Canadian Patriotism Blossoms As We Confront Donald Trump

New stars and Maple Leaf flags have emerged in the Canadian firmament during this time of uncertainty and calls for action against U.S. President Donald Trump and his tariffs.

Who in Canada would not be pleased to see five living former Prime Ministers, both Conservatives and Liberals: Joe Clark, Kim Campbell, Jean Chretien, Paul Martin, and Stephen Harper urging Canadians to fly the Canadian flag this Saturday for the 60th Anniversary of the official launch of the Maple Leaf Drapeau.

We also see that this time is one for special pride in our national game, with our best hockey players competing now in the Four Nations Face-Off with those of Sweden, Finland and the USA. More about this later.

Many of the new stars are among the Premiers of the provinces and we will consider several of them here. In later columns, the Against the Flow blog will go on to consider some of the political players at the federal level. For now, though, the Premiers stack up as follows:
​
David Eby of British Columbia has been standing tall. He voices clear opposition to Mr. Trump (hereafter Trump) and his total disrespect for our country’s sovereignty. Premier Eby has also been on the ball in terms of continued development of the BC economy in his reaction to Trump’s announced 50+% tariff on BC’s aluminum production at Kitimat. Eby notes that BC’s efforts to market its aluminum in Europe are already well advanced, and alternate markets are popular among all the Premiers.

Manitoba’s Wab Kinew has been very impressive, such as impeccably fielding questions from reporters in Washington DC in both Canadian official languages. He deftly handled questions about who exactly he met in the US capital, by smiling and pointing out that as a person with some broadcast experience he knows it would make for very boring television if he rhymed off a whole list of names.

This was a kindly and much more effective way of answering, rather than delivering an abrupt “No.”  Kinew is currently the Premier with the highest approval ratings among the thirteen Premiers.

Doug Ford of Ontario, while his election call remains somewhat suspect, has continued his fight to head Trump off at the pass. He was able to prompt other Premiers to stiffen their backbone with his threats to cut off the sale of American alcohol products and drastically reduce power exports to the States. Such counter measures are on the back burner for now. Meanwhile, Premier Ford will probably receive the big majority he is seeking in the Ontario election.

As the newcomer among the Premiers, Susan Holt cannily did not attempt to jump loudly onto the national stage. Yet, Premier Holt has accomplished a great deal in her first one hundred days in office, such as a universal school breakfast program for the province’s public schools; a rent cap of 3% effective Feb. 1.; and a 10% power rebate on electricity usage as of January of this year. She also continues to work in her travels South of the border on behalf of New Brunswick’s strong industries including agricultural produce, processed foodstuffs like French Fries; seafood; lumber and other forestry products; and refined oil products like gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.
 
Premier Andrew Furey of Newfoundland and Labrador stands strongly for Canadian sovereignty, even though his wife is an American and he did his residency as a physician in the United States. Mr. Furey shows his strong commitment to Canada while reminding Americans about Newfoundlanders’ warm hospitality shown during the grounding of American passenger jets at Gander in 911. Who could argue with that?
 
Conservative Premier of Prince Edward Island, Dennis King is like the Little Engine that Could, chugging off to the New England states selling his province’s wares from potatoes to seafood.
 
Premier Scott Moe of Saskatchewan, the dean of the Premiers, has come into his own during this tariff-fighting period. He points out very clearly the importance of his province’s heavy production of potash, a vital ingredient for the US and Canadian agriculture industry.
Moe leads the province that is one of the world’s foremost bread baskets, even more important since Ukraine grain exports have had to be curtailed because of Russian’s invasion of that country.
 
Meanwhile, Alberta Premier Danelle Smith appears to have largely folded the tent on her “go-it-alone” campaign away from the Team Canada approach of most of her colleagues. With even some of her own Albertans disagreeing with her strident pro-Alberta approach, Smith took a relatively quiet role during the Premiers visit to Washington this past week.
 
One of the interesting consequences of the Trump tariff threat, has been Quebec’s interest very much in line with the rest of the country. Quebec Premier Francois Legault has a massive problem on his hands with the 50%+ Trump tariff on aluminum products, used heavily in the American automobile and aircraft industries, among others. The aluminum industry employs hundreds of thousands of Quebecers in well-paying jobs. Legault, never one to embrace Canada in the normal scheme of things, sees the value now of being an active Team Canada player.
 
The Premier with the most to be proud about this week is Nova Scotia’s Tim Houston , who, in addition to being one of the first Atlantic Premiers declaring his readiness to pull U.S. alcohol products off the shelves of government liquor stores, had three terrific Nova Scotia hockey players: Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, and Brad Marchand playing prominent roles in the Four Nations Face-Off tournament featuring Canada, Sweden, Finland and the U.S.A.
 
Anyone who saw in person or on television the Four Nations game Wednesday night between Sweden and Canada, probably felt their heart swell as they saw, playing together on Team Canada, the Captain, Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid, Assistant Captain and arguably now the best hockey player in the world.
 
Looking sharp in their red Canada retro jerseys, McDavid and Crosby shone throughout the game. McDavid had one assist, and ‘Sid the Kid’ had three assists, including one on the overtime victory goal by Mitch Marner. In fact, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston had every reason to be proud of his Nova Scotia boys, with Nathan MacKinnon and Brad Marchand each scoring a goal.

---

Team Canada head coach Jon Cooper said Crosby will go down as the “greatest player” to represent his country. Cooper ranked Crosby above Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.
Stay tuned because on Saturday, Team Canada will face the USA in what promises to be the classic confrontation of the series, particularly with the current tensions between Trump and Canada.