With friends like Canada who needs to fear the USA. Canada has for many decades been viewed as the polite nation in the North American power duopoly, acting in a more reasonable and circumspect manner with the Caribbean and the broader world while the Americans act in ham-fisted ways. While the US blockades Cuba, Canada seeks to engage in trade and governmental interaction. While America seeks to use military force and the threat of financial destruction in order to curry favour, Canada seeks to talk and act as an arbitrator in order to see friends and enemies come to an amicable agreement. America seeks to build empire and secure its hegemonic status while Canada strives to maintain a liberal consensus.
That is the image portrayed by Canada and for those who compare it to the US, it is seen as the nation welcoming of refugees while America turns them away and locks them in cages. But in reality that is not the case. Those who have done a bit of research and those who have not drunk the Kool-Aid of boring polite Canada, know and fully well understand that Canada rather than being some friendly nation is in reality the tip of the spear when it comes to imperialism and American dominance in the region.
A glance at the recent events in which Canada has found itself involved would if one were to remove the nation’s name and ask random Political Science or International Relations students which nation acted this way, most if not all would say that they bear a striking resemblance to the US.
Canada for example has been heavily involved in the recent Haitian uprisings and not on the right side of history. As I write this Canada is supporting the kleptocracy in Port au Prince, providing them with international support and financial assistance. They are also, if one can believe it, training the police force in Haiti which continues to brutalize the citizenry, both those who are protesting the corruption and those who are simply trying to go about their daily lives.
Canada also tries its hand in election rigging and pressuring individuals into not running or even returning. This was seen in the sham election which brought forth this current president, as well as their behind the scenes pressure on Aristide to ensure that the last democratically elected president (and still the most popular politician) remains a political pariah unable to come home and run for office. All this so that Canadian mineral companies and financial institutions can continue to treat Haiti in the manner that the French and American did, that is as a source of cheap mineral extraction and even cheaper labour (not to mention the military strategic points that Haiti offers).
We see Canada acting as the silent weapon of the US in the political and economic crisis surrounding Venezuela. Unlike the US which had been vocal about their wish to see Chavez and then Maduro removed from office, Canada has always been silent and uses the diplomatic angle to oust the PSUV. From the direct funding of opposition groups under the guise of democracy promotion to the creation of the Lima group of reactionary Latin American nations as a response to UNASUR, we see where Canada has been up to its eyes in regime change by any and all means in Venezuela since at least 2002
Canada has used the Lima group to act as a fig leaf, providing diplomatic cover for the US as it seeks to choke Venezuela into economic submission. And don’t for one-minute think that they are doing this for some misguided but still altruistic reason. No, instead they strangle Venezuela and fund a government which impoverishes and slaughters its people so that they can gain access to mineral rights and cheap labour.
The Canadian government also is no stranger to proxy wars and wars of destabilisation and has no qualms in backing individuals and groups which 70 years ago would be held in the dock on war crimes charges. We see this everyday in Ukraine as the Canadian establishment goes where even the US refuses to go, funding and arming known neo-Nazi parties and their militias which have been integrated into the formal army and signing off on race/language laws which remind one eerily of Nuremburg. True John McCain met with and shook the hands of these Nazis, but Canada provides them guns and the diplomatic cover which the US has been reluctant to do since instigating the Maidan.
The mask of a polite society underpinned by the rule of law both domestic and international is shown to be a sham and their lust for supremacy is revealed in how they have handled the situation of the Huawei CFO. What is the justification for holding this non-Canadian citizen in pre-extradition detention? What crime has she committed? None, not one Canadian law has been broken by this woman, what she and her company have done however is go around US (not UN) sanctions on Iran while becoming a global telecoms giant.
This CFO is being held not for any crime, but only for the furtherance of empire and Canada plays the willing partner who can state that they are beholden to treaties and the system is non-political, when anyone who has dealt with an extradition process can tell you it is nothing but political (see Dudus, Al Fisal, Assange, the British liquid bomber etc). All protestations from Ontario that the extradition was above politics and strictly in the legal area was proved to be false when Donald Trump stated that she could be released in exchange for China playing ball in the trade war as well as the surfacing of details showing the Canadian government worked in advance and with the US to hold the CFO before a warrant was issued in the US or a request made.
Under Conservative and Liberal governments Canada has routinely lectured us in the global south, raking us over the metaphorical coals due to our part in global warming. They continually, as seen with this current government, lay claim to wanting to be the greenest, excoriate us in the GS for trying to use the tried roadmap of dirty energy to get out of poverty while extracting and exporting record levels of the filthiest oil on earth to countries like China who they then curse for polluting the air. We see in their environmental program nothing but modern day exploitation as they aim to bring in carbon taxes and credits, moves which no one denies are needed but are disproportionately aimed at third world countries and their industries, while ensuring that Canadian industry remains intact, unchanged and still using destructive fossil fuels.
Even their main claims to fame, that of international arbiter and a welcome home to refugees, is shown to be totally untrue when examined. When it comes to migrants and refugees, while it is true that the current government made a show of saying that they are different from Trump by welcoming the odd token migrant/refugee from Latin America and the Caribbean, news reports and testimonies from prospective migrants and refugees show us that droves have been turned back and are housed in squalid conditions as Canada battles (silently) the same racist demons plaguing its neighbour to the south.
On the matter of international arbitration, we see Canadian diplomats acting as the recon team for American adventures. We saw this in Sudan, Libya, China and every country in the English-speaking Caribbean. When an international dispute arises, Canada often is seen as the impartial nation to go to, but more often than not these negotiations end up lopsided and in the favour of the nation/entity which finds favour with the US/EU and not in favour of those who are being oppressed.
In the end, when the tallying is done, yes Canada is better than the USA but that is like saying syphilis is better than herpes. They continually pillage, rape and murder the first nations in that land, there is a silent racial issue highlighted by the booming number of Canadians subscribing to the great replacement theory and in spite of outward signs of a long and loving relationship with Cuba, everyone knows that the Canadian High Commission in Havana is the primary port of call for US intelligence seeking information on Cuba in order to try and kill the revolution.
No, Canada is not a friend of the downtrodden. They will defend the rights of banks and mineral companies before they defend those who have been exploited by them. They will send you ‘aid’ only to infiltrate and subvert you. They are a front man, the good cop to America’s bad cop and it was a neat game up until now, but the jig is up as the world becomes more and more exposed to the fact that Canada, the land of the polite North American is no better and just as voracious as their partner to the south.
