Earlier this month, many Canadian conservative intellectuals praised a National Post column by Ben Woodfinden, Pierre Poilievre’s former director of communications, titled “‘Blame Canada’ conservatives are no better than woke statue topplers.”
In the column, Woodfinden argues that some Canadian conservative commentators have come to hate the state of Canada and have resorted to cheering on the Trump administration’s mockery of our country. He points to right-wing influencers who revelled in Pete Hegseth’s post mocking Canadian cadets after a cadet social media account shared a photo featuring an obese instructor.
Woodfinden goes on to invoke conservative philosopher Roger Scruton’s term oikophobia, or “hatred of home,” to describe their attitude.
I have no interest in cheering on the mockery of Canadian cadets and have sympathy for the frustrations this caused. But Woodfinden’s criticism goes further.
Woodfinden laments what he calls “blame Canada conservatives,” writing that “there is an emerging ‘blame Canada’ camp amongst some conservatives. They seem to think that somehow Prime Minister Mark Carney, because he responded to Trump’s tariffs with our own tariffs, is responsible for starting this trade war.”
He also laments “blame Canada conservatives” for viewing Canada as “a woke, weak, poor and pathetic country.”
Donald Trump was the one who imposed tariffs. As a free market capitalist and business owner, I oppose tariffs. But looking at the facts, one can reasonably conclude that Canadian politicians like Mark Carney and Doug Ford deserve considerable blame for the dispute lasting as long as it has lasted, including the most recent 50% tariffs.
Canada was the only country other than China to retaliate. Productive trade talks with the United States blew up in October 2025 after Mélanie Joly threatened to sue American automakers and Doug Ford ran an anti-Trump attack ad in the U.S. Canada was then non-existent in Washington for months as the USMCA deadline loomed, while Mexico chose to move forward on pursuing a deal.
And now there is the current phase of the conflict involving 50% tariffs, which the U.S. says it imposed on Canada and no other country because of Mark Carney and Doug Ford’s retaliatory elbows-up approach.
In August, Carney and Trump had reportedly made a deal. But then, as reported by the National Post, Doug Ford put pressure on Carney not to move ahead. Carney, who was also staring down the barrel of referendums in Alberta and Quebec, opted to walk away from a deal that even establishment Canadian commentators described as reasonable.
And let’s not forget why Canada is so vulnerable to these tariffs: 70% of Canada’s exports go to the U.S., compared with just 15% of U.S. exports coming to Canada. This comes amid Canada’s interprovincial trade barriers, which are, in some cases, so high that products remain cheaper to sell in the United States, even with a 50% tariff, than they are to sell to other Canadian provinces.
These are self-imposed wounds.
Woodfinden claims in his piece that “you can think this country has serious problems, that the last decade has been a lost one for younger Canadians, that Ottawa is dysfunctional, and that Carney’s government has mismanaged the relationship with Washington”; that “Criticism of the government of the day or present state of affairs is not oikophobia”; and that “None of this is an argument for uncritical patriotism.”
Yet his description of what he calls “blame Canada” conservatives does blur the line between those cheering on insults against Canada and those who, like me, believe Liberal politicians are responsible for us continuing to be in a trade conflict with the United States.
Woodfinden’s comparison to statue-topplers is also, in my view, absurd and hard to take seriously.
Furthermore, on the topic of Canada’s military: our military mandates tampons in men’s washrooms. It has only 79 active fighter jets, while America’s military has 1400. According to World Population Review, Canada had 62,300 active military personnel in 2025, while America had 1.35 million. For years, Canada underfunded its military, failing to meet NATO’s 2% spending target. Canada’s military also failed to take down a Chinese spy balloon and has been accused of failing to adequately protect the Arctic.
So while I am not fond of an American secretary of war mocking Canadian cadets, I am also not fond of our military glorifying obesity on social media or repeatedly posting photos of it at queer Pride parades, nor am I fond of the Liberals having undermined and underfunded our military for years. None of this projects strength. It projects weakness.
Every day, in the morning and evening, I thank God for having placed me in Canada, not a war-torn or third-world country.
I am proud of my French-Canadian heritage. I’m proud to live in a country that is officially bilingual. I am proud of our Canadian soldiers who fought in World War I, including at Vimy Ridge; who fought in World War II; and who fought alongside the Americans in Afghanistan.
And I am also proud to be a citizen of a country that has historically aligned itself with the United States, the greatest superpower to ever exist.
But we should not ignore the many serious problems of Canada or dismiss them because a world leader that we do not like or members of his administration are pointing them out.
And if Conservatives are unwilling to call out Carney’s demonstrable failures on the trade file, or the dire state of Canada’s military, then we should ask ourselves: What is the purpose of being in opposition?
'He also laments “blame Canada conservatives” for viewing Canada as “a woke, weak, poor and pathetic country.”'
Well, yes. I don't blame Canada though, just the woke, weak and pathetic leadership. Nobody is fooled.