Jeffrey Simpson, one of Canada’s greatest columnists and commentators, liked to speak of various types of Canadians as living in a “dream palace.” The sort-of-separatist-sort-of-not Bloc Québécois party, for instance, defined “the dream-palace nature of Quebec politics,” allowing Quebec voters to express “dissatisfaction without requiring a commitment to support secession.”
Years later, he wrote a similar piece about the “dream palace” seducing much of the aboriginal rights establishment in Canada — the fantasy that Indigenous communities are basically autonomous nations-in-waiting. Alas, wrote Simpson, “to imagine that isolated communities of a thousand or so people can be vibrant and self-sustaining, capable of discharging the panoply of responsibilities of ‘sovereignty,’ is to live within the dream palace of memory.”
Reading some of the Canadian commentary in the press and social media about our recent trade dispute with the United States — what Prime Minister Carney grandly calls a “war” but the Trump administration insists is just “putting additional fees on foreign goods made by foreign workers in foreign countries” — brought to mind another “dream palace” in which many 21st Century Canadians reside.
In this dream palace, the United States is not, and has never been, a friend to Canada. It is an imperialist enemy, a ravenous exploiter that takes and conquers and returns nothing of value. It is a country of awful, repulsive people who think and act dramatically differently from ourselves; alien, exotic foreigners with whom we have little to nothing in common. British Columbia’s premier David Eby erected a big sign on the US-Canada border: “Welcome to British Columbia, Canada. Strong, proud, and will NEVER be the 51st state. Sorry!” – the large “sorry” an ostentatious nod to the idea that Canadians, even at our most chauvinistic, are defined by compliments of politeness that we give ourselves.
In the dream palace, Canada’s historic relationship with the United States is that of an abusive husband and beaten spouse, an empire and colony, a master and slave. The prospect of less trade with America — maybe even no trade with America? — is emancipatory and exciting, while imposing counter-tariffs on American goods is empowering and righteous. Who needs their crap anyway! In this flattering reality, Canada holds extraordinary economic leverage over the United States, meaning a divorce from their orbit will not only help us achieve long-denied dreams of independent development and autonomy, but do profound damage to the bad guys in the process.
In the dream palace, Canada breaks the chains of the United States and immediately elopes with a new, more caring partner. Perhaps we join the European Union, whose sophisticated members we imagine ourselves to be more like anyway. Spanish retirement here we come! Or perhaps we form the core of a reconstituted British empire — CANZUK — with our cousins in Australia, New Zealand, and Great Britain, under the winsome smile of King Charles III, who loves us so very much.
In this dreamy atmosphere, Prime Minister Carney (who is likely seduced by fantasies of his own that he’ll be rewarded for his anti-American statesmanship with an appointment as head of NATO, or maybe the European Central Bank) becomes a kind of Churchillian leader whose courage and wisdom in fighting the perpetual enemy is not to be questioned, because in times of war questions are for Quislings. Liberal Americans, for whom Carney is purely a symbol whose actions bear no consequence on their lives, celebrate the “defiance” of this impressive foreign leader and praise him for being braver than themselves, inflating the ego of both the prime minister and those who voted for him.
Dream palace Canada is a place untethered from the economic realities of a country inescapably dependent — for reasons of geography, but also simple self-interest — on the United States for the prosperity and standard of living Canadians take for granted. It is similarly unmoored from the cultural realities of Canada, in which everything that makes Canadian life easy, enjoyable, or cool comes as a result of technology and entertainment forged from American creativity, ideas, and assumptions. To live in the dream palace is to deny the fundamentally American character of Canada, which we have been taught to consider humiliating and subordinate, and imagine that casting off Americanism will allow us to become a truer version of ourselves, a people defined only by what is good. It is the naive dream of a vain and spoiled child.
It is obvious why many Canadians want to live in the dream palace. It is dangerous that Prime Minister Carney has built his political project around encouraging us to fill its gingerbread halls.
Fantastic article JJ.
The whole trade situation feels more like Canada is going through a midlife crisis of a person who imagined himself to be a punk rock rebel in his youth, and now in our pudgy 60s (like Charlie Angus) Canada is pretending to "stand up to the man."
Are Trump's tariffs dumb? Yes
Does that justify how stupid Mark Carney's rhetorical and strategic response has been? No
Canada being used by anti-American Liberals as self-insert fan fiction so they can stand up to Trump as the rebellious punk rockers they see themselves as is really sad.
None of it is dangerous because none of it matters. The omelette is baked. There is nowhere else for the US to buy from at comparable prices and there is no where else for Canada to sell to at comparable volumes. North America is integrated and disentangling our economies is not in the best interest of any population. Therefore it will not happen. Even if Carney calls Trump a pedo, it will not make a difference. Even if Trump says he’s issuing an arrest warrant for Carney. No difference.
The vast bulk of buying and selling is not between our governments, it’s between businesses. Businesses don’t care about rhetoric they care about returning share holder value. If tariffs hurt businesses all it means is more money will be spent on lobbyists on K Street in DC and in Ottawa to have said tariffs removed. Donations will flood to the parties that will normalize trade. End of story.
Nothing is going to change because neither country has the will to bear the costs of change. It’s all just tilting at windmills. So conservatives might as well use this moment to wrap themselves in the flag and our heritage before Carney takes it all for himself.