Letter: Repeated Annexation Threats Unite Canadians
I was reading in the Times this morning that Trump’s fees toward Canada, though they have been “postponed,” might have ruined a more than century-long friendly relationship with your/our neighbours. Yes, it has. The damage is done.
We now know that the Fentanyl and immigration problems, though real and needing to be addressed, were only an excuse to hide the real intention behind. Get free access to Canada’s immense resources: our forests, rare minerals, bituminous sands, water, electricity and so on. The list is endless. Why pay? if you can get the whole thing for free?
Our view on the U.S.A. hasn’t really changed, it evolved. From being friends with a kind and loyal giant, now we are facing a threat. A real one. The giant wants to swallow us.
On the beaches of Normandie, we were there side-by-side, fighting the enemy, for Liberty. We were there to give you support in 2001 when your flights were diverted to Gander Canada, to a little town where people welcomed you; of course, we were all family.
In the late 1890s early 1900s, nearly a million “frenchys” left Canada to go working in New-England’s spinning mills, paper mills and others. Cheap labour that worked valiantly and ardently day after day to build your industry and commerce. My grandparents married in Westbrook Maine in 1912, the Labrecque family working mainly at the local papermill.
I remember in the 70’s how amazed I was, visiting my grandmother’s siblings, to hear them speak french, and recognize my grandma’s blue eyes and manners in each of them. Family. I considered Maine like my home since and visited it at least a hundred times. This is the past now.
Yes, Trump’s threats of tariffs have been felt like an electroshock. But his repeated threats of annexation left us livid, hurt, and now… galvanized. His strategy? Choke Canada’s economy until we give up our land, identity, sovereignty. Let’s be clear: any “threat,” economic or otherwise, aimed at taking our land from us remains a “threat.” Then, you are an enemy.
A recent poll indicates that 90% of the population reject any annexation to the U.S and that it is perceived as a threat to our sovereignty.
There’s always been tensions within Canada, like in any other country, but Trump’s threats have united us now for building our economy around our own interior markets and our allies around the world, and in investing to protect our borders. It was a wake-up call.
We now see the U.S. as a country where democracy is only on the surface, led by a convicted criminal, unpredictable, whose signature has no value since he can rip up any treaty he has signed the day before, power hungry, surrounded by a band of money maker billionaires who have no principles other than their own fortune.
I have love, friendship and family from British Columbia, Alberta, to Nova Scotia. I love my country, its values, its land, its beauty and the pride of Canadians, because we have principles, we believe in democracy, honesty, sharing with equity. Yes, I pay taxes, I paid a lot, all of my working life, and I’m proud of it. That’s who we are.
So, are Americans welcomed in Canada? I’d rather ask now, are they welcomed anywhere any longer? And I’m sorry for that.
Canadians will do everything possible to be good neighbours, protecting the frontier, fighting fentanyl dealers and so on, but will Trump ever be satisfied? We now know the answer, since the fentanyl and immigration files are an excuse hiding the real goal.
Proudly Canadian,
Sylvain Giguère
Québec City
