We are living in the most historically significant moment since the fall of the Soviet Union. The shift in global power away from the United States has reached the point where the payoff that comes from “running the world” is not worth the cost. In upending how it engages with the world, the United States declared, “We’re out.”
In the post-America world, the United States will rebuild its national power as it readies itself for the risk that today’s economic war with China will slide into full-scale war. It will tackle its internal rot (drugs, illegal migration); rebuild its economic base (resetting its trade deals); and focus its military power (renegotiating its membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, building its [defence] industrial base and deploying its military sparingly).
Rich in natural resources, geographically connected with the United States and deeply integrated into its critical sectors, Canada is on the front lines of the United States’ contest with China. To secure ourselves economically, we must: make our economy competitive; unleash the resource sector to capitalize on the manufacturing renaissance triggered by states moving away from hyper-globalization and toward intangibles; and rebuild our industrial base to serve as a secure source of supply for states on the front lines of the contest with China and Russia. There’s a defence/security aspect as well. We must rebuild the Canadian Armed Forces and secure the border, including via immigration and criminal law reforms.
We can make ourselves a strategic powerhouse in the post-America world, or we can let ourselves grow weaker and poor. Canadians deserve a say in that choice. Canadians need a prime minister with a new mandate, to lead the country through this critical next phase.
This piece first appeared in an opinion medley in The Hub.
