Trump’s unlawful and unjustified tariff actions assault our economic well-being while his mocking “51st state” jibes attack our identity as Canadians and our status as a sovereign nation. We need to counter with bold actions. Here are some suggestions:

1. The government should declare a national emergency and rejuvenate our unique natural resource capacity which was ignored or stifled during a lost decade when Canada recorded the lowest compound annual per capita growth (0.5 per cent) of twenty OECD countries. The U.S. grew more than 20 per cent. We have the third largest reserves of oil and uranium, as well as huge natural gas deposits. Relying almost exclusively on a single customer for oil exports gave us discounted prices for oil while, in a figment of green evangelism, we spurned markets in Asia and Europe for LNG.