admittedly also the need for me to file annual US tax returns which were an irritant and seemed a bit of a waste of cash). It was complicated, largely because the US felt that anybody wishing to renounce must not be of sound mind. I accordingly had to bring two non-family members to the Consulate to attest to my sanity. The cost was about US 200. I deferred and recommenced the process about five years later. By that time thousands of offshore Americans had renounced. The cost had risen to about USD 750 and my consulate visit took seven minutes. I was done.
I’m a bibliophile and passionate reader of history. Over the past 20 years I have read a ton of history, including much US history (which has very effectively been whitewashed for a wide variety of reasons). The US threw off the British colonial yoke but worked very hard to distribute their own yoke to a great many countries around the world. How many Americans know that the US once invaded China? Not many, but Chinese kids all learn about it.
As a renouncer of US citizenship my status as a US tourist is legally defined by US 18C } 922(g)(7), the statute which covers those accused of felons, fugitives, illegal drug users, unlawful aliens, and persons under protective orders or convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence.
I will be fine if I never visit the US again. I have loads of Americans as casual friends and I’m fond of them all. But the nation is fucked. When one-third of a nation thinks it appropriate to elect a proven felon, it’s ominous evidence of a busted cultural and social fabric.
I’m not certain US democracy will survive. I think we Canadians underestimate the potential dangers we face, but I’m uncertain about what we might do to best secure our safety and independence. And of course we have an uncomfortably large portion of our population that is similarly by educated by Fox News and social media and vulnerable to villainizing ‘others’.
If I were Canadian I’d certainly be all elbows up. The loss of tourists is certainly negatively impacting the economy of my state of Massachusetts and the entire New England region. Part of the reason I will march in the No-Kings parade in Boston tomorrow is to object to how Trump’s treating Canada.
Friends from Boston visited us recently in Toronto. When the Canadian border officer asked when they’d be returning to the US the answer was “never’’. The agent cracked a tiny smile and let them through once he got the real answer to his question.
A personal and poignant note touching us all.
Precisely right as always.
Although I have the conceit that I can define Canada as something more than just not-America. A country that neither cleanses its history nor is dominated by it, but hopes to build on it. Where the land changes us more than we change the land. And where we need not fear losing everything when we lose an election, or our health, or job; we get a chance to try again, and to offer that chance to others.
I suggest you may have missed the last 9.5 years of history-cleansing….
It strikes me that our geographic position between the US and the Nordic European countries well reflects the two poles of our nature.
Given the gravity pull of our giant southern neighbour I believe we’d do well to make a more conscious effort to connect with and draw from our smaller, sophisticated friends.
"You Canadians are always so pragmatic. Boring, even. And certainly not prone to mass hysteria. What’s got you all stirred up, all of a sudden?"
Paul—as someone with deep American roots myself (high school, grad school, and a decade working in D.C.)—I couldn’t move past that line. Not because it was flippant, but because it missed the gravity of what’s unfolding.
It is deeply perplexing that anyone—especially Europeans—would greet Trump’s rhetoric and behavior with anything short of alarm. His statements suggesting military action against sovereign nations like Panama, Greenland, and even Canada (yes, he once said he’d use force here if necessary) aren’t just offhand remarks—they’re chilling indicators of a worldview that openly defies international law, democratic alliances, and post-war norms.
How can one ignore a leader who cozies up to autocrats while undermining his own allies? How is it not jarring to witness someone actively working to swap out cooperation among democracies for strongman theatrics? This isn’t a matter of partisan politics; it’s a warning flare for anyone who values rule of law and global stability.
Can you explain the complacency?
Good questions. If we put aside Trumps rhetoric and look at the facts. We can't pretend to act like it is business as usual because it isn't. I don't believe it will ever be again. What Trump has shown us, Canada's allies are silent on Trump's threats to our sovereignty. Getting to 2% GDP for NATO sounds great except I don't think the organization is going to be around much longer.
If NATO disintegrates, we had better plan on getting beyond 2 per cent of GDP for defence
We will be on our own then and must have the means to defend ourselves ... by ourselves if necessary.
