Canada

New vulnerabilities are surfacing. While most polls suggest the vast majority of Canadian adults are resolute in resisting any such takeover, the younger generation (18-35) is much more inclined – given certain favourable terms – to join the United States. The younger you are, the more likely you are to be susceptible to Trump and his appeals.

One of the most unacknowledged reasons is the failure of our school systems to teach the current generation about historic Canadian resistance to U.S. threats, incursions and trade sanctions going back to the American Revolution.

The result that alarmed Colin MacEachern, a former Halifax high school history educator now teaching in Australia, was the susceptibility of today’s students and their teachers to Trump’s bluster and blandishments.

MacEachern wrote on social media that his students would likely have no comprehension of the U.S. doctrine of “Manifest Destiny” or the American threat to Canada that was a major factor in nudging us toward Confederation.

It’s also fair to assume they have little or no knowledge of critical events of U.S. pressure on Canada such as the American invasion of Quebec in 1775, the War of 1812, the 1911 election reciprocity debate, the nuclear warheads controversy of the 1960s or American pressure to join the Iraq War in 2003.