Canada is no longer dealing with a globalizing neoliberalism that extracts surplus value from developing countries, the domestic working class, and racialized minorities. Instead, the American alt-right works with and through a different regime of accumulation that bears more affinities to mercantilism than the neoliberal order it is in the process of supplanting.

Over the past 60 years left-leaning folk have largely turned a blind eye to the decay of Canada’s distinguished military heritage and typically cast a jaundiced eye towards any talk of significant reinvestment. At this moment in history Canadian governments need to respond with the same energy and urgency that mobilized efforts to make our economy battle-ready in the face of war.

In order to achieve self-reliance several complementary, integrated components must be pursued. At the centre is an industrial strategy, which should be accompanied by appropriate monetary policy, regional development, fiscal policy, social policy, technological innovation, property ownership and control over investment, and international relations.

While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau portrayed himself as a progressive champion, his policies failed to meet the big challenges of our time. Tackling the affordability, housing, and climate crises head-on will require bold action—half-measures are not enough. Progressive parties must put forward bold solutions that can meet these challenges head-on.

By raising tariffs unilaterally, Trump will grossly violate USMCA, the former NAFTA. It’s no use doing deals with Trump, that he will break. Instead, let’s dust ourselves off and make things by Canadians for Canadians. Canada was tossed out of similar arrangements before. We picked ourselves up, became more self-reliant and thrived. Can we do so again?

The unfolding climate catastrophe, growing inequality, the disintegration of the country’s social safety net, and the rise of profoundly reactionary yet increasingly viable political forces at home and abroad make it imperative for Canadian socialists to develop strategies to begin to substantively challenge Canadian elites at the national scale.

In 1969, a caucus of NDP members known as the Waffle organized to promote a socialist and nationalist agenda, which included the replacement of US private ownership of Canadian industry with Canadian public ownership. Many of the core ideas that the Waffle stood for were first developed and debated in CD—by the very people who eventually emerged as Waffle leaders.

The conclusion that one can draw from this is that by helping discredit Canadian institutions, the false accusations and exaggerated claims that have been made about foreign interference appear to have done far more damage than the actual interference itself, whose impact was “limited,” “marginal” and “largely ineffective,” according to the Hogue report.

Following the Danish example and hoping that playing along will win us favours is unlikely to produce significant dividends. If Trump’s bluster and threats force Canadian leaders to realize this and to reconsider the nature of their relationship with our southern partner, in a perverse way he might even end up doing us some good.

More information has been revealed about why the University of Alberta decided to replace “equity, diversity, and inclusion” initiatives with a “new framework” called “access, community, and belonging” (ACB). It is clearer than ever that the impetus for this move was political and ultimately aimed at placating the province’s far-right politicians.