The Financial Post reports in its Thursday, June 14, edition that Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland lashed out at United States policies under President Donald Trump Wednesday night in a speech in Washington. The Post's Marie-Danielle Smith writes that
Ms. Freeland used the strongest language yet from the Canadian administration criticizing U.S. protectionism and its recent tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Ms. Freeland more sharply expressed what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said after the G7 summit on Saturday -- that Canada will not be "pushed around" by its neighbour.
The idea that democracy could fail may seem "outlandish," she said. "But other great civilizations have risen -- and then fallen. It is hubris to think we will inevitably be different."
When the economic future of people living inside liberal democracies is threatened, she said, "that's when people are vulnerable to the demagogue who scapegoats the outsider, the other -- whether it's immigrants at home or foreign actors."
In what seemed to be a direct message to Mr. Trump, Ms. Freeland said: "Facts matter. Truth matters. Competence and honesty, among elected leaders and in our public service, matter."
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