Opinion piece by Bob rae, Fellow of Massey College, the Munk School at the University of Toronto, the Forum of Federations and Queen’s University. He served as Ontario’s 21st Premier, interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, and Canada’s Ambassador to the UN.
In coming to the defence of Ukraine’s, Denmark’s Greenland’s and yes, Venezuela’s, sovereignty, we are defending our own. Imperial habits die hard. And Canada must be at the centre of these battles because our existence as a nation at stake.
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The decision by the Trump administration to launch an arrest operation in Caracas, Venezuela, capturing Nicolás Maduro and his spouse Cilia Flores, has profound consequences for all of us.
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The revelation that the United States would be “running Venezuela”, taking over the oil industry, replacing “free and fair elections” with a “judicious…very judicious transition”, … outlined in the recent U.S. National Security Strategy was the most expansive expression of American hegemony in the Western Hemisphere and beyond in decades.
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The meetings in Paris this week of the Coalition of the Willing supporting Ukraine take on a whole new meaning and significance. The U.S. release of the National Security Strategy one month ago, the subsequent military buildup and invasion of Caracas, the collateral rhetoric about Cuba, Colombia, Mexico, Greenland, Canada — all point a revival of Great Power unilateralism at the expense of everyone else.
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In the time leading up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, [Russian] President Putin released speeches and documents explaining the Russian grievance.
The Putin Doctrine is fundamentally this: Greater Russia has included Ukraine for centuries … Ukrainian nationalism is a fake concept promoted by Russia’s enemies … The decision to grant Ukraine independence in 1991 was a betrayal, aggravated by NATO “aggression” … Putin further claimed that Ukraine was committing a “genocide” against Russian speakers in Ukraine, and that therefore Russia’s invasion in February 2022 was fully justified as self-defence.
It is worth noting that these arguments were all heard, considered, and dismissed as having no merit by the International Court of Justice.
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The third member of the P3, China, has its own narrative and explanation to justify its treatment of Tibetans and Uyghurs, among other minorities, its claim to Taiwan, and its status as a “Great Civilization”, giving it power and status above and beyond others.
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Ukraine’s fate is ours. If the Coalition of the Willing cannot find the means and the will to defend Ukraine’s interests, the message to Russia, China, the United States and others would be clear: your region is your playground, and any casus belli — no matter how ludicrous — will do.
As Canadians, our interests, values, and nationhood are directly at stake. This is not an exaggeration. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s plan for greater national solidarity, aggressive search for new markets, and a sustained effort to reach a new CUSMA agreement all make good sense, but all of us need to recognize the costs and consequences of the lawless world we are now in.
It can’t be business or politics as usual.
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A very poignant observation, one that cannot be ignored. I don’t think we have 10 years to prepare, we have 10 months probably less.
To prepare for what, exactly?
Invasion.
We can’t defeat the US military.
We don’t need to. We would need to resist. This means make occupation costly, politically, materially, economically, in human lives. Canada is not faraway Iraq or Afghanistan. We’re family, neighbours, and allies whose grandparents died on the same beaches in Normandy. An unprovoked war would instantly fracture US domestic politics, especially across an already polarised political landscape. The US doesn’t lose battles, but its record since WWII shows repeated failure at sustaining wars that lack legitimacy, clear end states, or public buy-in. That’s where we push.
It would be excellent strategy to work on getting progressive Americans to start a movement to secede. Foment a new revolution down there so they exhaust themselves and their munitions on each other as much as possible and split their resolve. We don’t have to defeat their military, just their will, their coordination, and their supplies.
Yes. Canada should be inviting “a more perfect union” with open invitations to join confederation. Michigan and west coast are prizes.
This. You don’t take on their military directly. You make it so unpalatable to be here they leave on their own as costs skyrocket. Sabotage resource extraction, the energy grid, transportation, etc. Make being in Canada painful logistically and financially.
It’s not about beating their military, just a continual drain on their resources until it’s unsustainable.
You can do that. I’m not cut out for that. You don’t seem to get it.
That was the first interaction I had with you, so i don’t know what you mean by me not seeming to get it.
By the way, copying what I wrote further down the thread:
You do you.
Sorry, I thought we’d interacted before. I’m new.
If they invade, I will be ending things. Good luck to you and yours.
It is distressing to read about someone planning to self-harm. Seek some professional help asap please.
That doesn’t save the nation.
Would you like to surrender now then, pretty easy just walk across the border and beg his orangeness for leniency.
What’s your big plan, die fighting?
Like, sure there’s some kind of romance to that, but shitting on OP for wanting to live seems unfair.
I would rather die fighting than be an American slave. Just being able to kill some of them before i die would be enough for me. The op isn’t as cowardly as he sounded at first, at least he is willing to take his own life than be a slave.
nothing’s stopping you, big guy. Border’s not far south. Godspeed.
Grow up. We could spend 100x what we do now and the US military would be done an invasion by early lunch.
Try stopping that freight train by standing on the tracks.
Give your head a shake, they could defeat the CAF but not the Canadian people. It would be a bloody affair for both sides until they got tired of being ambushed and murdered all the time.
okay, but that’s still losing. that’s still a future where we don’t get to keep living our lives. if anything, that’s worse than occupation.
The enemy loses too, that’s how the game is played. It sucks but why should we let our enemies enjoy their lives at our expense?
The gap isn’t that big, although 100x spending would amount to multiple times our whole GDP, so it’s not really an option.
I am a Type F personality. I’m anxious, nervous, scared, and neurotic. I am not the fighter type. This is why I would never be in the military. Not all of us are cut out for conflict. It’s up to people with personality types like yours to save the day.
No, there is still MUCH you can do to resist, even without being a fighter.
Like what? There isn’t really a safe way to resist a military occupation.
Sabotage – Work slowdowns, “lost” paperwork, derailed supply chains. (Your printer mysteriously breaking at just the right time? A classic.)
Information Warfare – Secret newspapers, illegal radio broadcasts, coded messages. Because when the government controls the media, whisper networks become lifelines.
Underground Networks – Smuggling targeted minorities, POWs, and political dissidents out of the country. Creating safe houses, fake IDs, and escape routes.
Civil Disobedience – Non-compliance, fake cooperation, and good old-fashioned ghosting when the occupiers came knocking.
Of course not. But resistance is not about becoming a guerilla. It is much much more than that.
Resistance is a continuum: It can be as simple as shrugging and saying “sorry officer, I didn’t see anything”. Or it can be causing delays, playing dumb, being frustratingly incompetent, being clumsy and unlucky, working by the book, insisting on following every bit of procedure, checking in for directions every five minutes, firing competent personnel, hiring incompetent personnel, forgetting to mention that valuable equipment needs to be maintained etc etc. If you feel more brave, it can be things like passing on information, or active sabotage. Then you can get to things like running propaganda, sheltering people, all the way up to armed resistance. You don’t need to do all of it at once, in fact, for the armed resistance to be effective, it depends on all the lower intensity acts of resistance as well.
I’m not interested in partaking. This is not normal. I don’t do well with change of any kind. I guess you have never had a nervous breakdown before.
Nobody does but in the case of an invasion we don’t get a choice. When US soldiers start dragging your neighbours into the street you don’t have the option of saying “no thanks”.
I have known many people who have had nervous breakdowns. Some still retain the courage of their convictions. I am sure you could find some passive aggression to contribute if you needed to.
Nope, from chance, practice, or experience; I’m pretty resilient.
Inteest has nothing to do with it. You can comply fully, partially, or not at all. Most people figure out somewhere in the partial compliance.