Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing MP Carol Hughes writes a regular column about initiatives and issues impacting our community.
Last week, Donald Trump became the 47th President of the United States. His inauguration day and the week that followed, from the perspective of an observer from across the 49th parallel, felt like a strange moment in time. One that Canadians are not only going to have to come to grips with but may require a more robust reaction than simply going about our national business. It was a celebration of tech oligarchs, strange and spiteful executive orders, and more incoherent and inconsistent language around the potential for tariffs that will only harm both of our economies. So what are some of the major things that happened, and what do they mean for Canada?
Inauguration day started with the usual pomp and circumstance but was moved indoors because there was a mild chill in the air, leaving observers, including Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, unable to attend the ceremony in person. But more telling are those who were invited: X CEO Elon Musk (more on him in a minute), Amazon Chairman Jeff Bezos, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai were front and centre, as were Trump’s cabinet picks, such as Secretary of Health and Human Services and noted anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Linda McMahon, former president and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment and Trump’s pick to dismantle the Department of Education. It was a who’s who of tech bros, billionaires, and sycophants…not exactly people who understand the plight of the working class, but certainly the kind of people who would exploit them at any given opportunity.
His inaugural speech, much like anything he does, was a scattershot of random musings, boasting about various things being at “…levels nobody has seen” while providing zero evidence, and cruel attacks on vulnerable people. He stated he’d call the southern border issues a “national emergency,” and begin deportation proceedings. He mused about levying tariffs on, well, just about any nation he could think of, and would create the External Revenue Service. He would make a deliberate show of his cruelty by declaring it official government policy that there are only two genders.
Not to be outdone, his friend Elon Musk would give a gesture during a speech at Trump’s inauguration that, to put it bluntly, could not be legally reprinted in German media, with German newspaper of record Die Zeit running the headline “A Hitler Salute is a Hitler Salute is a Hitler Salute.” Pierre Poilievre was happy to get Musk’s endorsement just a few weeks ago.
Trump would go on to sign many Executive Orders that day, including giving full pardons to the January 6th, 2021 rioters in the U.S. Capital when he threw a hissy fit about losing the last election. He would “reinterpret” the 14th Amendment to no longer provide birthright citizenship (so much for his flimsy claims about defending the U.S. Constitution). And he would roll back environmental protections, including pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement, and opening oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska. He would also end the Equal Employment Opportunity rule, signed by former President Lyndon Johnson, that would close a loophole found in the Civil Rights Act that omitted the Federal government from having to abide by the Act, functionally eliminating rules that prohibited federal contractors’ acts of discrimination, like refusing to hire or paying people less based on their race or gender.
Canadians were relieved to hear nothing about tariffs…that is until he signalled that they may be implemented on February 1st.
It all feels very chaotic. While we wait for what comes next, it does seem like his threats have unified Canadians in their opposition to his ridiculous suggestion that Canada becomes the 51st state. We have universal health care, which we wouldn’t trade for all the medical bankruptcies in the U.S. (the USA has the highest medical & health care costs; which accounts for 40% of bankruptcies). We’re respected on the world stage, something Trump couldn’t muster from world leaders in Davos as they laughed at his absurd rhetoric on the second day of his presidency. We just have to be ready to brace for what may be coming, and that means having a strong plan to fight back.