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For Canada to stand against the U.S. - as the trees of NL grow in the wind - Government is going to need to set firmer foundations, starting right now. Our Federal Government - even before the last minute demands from the U.S. that collapsed the trade deal on Friday - was ready to accept a deal that would have undermined severely Canada's sovereignty, as Adam Radwanski writes in the Toronto Star (see Donald Trump’s negotiators saved Canada from making a big mistake). Worse, it appears some of the motivation to get the deal done (when a 'deal' was never truly possible in the first place) was to remove obstacles to the potential upcoming sale of Canadian public assets (like airports), to investors (including U.S. investors). Privatization that - if it happens - will cost Canadians as it has cost the UK public while worsening services and environmental health.
The potential digital sovereignty ramifications of the initial deal alone were terrible, set the precedent for more erosion, and come after a whole list of previous concessions and attempts at appeasement that clearly did not work. What did our Energy Minister get from offering to support U.S. energy dominance via oil and gas? Nothing, yet the Federal "Plan A" regarding energy has still not changed he says - but it should. It is arguably public pressure that kept our government from giving up even more.
The Federal Government must stop listening to wealthy interests in Canada who are clearly undermining our sovereignty and democracy. After all the impact of U.S. tariffs in the U.S. has been to transfer "billions from working Americans to big corporations and the rich," as CBC notes. The U.S. Government's goal is for Canada to become an oligarchy as well - even if they never formally make us a state.
As Seth Klein writes: to prevent that our Federal Government would need to be ready to utilize measures including an export tax on oil and gas to the U.S. - which has very strong support in the Prairies. But the PM has previously ruled out such measures - no doubt under influence by the CAPP - in an attempt at appeasement, despite being export taxes being a Federal choice (not a provincial one and one the Alberta Government has no grounds oppose).
In fighting back we need to also undo damage that has already been done by the approach J.D. Vance clearly outlined in a recording leaked to the Canadian Press:
"'And the whole point of this is to change Canada’s behaviour,' Vance said. 'Which they, you know, not entirely, but they’ve certainly shifted in a Trumpian direction.'”
Vance's strategy has unfortunately been allowed to work, as we have noted before and note again in today's edition of The De-Flooded Zone (below): Canadian policy has come to resemble U.S. policy more and more. Worse this has happened not even just as a result of (pointless) appeasement but as a result of oligarchical influence here in Canada linked to U.S. interests. We've seen this happen everywhere from pesticide deregulation - that would actually hurt trade diversification - to pharmacare cuts, things that don't even have a connection to direct appeasement. We've seen it in terms of nature as our Executive Director, Gretchen Fitzgerald, wrote recently:
"Just before Parliament rose for the summer, the Government of Canada rolled out what I am calling the Extinction Paper: a series of rolls backs and undemocratic changes that would make it even easier for [U.S. owned] fossil fuel and [U.S. managed] nuclear industries – aided by elected officials who would be willfully ignorant of the impacts of their decisions – to drive species to extinction, approve pipelines before routes were even known, and the create zones where environmental safety laws simply do not apply [take action on this issue here]."
Appeasement does not work, but pushing back does and oil and gas is the U.S. weak spot. Recently Greenland pushed back against U.S. oil aggression - you helped (thank you!) - and a U.S. corporation and its friends in Canada backed off (for now at least). Now we need to make sure the Canadian Government never allows corporations here to act or make plans without authorization by Greenland's Government in the future (take action here). As we warned previously:
"Trump’s new 2025 ‘National Security’ Strategy reveals the U.S. plans to use soft power – including private sector influence – to exert influence on other countries like Canada. The strategy mentions the oil and gas, finance, and tech sectors in particular as tools for expanding U.S. influence and specifically declares climate action in other countries to be a threat to U.S. dominance."
All the more reason to make wind, solar, and storage Canada's Federal priority - not a vague footnote - and bring back climate policies without which new gas power could "wipe out" our progress on emissions. Canadians clearly want renewable action, 58% say transitioning away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy is more important than ever, in light U.S. aggression [only 11% say less]. Our economic well-being also depends on climate action. We must not settle in the future for a deal that - even prior to the U.S, pushing its luck too far - contained too many concessions. Again, as Radwanski noted of the deal we almost agreed to had it not of been for the U.S. pushing it's luck too far at the last moment:
"Canada would’ve had to give up what leverage it had, including both counter-tariffs and the provincial bans on U.S. booze that have gotten under Trump’s skin. Plus, we appeared poised to scrap Buy Canadian procurement policies, giving U.S. companies relatively unfettered access to government contracts here, even as Canadian access to the U.S. market remained restricted."
It's vital our Federal Government not treat that prior proposed deal as the goal to be achieved - and reverse the U.S.-style policy choices it has made so far. But that might very well happen without public pressure not to give in. Call your MP about the above and take action by sharing our previous action items below with others. | 
