For my entire adult life, we Canadians have taken for granted that we would inextricably link most of our national policies with America. Most, not all. But that close and amicable relationship did not, could not, foresee that one day there might be a US government that could not care less about Canada. That there might be a government that only saw us as a resource base and that our opinions, policies, and national objectives were not important.

International relations are based on the concept of enlightened self-interest. That only makes sense. I will deal with you, and you will deal with me in the understanding that it will only work if we both have something to gain. If we do not both gain, then what would be the point? The US administration has thrown away that idea. The country that saved Europe — twice — from its own self-destructive stupidity, and then spent a huge portion of its own GDP to rebuild it, has now opted to walk away from it all because, well, who knows why. (It’s Wednesday and by the time you read this the reasons will have changed, at least if the chief executive in the Gold House wakes up long enough to offer an answer.)

What are we to do?

Step one has already been accomplished. We have a government, whatever you may think of it, that has signalled to our neighbour and to the world, that we refuse to be ignored, to be taken advantage of. The pivot away from such deep, deep, financial, social, economic, industrial, and military integration has only begun and will take many years to reestablish a new norm. Further, we can never fully decouple ourselves without risking our own well-being and security and I am not suggesting that such complete de-linking would be wise. But we have woken up to the fact that perhaps we have been complacent. Perhaps, to use a hackneyed phrase, we have been sleepwalking through history.

The current government has been working to make this decoupling as smooth and painless as it can, and we can disagree on whether it’s going too fast or too slow, on how far this de-linkage should proceed but surely, we cannot disagree on the need for it to occur. We are a sovereign state and have the right to behave in our own, independent self-interest.

So, what does the future hold? The future is unknowable, but the path to that future is knowable, and can be planned. As we progress toward a new independence, as we did many decades ago from being little more than a vassal state of Great Britain, we need to seek an equilibrium whereby we maintain close and friendly ties with the republic to our south — for we obviously need to remain partners in trade, commerce, defence and a myriad of other aspects — but we must become less inextricably entwined with our American neighbours.

Further, we need to increase our exposure to the rest of the world and that includes with those states and regimes with whom we have deep disagreements. Engagement is crucial to world order. Disengagement is the path to misunderstanding and potentially to ruin, whether that be economic, social or military. Like the German Chancellor announced last year, we too are at an inflection point, a watershed moment, or to use the German term, at a Zeitenwende.

Yesterday, Canada took its first step in the right direction when the government announced that we had negotiated our ability to join the European Union’s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative. We are the only non-European nation that has been allowed to do so. Even Great Britain has not yet been allowed to join. This is a significant step in reforming both our defence and trade strategies, and it sends a strong signal to the world that Canada realizes that it need’s to engage more strongly and more actively with nations and peoples other than those whom we believed for too long were our best friends. They may still be. That remains to be seen.

In closing, allow me to make a small announcement. My friend and publisher Phil Haton have embarked on the compilation of a Canadian anthology that we will release very early in 2026, specifically on the above issue. This collection of short essays by prominent Canadian thought leaders has a working title of Fulfilling the Promise: Charting Canada’s 21st Century National Strategy, and I hope to bring you an update on this project soon.