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<\/p>\nPrime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s video speech to Canadians on the weekend carried an ominous undertone of possible conflict with the U.S.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about taking back control of our security, our borders and our future,\u201d he said, referring to his Canada Strong program.<\/p>\n
On his desk was a little statue \u2014 a figurine, really \u2014 of General Isaac Brock, often hailed as the savour of Upper Canada in the War of 1812.<\/p>\n
Comedian and film star Mike Meyers gave him the tiny figure, the PM said.<\/p>\n
That added a jokey tone, but Carney was clearly hinting that we should be concerned about more than tariffs from our southern neighbors.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrock was a hero who fought and gave his life for our forebears in the War of 1812,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore Canada even existed on paper, it had a shape in Brock\u2019s imagination.<\/p>\n
\u201cFaced with the threat of an American invasion, Brock built alliances across our land and inspired what would eventually become Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis statue, General Brock, that I see every morning in the prime minister\u2019s office reminds me that when we\u2019re united as Canadians, we can withstand anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carney covered a lot of ground, talking about Canada\u2019s role in the world, the many alliances he\u2019s building, and the need to knock down internal trade barriers.<\/p>\n
But he kept coming back to the military.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re defending Canadian sovereignty by investing in our security and creating an industry to support it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve embarked on an ambitious new mission to rebuild, rearm and reinvest in the Canadian Armed Forces, with the single largest increase in defense investment in generations as a result.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecruitment to serve our country is already up thirteen per cent.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at the 2026 Liberal National Convention in Montreal Saturday, April 11, 2026.<\/p>\n
Related<\/p>\n
The Americans goaded us for years to bring military spending up two per cent of GDP, the NATO standard. They complained, with good reason, that we rode their military coattails.<\/p>\n
Now Carney says Canada has hit that two per cent target. The reason is what the Americans have become, not what they said before.<\/p>\n
Carney added: \u201cWe\u2019re just getting started. Our defense strategy will catalyze $500 billion in investment in Canada over the next decade.\u201d<\/p>\n
The few Canadians old enough to remember the wartime rhetoric of 1939 might find Carney\u2019s words familiar. His plan to transform the economy is almost as dramatic as the retooling done then, by dire necessity.<\/p>\n
David Bercuson, U of C scholar and author of dozens of books and papers, mostly on the military, favors serious expansion of Canada\u2019s military.<\/p>\n
But he\u2019s dubious about Carney saying the U.S relationship can never be repaired when we\u2019ve been friendly and economically linked since the 1800s.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey elected an idiot down there,\u201d he said. \u201cWe all know that.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he says Canada\u2019s biggest friends are major export groups and economic sectors.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just Liberal b.s.\u201d to say we can never rebuild the relationship, Bercuson added.<\/p>\n
Carney\u2019s whole pitch is based on the belief that we can\u2019t afford to bet on future harmony.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve begun to make big structural changes in the Canadian economy, and they\u2019re all designed to make us stronger at home and less reliant on the United States,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of our former strengths, based on our close ties to America, have become our weaknesses, weaknesses that we must correct.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some who say there\u2019s no need for a comprehensive plan. They believe we should wait it out in the hope that the United States will return to normal, that the good old days will come back. But hope isn\u2019t a plan, and nostalgia is not a strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Truly, it would be criminally careless for a Canadian prime minister to ignore President Donald Trump\u2019s constant allusions to making us the 51st state with the Prime Minister as local governor.<\/p>\n
Trump has no use for NATO and might leave it. He despises Europe. He starts a war without telling allies and insults them when they won\u2019t help.<\/p>\n
All that calls for serious attention.<\/p>\n
Carney\u2019s plan is hugely ambitious. He will run into opposition.<\/p>\n
But if he pulls it off, Canada will finally have the strength and international standing this vast land deserves.<\/p>\n
And yes, that means being ready to fight.<\/p>\n
Don Braid\u2019s column appears regularly in the Herald<\/p>\n
X and Bluesky: @DonBraid<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s video speech to Canadians on the weekend carried an ominous undertone of possible conflict…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[17,1278,6310,162,5811,111,141,5785],"class_list":["post-11653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mark-carney","tag-canada","tag-canadian-armed-forces","tag-david-bercuson","tag-donald-trump","tag-general-isaac-brock","tag-mark-carney","tag-prime-minister","tag-upper-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}