Why Donald Trump's response to the King's speech should focus Canadian minds

Toronto Star

29-05-2025

Think of it as the real response to King Charles' Throne Speech, the one that really counts—for the moment, at least.
Or call it Donald Trump's bluff to Prime Minister Mark Carney: I'll see your king and raise you…a missile defence shield.
In veiled terms, that was the message the U.S. president sent to his northern neighbour, bringing the pomp-and-circumstance of Tuesday's historic Royal visit back to the harsh-and-crude basics of modern-day geopolitics.
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'I told Canada, which wants to be part of our fabulous Golden Dome System, that it will cost $61 Billion Dollars if they remain a separate, but unequal, Nation,' Trump wrote on social media, 'but will cost ZERO DOLLARS if they become our the cherished 51 st State.'
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The plans for an American missile defence system were unveiled earlier this month. The purpose is to better protect against the advanced and aggressive capabilities developed by adversarial countries like China, Russia, North Korea and Iran that could be launched from the ground, sea or space.
In a very real way, the longstanding question of continental defence from such a hypothetical attack neatly explains part of America's uncomfortable interest in taking on, or taking over, Canada.
In the Cold War with the Soviet Union, a system of radars was established across the Canadian Arctic, known as the Distant Early Warning Line. It was a geographic reality that this country would have been the front or the no-man's land in a dreaded nuclear war between Washington and Moscow that never came to pass.
That nature of the threat is in constant flux, but the reality that the Canadian and American fates are intertwined when it comes to the defence of the continent hasn't fundamentally changed.
Canada rejected the overtures of then-president George W. Bush to join the Ballistic Missile Defence system in 2005, with then-prime minister Paul Martin ultimately deciding it was better to bend to the will of opposition parties in a minority Parliament than to an American leader burnishing his credentials as a war monger and pariah.
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'We respect the right of the United States to defend itself and its people,' Martin said at the time. 'However, BMD is not where we will concentrate our efforts.'
Classic Canadian good manners won't count for much this time around.
With Trump in his second presidential term keen to exert greater influence in the region—from Panama's canal in the south to Greenland's shores and resources in the north—opting out of a common defence project only bolsters the view of Canada as a weak link in North America.
Pulling out or refusing to pay a part of the estimated US$175-billiion bill (CAD$242 billion) would leave Canada to be viewed in Washington as a risk for the U.S. in a much more concrete way than the exaggerated earlier claims that this country is a conduit for U.S.-bound fentanyl and migrants.
Trump ended Wednesday's online intervention, saying of Canada: 'They are considering the offer.'
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This is no doubt true. The prime minister has already confirmed that talks are underway about Canada joining the Golden Dome project. It's one piece in a wider discussion about Ottawa upping its security and defence game.
One of his first acts upon taking over the Liberal leadership and becoming Prime Minister was to travel to Nunavut and announce the purchase of a $6 billion radar system from Australia.
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Against the menace of U.S. trade tariffs, the announcement was seen as rebuke to our neighbours—a message that you can't target Canada and expect Canadian tax dollars to continue being spent on military equipment that enriches American defence companies.
But reversing decades of Canadian defence policy and joining Trump's Golden Dome project could be just as difficult to pull off, James Fergusson, a University of Manitoba associate professor of politics, wrote in an April analysis of Canada's ballistic missile 'dilemma' for the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.
'To reverse Canadian policy, likely interpreted as caving into Trump, will require bold leadership which is not necessarily the hallmark of Canadian governments,' he noted.
Be it sovereignty, statehood or something else along that spectrum, the stakes are high if Canada blinks in the missile-defence gamble.
Those fed up with Trump's threats may bristle at yet another instance of American interference. But for those who hope that the Carney government follows through on its solemn vow to make Canada more strong, more sovereign, less dependent on our neighbours to the south in every respect, Trump's message—essentially, pay up or give up—could be a a motivator and welcome reminder.
Throne speeches, which mark the opening of a new session of Parliament, are too-often filled with platitudes and vague promises to be forgotten or to go unfulfilled. How many pledges have been abandoned to the realities of parliamentary politics?
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This is particularly true for a minority government that must seek issue-by-issue support from opposition parties to implement its agenda.
The Carney Liberals form such a minority government. But with the NDP reduced to a leaderless 7-MP rump, Pierre Poilievre leading the Conservative Party from outside the House of Commons, and the Bloc Quebecois offering to collaborate—at least in the short term—it has a fair bit of breathing room.
Room that will be needed to pass enhance border security, negotiate new trade and defence partnerships, hire more police officers, strengthen gun controls and adopt stiffer penalties for law-breakers.
King Charles uses throne speech to bolster Canada's autonomy against Donald Trump's threats
All of these were promised in a Throne Speech that appears to be focused, laser-like, on building Canada stronger in response to the weaknesses exposed with Trump's return to power.
Whatever one thinks about the merits or effectiveness of the president's bully approach to, well, everything, it has sharpened Canadian minds on a national project, the likes of which the country hasn't had in some time.
Every Canada-focused intervention, every all-caps message about the 51 st state, every tariff taunt is a reminder that Washington is watching with an unforgiving eye that will not be lifted, even if the president's megaphone mouth goes temporarily quiet.
Correction - May 28, 2025
This article was updated to note that US $175 billion is $242 billion Canadian. The Canadian conversion was misstated in millions.