Canada Denounces US Leadership

Canada’s Foreign Policy Minister Chrystia Freeland is charting a major new course for the country – says Canada will need to step up its leadership role around the world in response to Trump’s failed policies. It says it can’t count on the United States anymore. “The fact that our friend and ally has come to question the very worth of its mantle of global leadership, puts into sharper focus the need for the rest of us to set our own clear and sovereign course,” she said. “For Canada, that course must be the renewal, indeed the strengthening, of the postwar multilateral order. We will follow this path, with open hands and open hearts extended to our American friends, seeking to make common cause as we have so often in the past.” She went on to praise the U.S. for its role in the past but says voters in the last election have cast doubt on America’s ability to lead due to the person they put in the White House. Freeland said there was “deep disappointment” with Trump’s policies on trade and climate change specifically. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan is expected to release more details on what they plan to do next – but that the major change was that Canada is starting to realize they can’t count on the United States to provide them protection anymore. “To rely solely on the U.S. security umbrella would make us a client state. And although we have an incredibly good relationship with our American friends and neighbours, such a dependence would not be in Canada’s interest,” she said.