Doug Rogers

Video Transcript ↓

As someone who’s watched Canadian politics evolve over the years, I’ve rarely felt as strongly about the direction we were heading as I do now. After nearly a decade under Justin Trudeau, I, like many Canadians, thought it was time for a change. It seemed inevitable that our country was on the brink of electing a new Conservative government, ready to redefine our national identity—a concept largely rooted in not being American. I was looking for change. But then, everything did change, and oddly enough, it wasn’t something that happened in Canada. It was the behavior of Donald Trump and his administration that altered the trajectory of our political landscape. Be careful what you wish for resonated in my head.

If Trump had just left us alone—if he hadn’t mocked, bullied, and threatened to annex Canada—I firmly believe the Conservative Party would have won in a landslide. That’s what the polls were telling us. Instead, Trump and his cohort, including figures like Elon Musk, indulged in what seemed like frat-boy hazing of Canada, treating us as if we were an easy target. This didn’t just annoy Canadians; it united us in universal revulsion. The Conservative leader, who modeled himself in Trump’s image, suddenly found himself floundering, as his campaign crumbled in the face of Trump’s insults. Canadians, it turns out, don’t respond well to bullies.

The result? An unprecedented 25-point swing in favor of the Liberal Party, now led by Mark Carney, a no-nonsense banker who came across as the antithesis of everything Trump represented. Canadians rallied around a shared sense of pride and identity, and even the most creative political strategist couldn’t have devised a better way to galvanize the nation.

On the ground here in Vancouver, you can see the shift in sentiment everywhere. Walk through the city’s bustling downtown, and you’ll notice shoppers bypassing American stores entirely, proudly wearing Canadian brand clothing and seeking out products made here at home. At bars, people are specifically asking for Canadian or non-American brands of alcohol. Even the liquor store shelves are devoid of American brands—and no one’s complaining. It’s a quiet but powerful form of protest, a show of solidarity that’s binding us together like never before.

Of course, Vice President J.D. Vance doesn’t seem to get it. He declared on TV recently that “Canada can’t win a trade war with America,” but here’s the thing: we’re not at war with America. Not really. What we’re doing is standing up for ourselves, for our values, and for what it means to be Canadian. That doesn’t mean we’re immune to the fallout—workers are losing jobs, businesses are struggling, and the economic toll is real. But we’re moving forward with a sense of resolve, because we know there’s no going back to the way things were.

This whole ordeal feels a lot like a messy divorce. And here’s the truth about divorce: no one really wins. Both sides come out of it poorer, and the bonds that once tied them together are broken, forever. But here’s the other cruel reality—an abuser doesn’t change after the split. The lies, the irrational demands, the self-pity, the bullying—they all persist, staring back in the mirror each morning. And that’s what we’re witnessing with Trump.

As David Frumm aptly put it when asked about Trump’s tariffs: “Donald Trump doesn’t believe in a world of mutual benefit. He believes in, I win—you lose. He thinks like a predator. Whether it is sex (about women), whether it is business, whether it is trade, whether it is politics. He thinks in the structures of domination and retaliation.” And so, we’re left to navigate a new relationship with our southern neighbors, one rooted in the stark understanding that no one truly wins in this kind of separation. But if there’s one thing I know about Canadians, it’s that we’re resilient. We stand up to bullies, we call out injustice, and we move forward together. And that’s exactly what we’ll continue to do.