For years, Canadian and American officials have worked to modernize the Columbia River Treaty, a water management agreement ratified in the 1960s. They have been consulting with local governments, Indigenous nations, and residents of the Columbia River basin. These complex negotiations involve:
- Indigenous cultural values,
- Flood control,
- Water flows and storage,
- Ecosystem protection,
- Salmon reintroduction,
- Generation and transmission of electricity.
Speaking recently in Los Angeles, a person who wishes to be America’s President seemed to reject the need for complicated, multi-year negotiations between quasi-equal partners. This is the same guy who said climate change was of little concern because rising sea levels mean, “You’ll have more oceanfront property, right?”
Trump has his own ideas of how North American water could be managed in a single day, No need for negotiators working years to resolve environmental, cultural, and economic issues. All that must be done is for selfish Canadians to turn on their giant faucet.
So you have millions of gallons of water pouring down from the north, with the snow caps and Canada, and—all pouring down, and they have a—essentially—a very large faucet, and you turn the faucet and it takes one day to turn it, it’s massive. It’s as big as the wall of that building right there behind you. And you turn that, and all of that water goes into the—aimlessly into the Pacific. And if they turned it back, all of that water would come right down here, and right into Los Angeles.
Donald Trump, September 2024
Some in Western Canada might smile and say, “That’s just Donald being Donald.” But former American Ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman told this country to be very worried about a second term for Trump:
He wants to put full tariffs on all imports into the United States. We should take that very seriously. He has said that if NATO allies don’t put up the 2%, that they owe, then he’ll basically invite Russia to attack them, which is nonsense. But take his words seriously. He’s talking about rounding up millions of Americans, deporting them, and creating an entire police force devoted to this. He’s talked about retribution against media, and essentially whoever he deems to have been against him in his first presidency. This will have an incredible impact on Canada, your military, and your commerce. Environmental policies, which are important to Canada, and your neighbour, will not be important in a second Trump administration.
Millions of Americans think democracy is at risk if Trump is re-elected. If his totalitarian followers seize control of the American government in the next few months, this Canadian thinks Canada may cease to exist.
Categories: International
in-sights.ca 
Fuzzy memories from UBC in the seventies of Seward(?) or Grant or some such muckymuck intimating that it was a waste of time to invade Canada because it would inevitably fall into the hands to the US like a ripe peach, so, not a new thought, and a frightening prospect for those of us who came here as a sanctuary from the madness south of the 49th. I get two votes this fall and I dislike almost all the options on both ballots, but I will do my civic duty and work for the best possible outcome.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was hoping that I was the only one that was thinking these same thoughts.
If we close our eyes real tight, and hold our breath, just maybe this will all go away.
Or not.
LikeLike
We’ve already traded off a lot of our sovereignty through those free trade agreements. However, given that Trump is likely to be the figurehead of the same cabal that’s now running the US, the one whose thought processes support the genocides being perpetrated by Israel, there are certainly no “red lines” that would be respected. The Emperor has lost his clothes and Canadians should be a wee bit wary.
LikeLike
Come to think of it, how many Canadians are aware of NAWAPA ? The plan to export Canadian water is already in place and much of the infrastructure is in place. Trump won’t take the trouble to try making Canadians believe that it was their idea and that we’d all get rich by exporting water.
LikeLike
To be blunt, the USA is no friend of Canada and if Trump is elected as president, Canada will have a stark choice, go nuclear or cease to be.
LikeLike
Watching various clips of Donald Trump speaking at his rallies lately, I’ve formed the opinion that whether it’s crypto currency, tariffs, climate change causes and effects, immigration, health care, you name it, he has only a very, very basic understanding of the issues. It’s as if an elementary school student has overheard some adults discussing something and is attempting to explain it to one of his classmates. He can name the topics, but his own words prove he doesn’t understand them.
Trump speaks at level of 8-year-old, new analysis finds | The Independent | The Independent
Trump Speaks At Fourth-Grade Level, Lowest Of Last 15 U.S. Presidents, New Analysis Finds – Newsweek
Richard Feynman held that if you can’t explain something in simple terms, you don’t understand it. And so it is with Trump’s knowledge of California water supply. Or much else, for that matter.
But beware. Things (almost the only things) Trump well understands are human gullibility and greed, traits present in the general population to a degree that when exploited may turn into just enough votes to get him back into the White House. He’s the exploiter in chief. And as a poster boy for the seven deadly sins, that would make him very dangerous as a useful idiot for people who do have more than an elementary understanding of the world. The people he’s heard discussing such things as where to look for and profit from water in future, for example.
Norm’s concerns are not misplaced, and I suspect they’re widely shared, if not widely expressed.
LikeLike