Donald Trump’s pathetic attempt to knock Canada joining the EU isn’t effective.

But joining what is essentially a HoA isn’t a panacea, either. It means Canada loses a lot of its own sovereignty. It also means paying a lot of money for the privilege of being told what to do. It means following rules that don’t fit Canada, either, and there is no guarantee that any of it will result in more trade with Europe.

Europe has marked Canada for a while now. UK left, which was a bigger blow than anyone will admit. That the UK, which pretty much was the president of the EU HoA still walked away is interesting, if a bit perplexing. But it is the panic over the formation of BRICS that made Canada a prime pigeon.

Canada won’t collapse joining the EU, but it won’t save itself, either. The problem with Canada was twofold: (A) not diversifying with other countries years ago, and (B) not playing hardball with Trump at the first opportunity. Tit for tat tariffs didn’t work the first time; it wasn’t going to work the second time, either. The retaliation had to be immediate, dramatic, and felt.

We have a government that speaks with authority, but actually doesn’t know what it’s doing. The fact that Canada is getting an “associate member” paper crown is troubling: we are a junior partner without the benefits and seen as the lesser nation to the others. It must be fun for Mark Carney to snag a lot of free trips and posh hotel stays with photo ops with other politicians, but it’s not actually impressive.

Cutting off the electricity to the US and then the potash would have been a masterstroke, especially since Donald Trump has been weakened and there are 42 days until the US mid-terms. This trade war had short legs and the Democrats would happily restore the status quo for a quick and easy win.

In other words, Canada’s response to the trade war isn’t logical or proportional to the actual threat. There was a simpler answer to the crisis and leadership has been willfully blind to it. For a reason.

And you have to question why.