U.S. War President’s Visit to Canada
During his visit Biden and his entourage attended a gala dinner and met privately with Governor General Mary Simon as well as with Prime Minister Trudeau and Senior Liberal Cabinet Ministers, and separately with Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre. Biden addressed the House of Commons on March 24.
The aim of the visit and who is calling the shots became obvious in Biden’s address to Parliament and the Joint Statement issued by Trudeau and Biden on March 24. Under the thin veil of claims that they are motivated by high ideals to protect people and the environment, it is clear that the aim is the further integration of Canada into the U.S. war economy and the subservience of the Canadian government to U.S. hegemonic aims.
Quoting John F. Kennedy in his 1961 visit to Canada, Biden said, “Ours is the unity of equal and independent nations, co-tenants of the same continent, heirs of the same legacy, and fully sovereign associates in the same historic endeavour: to preserve freedom for ourselves and [for] all who wish it.” This is the historic fraud meant to cover up all the crimes committed by the U.S. and its NATO allies and other “coalitions” against the striving of peoples and nations for their independence.
The “freedom” of “all who wish it” is equated with submission to U.S. dictate and those who resist will suffer the consequences — U.S.-instigated coups d’état and acts of war including sanctions and military intervention. The Joint Statement issued by Trudeau and Biden on the occasion serves to confirm that Biden is a war president and Trudeau an appeaser of U.S. warmongering who does not represent Canadians and Quebeckers and their anti-war conscience.
For example, they claim, “Canada and the United States also remain concerned about deteriorating security in Haiti, committed to increasing international support for the Haitian people, including through security and humanitarian assistance, enhanced support for the Haitian National Police, and by holding accountable those who undermine Haiti’s stability.” The sordid history of interference in Haiti by the U.S., Canada, France and other countries is as well known as the Haitian people’s refusal to kowtow to foreign domination. Such a statement can only be seen as criminals returning to the scene of the crime to “finish the job.”
Beneath all the talk by Biden and Trudeau of “partnership” and “sharing” is the brutal reality that the relationship between the two countries is not one of equals. When the U.S., through the Defense Production Act, provides funds for companies in Canada to mine and process critical minerals and to package semiconductors and printed circuit boards manufactured in the U.S., it is directing the Canadian economy to serve the U.S. war economy.
The one-year Energy Transformation Task Force announced in the Joint Statement is to give the U.S. access to Canada’s critical minerals, and integrate energy systems in the name of collective energy security. The further militarization of the Arctic through expansion of NORAD is, as the Joint Statement says, “to ensure NORAD’s ability to deter and defend against emerging threats to our air and sea space and compete with China and Russia for years to come.”
The Joint Statement reflects both the demands of the U.S. on Canada and the Trudeau government’s acquiescence and appeasement of the U.S. hegemonic aims and its willingness to comply and to trample on the rights of Canadians and Indigenous Peoples to have a say in the direction of the economy and Canada’s foreign policy. The decisions outlined in the Joint Statement of Prime Minister Trudeau and President Biden were made well in advance of the visit, behind the backs of Canadians and without discussion in Parliament. In fact it was revealed that the decision to expand the Safe Third Country Agreement to allow authorities in both countries to apprehend and return asylum seekers at both official and unofficial border crossings had been made almost a year ago.
The Joint Statement outlines seven areas on which the U.S. and Canada will work together to:
- Catalyze Clean Energy and Create Good Jobs,
- Strengthen Resilience of Critical Mineral and Semiconductor Supply Chains,
- Protect Our Shared Waters and the Arctic,
- Advance Diversity and Inclusion,
- Bolster Global Alliances,
- Invest in our Collective Defence and Security, and
- Manage Migration Collaboratively.
Biden’s visit was used to escalate the warmongering talk against Russia and the “serious long-term challenge to the international order posed by the People’s Republic of China,” even as Canadian warships were preparing to deploy to the Asia-Pacific to enforce the unjust U.S.-engineered UN sanctions against the DPRK and meddle in the region.
The demand of the U.S. for the integration of Canada into the U.S. economy and for one integrated North American economy follows on the summit of the “three amigos,” — U.S. President Biden, Prime Minister Trudeau and Mexican President López Obrador — in Mexico in January. Commenting on the summit, Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said that the 12-person joint trade committee struck will “have our complete confidence to motivate, persuade and convince business people, workers and public servants of the three governments about the importance … of joining forces in North America and, moving forward, seeking the union of the entire American continent.”
The fawning of politicians of the cartel parties and some union leaders over war president Biden’s self-proclaimed support for workers and for good union jobs is shameful. It is fraud which can be seen in his government’s criminalization of the struggle of railway workers for safe working conditions and the militant struggles of U.S. workers for their rights. Canadian workers have nothing to gain from following Biden’s lead to a “green economy” based on exploitation of Canadian resources and labour to serve U.S. imperialist aims.
What the U.S. demands of Canada is nothing less than total integration into the U.S. economy, as a supplier of what is needed for its war machine and willing participant in the U.S. aim for world hegemony, targeting Russia and China and any country that refuses to submit. The Joint Statement is a declaration against the interest of the people of both countries and the world.
(TML Monthly)
Note:
1. Prime Minister Trudeau and President Biden Joint Statement, March 24, 2023