Canada Day has built new importance for many Canadians this year, given Trump’s unwelcome proposal that Canada should become the 51st state.
Canadians reflect on the political tensions in the United States on Canada Day
The way Canadians see Canada Day as a political rift with the United States.
- Trump’s proposal that Canada will become a 51st state, trade tariff and boring attitude towards Canadian leaders has fueled Canada’s day’s national pride.
- Polls show a surge in Canada’s patriotism and support domestic businesses following Trump’s actions.
- Some Americans joined the celebration to oppose solidarity with Canada and Trump’s stance.
MONTREAL – Canadians didn’t take Donald Trump seriously at first when they proposed that Canada should be 51st state.
“He’s just a fool. He’s just a joke. He’s just a provocative,” said Daniel Beland, director of the Canadian Institute at McGill University.
There’s no more.
Hundreds of Canadians flock to Placedarms in Montreal, a square in the old Montreal district of town across from Notre Dame Cathedral on July 1st, and it’s time to celebrate the 158th anniversary of their country’s birth and all of the Canadians to begin Canadian Day.
The volunteers wandered through the crowd and handed out miniature Canadian flags. Others stuck red and white Drapau into shirts, shorts and hats, turning it into a statement of fashion as much as political.
From the park bench, Filippa Contarini saw the flag waving crowd and counted everything she liked about being Canadian.
“Our beautiful country, our very open, very free, liberal country – I love it,” said Contarini, a small Canadian flag tucked into the backstrap of her hat. “I love French. I love English. I love everything.”
One thing she doesn’t love? Donald Trump.
“He’s like a big bully, that’s how I see him, and he’s very ignorant,” she said. “He keeps saying Canada should be the 51st state. No, no, no, that’s never going to happen. This is a ridiculous kid he is.”
Crossing the Great White North, Canadians marked Canada Day with parades, festivals, pledges of national unity and distinctive displays of patriotism. Canadians are usually known for their friendlyness and hospitality than for their flashy demonstrations of pride. It is more associated with larger, noisy neighbors in the South.
But Canada Day has built a new importance for many Canadians this year. Trump’s unwelcome proposal that Canada should become the 51st state, the threat to punitive tariffs on Canadian products, and his lightly missiv attitude towards leaders, especially former prime minister Justin Trudeau, made him repeatedly laugh as “governor.”
“The world is changing. Old friendships are fraying,” Trudeau’s successor, Prime Minister Mark Carney, said in a Canadian Day message posted on social media.
While Carney never mentioned Trump by name, there was no doubt who he was talking about when he said that Canada’s economy was affected “by a trade war we didn’t start.” But “as the world becomes more divided and dangerous,” he said, “Canadians are united.”
Canadian pride swell
Recent polls boost him.
Canada’s pride surged after Trump took office in January and opened a war of words and tariffs.
A survey by Harris Poling Canada in March said that in collaboration with Petro Canada, it has reported major changes across the country, linked to a new sense of unity and pride that Canadians are likely to grow each week.
Seven in 10 Canadians are proud to be Canadians, saying it is up from 63% a month ago. Eight in ten said it was important to buy Canadian products and support Canadian companies. 92% intend to give Canadian companies more support in the future, regardless of what happens with Trump’s tariffs.
Patriotism also surged in French-speaking Quebec. There, for decades, the separatist movement has sought independence from Canada. Flagmakers are reporting a boost from sales of Canadian maple leaf. Companies embraced the “Canadian Buy” movement and removed US-made products from shelves. Warning that Canada is not planning to sell, the T-shirts have appeared in souvenir shops windows.
A poll conducted by the Canadian Research Association in May suggested that Canadian Pride fell into Quebec after Carney was selected to take over Trudeau as prime minister after the federal election in April. Still, 76% of Quebec people say they are proud to be Canadians.
Beland said there is no real mystery behind the expansion of patriotism.
“The timing of this is in very clear sync with rhetoric regarding the return of State 51 and Donald Trump to the White House,” he said.
Canada Day celebrations throughout Montreal
From the location D’Armes, the Canadian Day crowd marched through the streets of Old Montreal, a brass band leading the way. The elderly couple held their hands. Parents pushed their strollers down the street and raised their young children over their shoulders for a better view. A wheelchair woman rolls through the crowd, and the maple leaf windmill stuck behind the chair tumbles violently in the breeze.
With brick streets, past art galleries, souvenir shops and restaurants, the queue marched for almost a mile to the old harbor of Montreal along the St. Lawrence River. There, thousands of people attended the official festival, beginning with a salute of 21 guns, followed by a two dozen new Canadian citizen oath ceremony, with Canadian flags raised. Dozens of booths offered family-friendly activities, such as painting and face painting.
Shirley Desseldo, a high school teacher born in Niagara Falls, Canada, who spends her summers in Montreal, wore a white T-shirt that said, “I’m Canadian.” It’s no longer enough for Canadians to be proud of their legacy, she said. For Trump, they must stand up and declare it.
“We are friendly and we are polite,” she said. “But we’re really upset with your president.”
Canada is larger than the US in terms of total land area, but the US has more people and power. Reminiscence of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Justin Trudeau’s father, Desselud said that being America and his neighbour was like sleeping next to an elephant. Trudeau said no matter how friendly and even the beasts are, everyone is affected by all its convulsions and groans.
“Now,” Desselud said, “The elephant is cracked.”
Denver’s Kirk Anderson said he had been visiting Montreal with his family but decided to attend the Canadian Day festivities to show solidarity with his American north neighbours. “I want to tell Canadians that there are so many of us in the US who don’t want Trump to be president and that’s what we just love Canada,” he said.
Ida Degano, who was with her husband Benny, said Trump’s proposal to make Canada a part of the United States was offensive. “It hurts my heart,” she said, adding that Trump should look at his mouth “as he can’t control the world.”
Degano, who lives outside of Toronto, came to Canada from Italy in 1953, and her husband came four years later, and she said she was able to live a good life together in the country of adoption.
Degano offers suggestions to Americans whose views on Canada may be shaped by Trump’s remarks.
“Come to Canada and see how we live,” she said.
Follow Michael Collins on X @MCollinsNews.
