So I took a course last year on strategic policy implementation at Munk, and did a group project on US-Canada relations where this was essentially our strategy. A year on, I’m less convinced. The model I had of a (very unlikely) Trump 2 was essentially Project 2025: hardcore crazy but stable.
This obviously was incorrect. I think the Americans are far too unpredictable and vindictive at this point for the bear hug option to work, and any acquiescence by Carney will be taken as a sign of weakness. We’re going to get hammered economically anyways and he threatened annexation, so…
On another note, this was the same group project where we had a member derail a meeting with the prof to ask if it was a good idea to include a bit about “working with Russia to demilitarize the Arctic”, despite IIRC the group saying no beforehand. Also had an odd affinity for Gaddafi’s Libya…