Seeing Stars

This essay is adapted from a speech the author, the 2025 Slater Family Scholar at McGill University’s Max Bell School of Public Policy, delivered at the Laurier Centre for the Study of Canada, at Wilfrid Laurier University, in March.

Canada is under attack. In their more than 150-year history, Canadians have never faced a president of the United States whose goal is the destruction of its northern neighbour. Donald Trump is different from what he was in his first term, and different from any other president whom Canadians have experienced.

No other president has publicly belittled Canada. No other president has openly declared that Canada should be made into an American state. No other president has questioned Canada’s right to exist. No other president has had as an agenda the tearing down of his own country. No other president has been so cruel...