Democracy is, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, “a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.” Canadians enjoy an arguably imperfect but still functional democracy which is now under direct threat of extinction by a foreign power.

That power, of course, is Donald Trump. As reported in the May 5, 2025 Globe and Mail, Mr. Trump has just reiterated his position that Canada must become a 51st state. In reply to a question, he considered use of military force “highly unlikely” but refused to rule it out. Considering that he characteristically does the highly unlikely, that only served to heighten my concerns.

As usual, the concept of the will of the people is entirely absent from this tyrant’s self-centric world view. The notion that it is the people of Canada who inherently have the right to decide whether our country remains sovereign or is absorbed by the United States is obviously foreign to his way of thinking. From Mr. Trump’s perspective, whatever he personally wants is what must happen, regardless of constitutions and laws, let alone the interests, needs or opinions of those impacted.

Despite those autocratic tendencies having been clearly present prior to his election, a bare majority of American voters granted him that power. Canadians didn’t, and are therefore under absolutely no moral obligation to play along.

In light of Mr. Trump’s track record to date, I would argue it foolish for we Canadians to bury our heads in the sand like the proverbial ostrich by failing to plan how we would and could respond should he as Commander-in-Chief of the planet’s largest military wake up one morning and order his troops at Fort Drum to drive three hours north to take Ottawa. While we have no realistic means to stop such an invasion, we can if we collectively so choose make that invasion sufficiently unprofitable that the US would eventually pack up and go home.

For the reasons itemized in my April 3 post below, there is no way that a US takeover of Canada confer voting rights on Canadians. We would be a US territory, pure and simple, governed by Washington in Washington’s interests, not our own. All of the protections afforded by Canada’s constitution, laws and institutions would be null and void. The terrible consequences of having no legal rights have already been seen by Canadians arbitrarily detained in horrible conditions at ICE facilities. Life in Canada easily become little better than being in a concentration camp. Failure to immediately resist could pave such a path for ourselves and our families.

One time-honoured strategy from which we might borrow is Mahatma Gandhi’s successful campaign of passive resistance, whereby the population resolutely refused to cooperate with the invaders regardless of consequences. That’s admittedly easy to say but likely hard to do. It could include deeming those who chose to collaborate with the invaders as traitors. The longer-term consequences of simply acquiescence to gross injustice would likely be worse.

Food for thought?