Canada had a contract with 3M to manufacture N-95 face masks. On April 2nd, under the authority of the Defense Production Act, Donald Trump ordered the 3M Company to manufacture N-95 face masks solely for American consumption. This effectively makes it impossible for 3M to fulfill its contract with Canada.
I’m reminded of a conversation I had maybe 10 years ago with an elderly Scotsman in Kirkintilloch. My wife and I were visiting friends who lived there, and I stepped out to the adjacent park so I could watch the sun set over the Campsie Fells. This gentleman was out for an evening stroll and we struck up a conversation. At first, he was circumspect until he learned that I was not American, as he first assumed, but Canadian. The man was visibly relieved and began to speak freely. I can’t begin to count the number of times I’ve had such a response when travelling.
The man harboured a quiet rage against all things American. The source of his rage? The American response to the second world war. When Nazi Germany invaded Poland in September, 1939, all the allied countries—except America—joined forces. Although Canada was never directly threatened, it supported its allies at great cost. America never joined the conflict until after the attack on Pearl Harbor more than two years later. American support might have brought the war to a swift end and saved millions of lives, but America refused to get involved until its own interests were at stake. This Scotsman, who had served during the war, had harboured a disgust for America for more than 65 years. The point is: when people feel betrayed, they remember the betrayal for a long long time.
Trudeau is doing his best to assume a diplomatic stance. He says he will not retaliate. Instead, he will encourage co-operation. Ontario Premier, Doug Ford, is no diplomat and says what most Canadians are thinking: we are supposed to be friends; you don’t fuck over your friends. I’m sure Trump finds it easy to rationalize this move. He’s just doing his job. He’s putting America first because that’s his mandate. Or maybe he thinks it’s just business. However, the whole world should watch closely. Imagine what happens if it is the American medical establishment that first develops a viable vaccine for Covid-19. How long and at what cost before the rest of the world has access? According to the Trump playbook, the answer could be never.
It is a grave irony that, at the same time, the U.S. surgeon general has invoked the second world war, telling the nation that it must brace for “our Pearl Harbor moment.” Like most Americans, the surgeon general appears oblivious to that fact that America’s great tests of nationhood, from Pearl Harbor to 9/11 to the Covid-19 pandemic, rest on a foreign policy that stands as a screaming answer to George W. Bush’s famous question: “Why do they hate us?” While Bush asked that question of principally Islamic states, Trump has pushed that sentiment out to embrace absolutely everyone.
Canada may end up adopting the province of Québec’s motto: je me souviens. In years to come, we will say to ourselves: I remember the day America betrayed us.
