EDITORIAL: Where are our friends when we need them?

Published Jan 11, 2025  •  Last updated 0 minutes ago  •  2 minute read

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz smiles during a visit at therapeutic facility Marie-Juchacz Center in Cologne on January 9, 2025. Photo by INA FASSBENDER /AFP via Getty Images

Talk about fair-weather friends. What has Greenland done for Europe that Canada hasn’t? And why is the international community rushing to defend the interests of Greenland in the face of threats from president-elect Donald Trump, but ignoring his warning he’s about to use economic power to force the annexation of Canada?

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World leaders are fretting about Greenland, population 56,865, while ignoring the gravity of Trump’s threats to Canada, population 41 million.

The fields of France, the Netherlands and Belgium are soaked with the blood of Canadians who gave their lives to free Europe from fascism in two world wars. Yet there’s not a flicker of concern from them that this country is about to be punished for what? Exporting oil, gas and natural resources at reasonable prices to our neighbour.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been silent. Yet we’re part of the Commonwealth family. We share their parliamentary tradition and head of state. