{"id":1204,"date":"2026-05-26T19:41:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T19:41:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/2026\/05\/26\/canada-needs-to-stop-being-americas-doormat\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T19:41:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T19:41:29","slug":"canada-needs-to-stop-being-americas-doormat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/?p=1204","title":{"rendered":"Canada needs to stop being America\u2019s doormat"},"content":{"rendered":"

When an Ebola-linked flight bound for Detroit got dumped in Montreal, Canada once again showed how reflexive deference to the US still works<\/strong><\/p>\n

Know what I\u2019m getting really sick of as a Canadian? Harmful deferentiality towards the US that persists despite all the \u201celbows up\u201d<\/em> rhetoric.<\/p>\n

In the latest example, an Air France fight took off from Paris, heading for Detroit. Do you see anything Canadian in that at all? Canada does!<\/p>\n

The airline had royally messed up and let a passenger board from the Congo, the current global headquarters of Ebola. American authorities refused to let the plane land in their territory since they had recently banned all passengers from the Congo, specifically due to the viral outbreak. So, Canadian authorities let the plane land in Montreal. Then they let everyone off and put the passenger in question on the next flight back to Paris.<\/p>\n

Why couldn\u2019t they have done all that in Detroit? Is a plane considered to be inside a country the moment it decides it has feelings about the flight? No passenger is technically inside any country until they go through customs anyway. Why did they have to dump it all on Canada? I\u2019ll tell you why. Because they had a choice, and Canada is far too nice.<\/p>\n

The answer should have just been \u201c<\/em>no.\u201d<\/em> Not \u201cno, but let us convene an interagency working group to explore the emotional implications of saying no.\u201d<\/em> Just \u201c<\/em>no.\u201d<\/em> No getting into the intricacies of Ebola infection risk or whose fault it all is, either. Or whether the guy is actually infected or not. Forget dedicating any bandwidth to any of that.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Canada figured that it was doing its buddy, France, a favor, saving it from its own vetting screwup. Again, not Canada\u2019s problem. Let them fight it out with the US.\u00a0Tell France to threaten to just land the plane on Lake Erie and wish them luck.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"FILE
Air France plane diverted after US blocks Congo passenger<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It would have actually been the perfect time for Canada to propose, \u201cHey guys, you know that Gordie Howe International Bridge that Canada paid to build, running from Windsor to Detroit, that Trump insists on blocking<\/a>?\u00a0<\/a>How about we get that sorted out in time to land this plane? Then maybe Canada will be compelled to lift a finger to help out. Otherwise, looks like this is a \u2018you\u2019 problem.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Canada needs to stop doing any and all favors for America that aren\u2019t a net benefit.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t that long ago that American authorities told Canada to arrest and hold the daughter of Huawei\u2019s founder, Meng Wanzhou, the CFO of the Chinese company herself at the time, on a US extradition request as she transited through Vancouver airport. Canada complied \u2013 and was rewarded with a massive diplomatic headache lasting years, having inserted itself in a tug-of-war between Washington and Beijing. The kind that comes with the satisfaction of having \u2018helped\u2019 and the administrative burden of proving that you didn\u2019t cause the problem in the first place. The allegations that made the mess Canada\u2019s problem related to violations of American anti-Iranian sanctions by the Chinese multinational, despite Canada not even having any of its own sanctions against her or Huawei.<\/p>\n

Anyone in France knows that Washington routinely uses criminal charges as a weapon of economic warfare to target foreign executives of companies they want to buy or pressure for criminal charges. It\u2019s the blueprint that enabled General Electric to get its hands on the French nuclear know-how of Alstom, for example.<\/p>\n

And what thanks did Canada get for any of these accommodations? Tariffs. Insults about being useless \u2013 except as a 51st state.\u00a0And constantly being told by Trump that it\u2019s freeloading if it doesn\u2019t blow its defense budget on-demand in the US.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"FILE
Oil-rich province to vote on leaving Canada<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Worse, the US has just been outed as meddling directly in Canadian politics. Why else would a Michigan-based electioneering app, 10xVotes, promoted by the US Ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, of the Michigan GOP himself, end up with the data of registered Alberta voters<\/a> on its hardware? Turns out it was passed the info by a pro-separatist Canadian group that had been working directly with the American app, linked to shady pro-Trump Republican business and political interests and peddled by the likes of Steve Bannon, Alex Jones, and Tucker Carlson\u00a0\u2013 all of whom also happen to be egging on the Canadian separatists that they couldn\u2019t have cared less about until recently, and against all legal and political reality.<\/p>\n

And if that hasn\u2019t stunk up the country enough, the US also recently said that it planned to open more federal drug enforcement offices in Canada. \u201cFrom a DEA perspective, we\u2019re keeping our eye on Canada,\u201d<\/em> DEA chief Terrance Cole said<\/a> at a recent US Senate hearing. \u201cWe\u2019re going to open two more offices in Canada, proposed for \u201827.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Lemme guess. There\u2019s a huge fentanyl problem in Alberta. Near an oil pipeline. Am I close? Because there sure as heck isn\u2019t one that directly affects the US from Canadian territory.\u00a0<\/a>What do you think this is? A flop house?<\/p>\n

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has proven that Canadians have passive aggression in abundance. Telling Trump off in various ways that are intellectual enough to not get picked up by the American president\u2019s finely tuned insult-sensitive radar as they sail over his head. Arguably the most obvious example being Carney\u2019s speech in Davos a few months ago, basically saying that the era of US-led hegemony is over and everyone knew that the notion of it being a net benefit to citizens of the countries that kowtowed to it was a lie that leaders have all long known about but insisted on sticking with anyway.<\/p>\n

Canada is no longer a footnote in someone else\u2019s policy agenda. It is drafting its own, at long last. What remains unfinished is the transition from having an agenda to behaving like it is allowed to use it without prior permission. The doormat has only really been pulled halfway out. Go ahead and give it a good yank once and for all, guys. It will hurt a lot less than the alternative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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