For me, we're on our own right now. Canadians need to know what the dangers are in this lovely post WW2 world.. Canadians need to know it's going to cost a hell of a lot and their taxes might go up to cover it. (I still think they should issue defense bonds to generate money) And ... it's our fault. As citizens we have taken our place in the world for granted. We have allowed decades of underfunding and missions that are more to do with looking like the world's super-cops in blue berets than any operational need or threat.
Beautifully written, Paul. For me, it's not just a matter of wounded pride. It's feeling helpless as the U.S. spirals into fascism. Boycotting the U.S. and its products is the only way I have of registering my horror and disgust. The fear of being detained and disappeared is also strong motivation to stay on my side of the border.
I’m an American who has spent decades, from my teens in the 1970s until just a few weeks ago, visiting Canada. Been to all 10 provinces AND The Yukon. My holiday trip this summer is on the Maritime coasts. I expect to reciprocate a “sorry” or two to my Canadian hosts.
I really enjoy your “heart-on-shirtsleeves” approach to topics like this one.
I myself worked in the US government for three years (with the consent of our government). I had never really expected to be there, living in the heart of the hyper-power, as it very much was in the late 1990s.
I marvelled at the richness of cultural life and discourse. I was repelled and fascinated by the over-the-top moralizing about a blowjob in the Whitehouse. I basked in the moment when this country’s greatest living men, including Neil Armstrong, Eugene Cernan and Frank Borman, helped their fellow citizens to celebrate the Apollo program of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
I later lamented with my American friends the attacks on New York City and Washington DC (we were in DC, as it happened).
Yet when I look at the place now, and in particular the utterly stupid boorishness, malice and reactionary politics of Trump and his vandals, I realize that I only partly understood the place at the time.
Like you, I feel like I’ve lost a part of myself. I’m still a Trekkie, and I still keep track of the culture that surges over the border. But now I also find myself fuming every time I hear of Trump’s latest outrage.
I get it. He and his are as much a response to out-of-control capitalist self-aggrandizement as the self-described “progressive left” is.
But they aren’t going to help right things that have gone off track. And they certainly aren’t “making America great again”.
It is indeed hard to understand why so many Americans applaud the boorishness and pettiness of the Trump administration.
That's a good question your diplomat hosts asked, and as I mull it over, I wonder myself. I agree with a lot of what has already been said in the comments, and I have something a shade different to add...
As with many things, I think the "elbows up/angry Canadian" attitude also has a lot to do with how we see ourselves. Apparently we have kidded ourselves that the American government is our friend. We have allowed ourselves to become too dependent on America - from produce to cars, culture to defense - we depend on the benevolence of the States for so much of our wellbeing. I think that, under the surface, this is what is getting us so riled up... we know we should have been doing more for ourselves, and now that terrible, uncooth man is calling us out, and we feel both silent shame and white hot anger. We are shocked and appalled by him and his behaviour, AND we know that on some level, he's right - we should have been doing more for ourselves. Ouch.
So we are pissed at him, and also pissed at ourselves, for becoming so dependent. I know that I am never so mad as when I know I created a problem for myself that I now have to fix.
And now we have to do something, and quick.
I think that's as much where the anger is coming from... that and that the 47th President is upsetting the apple cart not just for us but for the whole world, threatening 80+ years of peace and progress and prosperity... and for what? He's upsetting many of his own citizens, people we Canadians see as friends and family, and that too seems senseless. Yes, we needed to adjust the system, but really, do we have to upend the whole lot like this?
I was born in the US and lived there in several states until coming to Canada in 2010. I've watched my former country slowly implode and it's been tough; I still have family there.
The dichotomy you mention, the greatness and the evil, has gotten a lot harder to swallow in the last several years. The evil has been pulling ahead for far to many of my former countrymen. I have no plans to visit the US any time soon. I've been a Canadian for a while now and am grateful and willing to keep working to make this country all it can be. Thanks for sharing your thoughts Paul.
Paul,
Your comments resonate strongly with me. Like a lot of Canadians, I live about 1.5 km from the US border in Vermont. My first LP ( Rolling Stones Out of Our Heads) was purchased in Newport VT in 1966. When we crossed the border, the friendly American customs officer would ask: are you all born in Canada ? When we answered yes, we were waved through with a smile.
