Populist unilateralism and the threat to Canadian power

Abstract

ABSTRACT The unilateralist approach to foreign policy practiced by populist leaders such as Donald Trump forces Canadians to reconsider the realities of power. For generations, successive governments have maximized our national strength by banding together with allies and institutionalizing the resulting bonds through rules that govern behavior and decisionmaking. The U.S. President now threatens the institutions on which Canada depends, generating a crisis of confidence as Canadians debate how to respond. Critics of the Trudeau government’s faith in multilateralism call for Canada to invest in ties of friendship with leaders of strong countries. A more durable solution would be to pool national power with other states and build new institutional arrangements to bind us together. The so-called “Alliance for Multilateralism” is a pragmatic place to start as it allows major democracies to align their votes in existing institutions. But ultimately a proper alliance structure would offer the best chance for maximizing power. Canada should join other liberal democracies to pool as much power as we can and place it at the service of citizens in what might be called an Alliance for Popular Sovereignty.