The saying “may you live in interesting times” is playing out not only on our collective Canadian doorstep but inside our homes and lives in the most intimate ways, unfortunately. The “interesting times” I’m referring to are, of course, the continuing verbal and threatened financial and annexation attacks against us from our southern neighbour and its leader, Donald Trump.

So here I am again, less than a month later writing about the political developments that have occurred to the south of us over the last few days; I first wrote of this situation here.

Since November, 2024, we have had to listen to falsehood after egregious falsehood cascade from Mr Trump in a constant torrent. Here are some of the more appalling ones, with direct statements from Trump in quotation marks followed by my factual rebuttals.

Falsehood: “The fentanyl coming from Canada is massive.” Reality: in 2024, 19.5 kg (43 lbs) of fentanyl coming from Canada was seized by U.S. border control. In the meantime, 9500 kg (21,100 lbs) was intercepted coming from Mexico.

Falsehood: “Stop the invasion!” Reality: in 2024, 198,929 people who were attempting to cross illegally from Canada to the U.S. were detained by American border officials. Meanwhile, 2.4 million people crossed illegally from Mexico.

Falsehood: “The U.S. is subsidising Canada to the tune of $100 billion” [as time has gone on, Mr Trump has changed this number to $200 billion, $250 billion and $300 billion. As far as I can tell, he just makes up a number and says it]. Fact: the trade deficit is 45 billion, caused by oil and gas shipments to the U.S. as part of the CUSMA free trade agreement that Mr Trump himself insisted on, orchestrated and then proclaimed at the time of signing in 2018 as “a truly extraordinary agreement for the United States, Canada, and Mexico.”

Given that the U.S. carries much larger deficits with a number of other countries, this complaint seems to be another of Mr Trump’s red herrings. Furthermore, and I can’t emphasise this enough, the U.S. is NOT subsidising Canada. In order to push his agenda, Mr Trump deliberately ignores the meaning of the word subsidy, which is a grant or gift of money. A trade deficit is not a subsidy.

Falsehood: “Canada doesn’t even allow U.S. Banks to open or do business there. What’s that all about?” Fact: American banks have been operating in Canada for many years. Citibank, Amexbank and J.P. Morgan Bank are all examples. These banks are required to operate under Canadian banking rules, a system that protected Canadian banks during the 2008-09 financial crisis when 166 American banks failed.

Falsehood: “Many Canadians want Canada to become the 51st state.” Fact: Nothing could be further from the truth. Poll after poll shows that Canadians overwhelmingly want their sovereignty.

Falsehood: “If they become the 51st state, the tariffs go away.” Fact: This comment is not only reprehensible blackmail but is also senseless. That nugget may be coming out of Mr Trump’s mouth and showing up in writing, but he would never allow it, even if it were something we would accept. No, his intent, if he can, is to turn us into a voiceless, spineless colony, fit only for what we – and our resources – can do for him and his wealthy cronies. Mr Trump is known for his vengefulness, and he would surely punish us as much as possible.

But in this muddle of Mr Trump’s deceitful pomposity is a bigger worry, and that’s the lies we are telling ourselves. Unlike Trump’s, however, ours are lies of denial, of shock, of fear. 51st state? That’s just a joke. It’s in bad taste, but it’s a joke. The border and tariffs? He’s not serious. It’s just bluster. It’s a negotiating tactic. He’s not going to do tariffs, for sure. He would hurt his own people too much. Besides, we know how to do this. We handled him last time. We got this.

The truth is that we need to grow up and recognise Trump’s behaviour for what it is. This time he’s a very different animal. He’s experienced. He has been planning for four years and has for the most part installed in government a bunch of stooges whose only qualification is unwavering loyalty and an ability to do whatever they’re told; certainly thinking is not a requirement. This time, he has a very definite if peculiar agenda. That’s why he’s repeatedly telling these falsehoods. Say something enough and those around you will start to believe it just through sheer repetition. And through this behaviour he will also create lots of support for whatever action he decides to take against us.

I have heard it said in some quarters that Mr Trump’s tariffs against us – and likely Mexico as well – are enclosed inside a Trojan Horse, and I agree. All of the bombast around how we have to fix the border – we have now spent more than a billion dollars on appeasing him over these so-called issues and there will be more – or face tariffs, is, as I have suspected from the beginning, nothing but a distraction from his real purpose. To me, his clear agenda has always been to try to cripple our economy, to break us, to force us to dance to his tune. To play the puppet master and take enjoyment from our discomfort and fear. To generate lots of breathless attention on his leadership prowess.

To put it bluntly, Mr Trump is likely going to try to force us to our knees by economically corralling us into some sort of terrified acceptance of him as our “leader.”

In the 11th hour, Mr Trump, continuing to enjoy his role as puppet master, paused the tariffs. There was a collective sigh of relief all over the country, but I could also hear the whining and complacency returning: can’t we go back to normal? I just want things the way they were. But there’s another saying that we need to remember: fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

We have been explicitly warned. There are certain things we have that Mr Trump wants, and and he will continue to try to get them. So whether or not we have to deal with tariffs, it’s incumbent on us to insist that our elected officials take appropriate actions to protect us from ever having to experience this again.

In other words, it’s high time that we go our own way, disentangling ourselves from the U.S, taking down interprovincial trade barriers, expanding our markets, buying local, and never, never making a so-called free trade agreement with the U.S. ever again.

Remember all those falsehoods I listed? Does any one of us really think that there won’t be more? Lots more? And that like the so-called border problems, they will all have moving targets at their core that depend on Mr Trump’s puppet master whims or whatever deceitful and/or bizarre pronouncements that fall out of his mouth? Let’s not forget, even though Mr Trump constantly presents himself as some sort of genius businessman who thinks “outside the box” he’s probably the only business owner on the face of the planet who has gone bankrupt operating a casino.

And additionally, when we see the underlings such as Howard Lutnick, Mr Trump’s choice for head of the commerce department, who during a press conference shouted that we Canadians need to “respect” the United States, we know without a doubt that we are truly finished with any sort of nation-to-nation relationship.

Many of us have friends and family in the U.S. and those personal relationships shouldn’t change, but as a national entity, the United States is no longer an ally, friend or even an acquaintance. For all practical intents and purposes, we’re adversaries, and should common sense prevail causing Mr Trump to withdraw the financial losses he plans to inflict on us and his own citizens, going forward we should be extremely dubious of any kind of trade agreement. And respect? That’s earned, not bestowed.

For the most part, we Canadians are easy-going, live-and-let-live people, probably too much so. But threaten our sovereignty and we will get our backs up. In short, Mr Trump has mistaken our kindness for weakness, thereby exposing what he really thinks of us. Not all relationships, even exceptional ones, have an indefinite shelf life, and it’s clear to me that that is what has now transpired. When you declare economic war on your so-called “best friend and ally,” then it’s time to move on.