Authors:
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Karen Foster | Associate Professor, Sociology and Social Anthropology and Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Rural Futures for Atlantic Canada, Dalhousie University
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Alicia Martin | Postdoctoral Fellow, Common Ground Canada Network, Dalhousie University
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Gavin Fridell | Professor of Political Science and Global Development Studies, Saint Mary’s University
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Kathleen Kevany | Professor, Sustainable Food Systems, Dalhousie University
Rising tensions between Canada and the United States have made increased military investment and a renewed focus on national defence all but inevitable.
A recent Angus Reid poll found three in four Canadians want to see the country’s military strengthened in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to annex Canada as the 51st state. In early March, former prime minister Justin Trudeau committed publicly to increasing military spending.
While it makes sense for a country feeling vulnerable to invasion to look at recruiting new soldiers and increasing its arsenal, there is an additional facet of national defence that is too often overlooked: food preparedness.
Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs are already “stoking a new nationalism” in Canadians and sparking interest in buying local, but food should be part of the national defence conversation, too.
Plants are food. Animal products are harmful luxury goods that consume many times more calories and nutrients than they produce.
Every country should. The problem is this runs straight against the neoliberal economic model. I hope neolibralism gets taken down a few notches. Ideally buried altogether.
Please buy canola. Everyone needs 43 tons of canola in their backyard.
Thanks
A farmer.
Or maybe we should lighten up on Chinese tariffs. We can only fight so many fronts at once and the war with China was instigated by us.
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Total jerks.
But I think we implemented tariffs because Biden did, not because of the Michaels. Just like I haven’t seen any new tariffs in response to Jasmine Mooney.
Edit: good timing for this… https://globalnews.ca/news/11088966/canada-china-executions/
This conversation already came up during the pandemic. It’s super clear why countries should have some level of ability to produce essentials for its people.
It was also the time when conservatives started to doubled down on pretending to be libertarians and told their supporters the mega corps will take care of everything as long as we give them enough power.
This is something I find weird about how farming works in the UK. The notion that it should be profitable is nuts to me. Food is so ridiculously important - surely we should be putting money in to get food out. The food is the profit!
Canada also needs stronger Right to Repair laws.
Our fighter jets aren’t the only vehicles with DRM controlled by a US company.
Farm tractors and combines for example…
Yup. If you can’t fix it yourself, ** you don’t own it.**
Absolutely it should. We grow a lot of our own and sell small amounts but even supplies to do so are being limited somewhat because many products come from US manufacturers. Massive scale farms will be severely affected by this with everything from tractors to seed. Increasing farms and reclaiming farmland from foreign ownership will also be necessary. Diversifying crops and animal rotations. Learning new ways that are more in line with environmental concerns and that will consume less energy and consumables. So many things to tackle and the perfect opportunity to do so.
