Against Canada’s anti-Americanism

You couldn’t have written a better comedy script than the one playing out in the apparently real war that has erupted between America and its usually irrelevant northern cousin. The hockey rink is particularly sacred ground for Canadians, which makes the ego hit doled out by President Donald Trump this week all the more painful.  

“I’ll be calling our GREAT American Hockey Team this morning to spur them on towards victory tonight against Canada, which with FAR LOWER TAXES AND MUCH STRONGER SECURITY, will someday, maybe soon, become our cherished and very important, Fifty First State,” he posted on Truth Social Thursday morning.  

“I will be speaking before the Governors tonight in D.C. and will sadly, therefore, be unable to attend. But we will all be watching, and if Governor Trudeau would like to join us he would be most welcome. Good luck to everybody, and have a GREAT game tonight. So exciting! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP.” Sadly for Trump, the Canadians won on the ice that night. 

Initially, I read President Trump’s suggestion that Canada become the 51st state as a really good troll. Most did when he said it during a dinner at Mar-a-Lago with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in November, taking to Truth Social afterwards to post, “Many Canadians want Canada to become the 51st State… They would save massively on taxes and military protection. I think it is a great idea. 51st State!!!”  

But the joke has become a running one, and months later Trump isn’t relenting. Even “Governor” Trudeau believes Trump is serious. Either way, the teasing has brought something ugly to light. 

Anti-Americanism has always festered under the surface of Canadian identity. We think we are smarter, classier, kinder, more progressive (in Canada that’s a good thing), less racist, more environmentally friendly, less greedy, less conflict oriented and less violent. Americans probably never noticed that Canadian pride rests on not being American because, well, who cares about Canada? 

Recently, though, Trump gave Canadians a shot in the limelight, and so the smug attitude that underpins Canadian identity, tied to a resentment few admit to, bubbled over.  

For Canadians, the prospect of joining the United States is a good one, though they don’t seem to see it that way. Who wouldn’t want American citizenship and the freedom, power and US dollar that comes along with it. At very least it would be a way to avoid the 25 percent tariffs Trump is also threatening to impose, should the Great White North not acquiesce to his demands. 

For America, Canada is a weak link — useful on account of resources but not much else. Earlier this month Trump said Canada is “not viable as a country” without US trade, adding:  

You know, they don’t pay very much for military. And the reason they don’t pay much is they assume that we’re going to protect them. That’s not an assumption they can make because — why are we protecting another country? 

If our security fails, America is impacted, and with rumored political influence and interference from China on the rise, Canada becomes a liability — and an expensive one at that. Meanwhile, Canada’s economy would take a major hit should Trump’s tariff threat come to fruition. 

Hearing Trump bandy about the idea of annexation without the input of the country in question understandably might feel a bit like a dig — but that doesn’t change the fact that it actually makes sense. Canadians have little to lose beyond a crumbling healthcare system and the insane taxes that pay for it.  

Canadians reacted with a level of indignation rarely advertised by a people so self-hating they can barely bring themselves to celebrate Canada Day once a year. 

The #CancelCanadaDay movement has been going strong since about 2021, when calls to replace celebration with “reflecting on Canada’s colonial history and violence against Indigenous people” circulated online. This was triggered in large part by the supposed discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves of Indigenous children at former residential school sites. This “news” was reported across Canadian and American media alike, with headlines like “‘Horrible History’: Mass Grave of Indigenous Children Reported in Canada,” appearing in the New York Times. The trouble was that no graves — mass or otherwise — had been discovered at these sites. Ground-penetrating radar had detected anomalies in the ground, but no human remains have actually been found.  

No matter. Orange Shirt Day was implemented in schools across the country in remembrance of an imaginary genocide, flags were lowered to half-mast and several towns and cities canceled their Canada Day celebrations, with Trudeau announcing to Canadians that the day should be “a time of reflection.” Cancel Canada Day rallies were held on July 1 instead and protesters toppled historic statues, chanting “no pride in genocide,” while numerous churches were vandalized and burned to the ground. 

Patriotism itself has been viewed with disgust by progressive Canadians — considered yet another distasteful American behavior, what with their incessant blessing of the country and overzealous flag-waving. How tacky when we could be virtue-signaling instead! 

Trump’s comments changed all that.  

Suddenly, we were proud to be Canadian: plastering our own flag — which just a couple of years was viewed as “controversial” when the Freedom Convoy trucked across Canada — expressing genuine love of country and a desire to fight for the rights of fellow citizens. 

Canadians worked themselves up into a tizzy, as directed by the Liberal Party and its media alliees, claiming to be under attack by Trump. “Canadian sovereignty” was suddenly of great importance to people who couldn’t even define their own national identity prior, beyond, as Trudeau himself said last month, being “not Americans.” 

Perhaps not for long, if Trump has his way. 

Canadians have responded to the prospect of joining their closest ally in a more official capacity by booing the national anthem at hockey games — really showing Americans what we’re made of (beer).  

Personally, I have no skin in the game. I already have dual citizenship, and proudly voted for the man the legions of perturbed Canadians in my X mentions still call “Drumpf” or some variety of “Orange Man.” 

The fact that Canadians hate America so much that they would prefer to live in some version of China North, rather than join arguably the greatest country in the world, is baffling to me. But perhaps a nation that has long considered itself the kind, rational and chill sister to a bigger, bolder and badder brother still has some growing up to do. 

I can’t miss the opportunity to ask, “Oh, so now you’re proud to be Canadian, eh?”