The people of Vermont are mostly anti Trump and are very sympathetic to our boycott of all things American. But it really does feel like we have lost something and wont soon be getting it back. There is a meaness to the current US administration that hurts. To wit, the US Homeland Security Secretary came to our local library which straddles the border and is a strong symbol of the friendship that we once felt , she put one foot in the US and claimed: best country in the world, then the other foot on our side and said: 51 st state.
Thanks for putting in writing what a lot of us feel right now.
A meaness to the current US administration. You put your finger on it. This element of meaness is a central feature of Trump and his government. He and his Cabinet continually act like grade 5 bullies.
This was a good piece of writing, Paul. Thanks.
Your article certainly resonated with me. Having grown up in the USA and then immigrated to Canada, I have always felt I had the best of both worlds. When I realized I would never live in the USA again, I became a Canadian citizen. I love this country that has been my home for longer than the country of my birth. I’ve been mourning the USA I remember and fiercely proud of my adopted country. Will not be traveling to the USA in the foreseeable future. Canada will be better off being much less dependent on the USA and reinvesting in other partnerships around the world with like minded countries. Elbows Up everyone! ❤️🇨🇦
I'm going to my parents in rural Virginia for the weekend. There are No Kings protests being held in the county seat of their tiny rural county, so small that naming it would be docking myself. And in the county seat next to us, and the one next to us the other way, and in Richmond.
*doxxing.
So many good comments so no need to repeat.
I'm just curious which European country was asking you the questions.
Great piece. As with many Canadians I grew up very close to the US border and my experiences there in my youth helped shape me as well. The not so subtle, direct threats to our sovereignty, with few coming out to support Canada - just makes me, sad.
This post completely captures my thoughts about my relationship with the US since the start of the year. I, too, grew up in Sarnia. I’m a couple of years older but experienced the same almost border less crossings to Michigan for a restaurant meal, ice cream, a hobby store or a Tigers game. My last visit to Michigan was a play at Detroit’s Fisher Theater the first week of January. Since then, I have cancelled any plans to visit the US and seek out non-American goods and services. Since the 51st state rhetoric, I find myself angrily thinking that the US electorate voted for this president knowing what he stood for. At other times, as you suggest, I am saddened and worry for our neighbours.
I was born in the US to CDN parents and returned to Canada at about two years of age. As a child and young adult I always thought of myself as half-CDN and half-American. I had to decline hockey scholarships because of the Vietnam draft, but I did work as a cowboy in CO and WY in my early teens. I well recall watching the Wayergate hearings in the CO bunkhouse.
After the US invasion of Iraq I started the process of renouncing US citizenship (A part of my frustration was admittedly also the need for me to file annual US tax returns which were an irritant and seemed a bit of a waste of cash). It was complicated, largely because the US felt that anybody wishing to renounce must not be of sound mind. I accordingly had to bring two non-family members to the Consulate to attest to my sanity. The cost was about US 200. I deferred and recommenced the process about five years later. By that time thousands of offshore Americans had renounced. The cost had risen to about USD 750 and my consulate visit took seven minutes. I was done.
I’m a bibliophile and passionate reader of history. Over the past 20 years I have read a ton of history, including much US history (which has very effectively been whitewashed for a wide variety of reasons). The US threw off the British colonial yoke but worked very hard to distribute their own yoke to a great many countries around the world. How many Americans know that the US once invaded China? Not many, but Chinese kids all learn about it.
As a renouncer of US citizenship my status as a US tourist is legally defined by US 18C } 922(g)(7), the statute which covers those accused of felons, fugitives, illegal drug users, unlawful aliens, and persons under protective orders or convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence.
I will be fine if I never visit the US again. I have loads of Americans as casual friends and I’m fond of them all. But the nation is fucked. When one-third of a nation thinks it appropriate to elect a proven felon, it’s ominous evidence of a busted cultural and social fabric.
I’m not certain US democracy will survive. I think we Canadians underestimate the potential dangers we face, but I’m uncertain about what we might do to best secure our safety and independence. And of course we have an uncomfortably large portion of our population that is similarly by educated by Fox News and social media and vulnerable to villainizing ‘others’.
I enjoy your essays. Thanks.
I'm from Windsor with many cousins in the Detroit area. I understand your feelings.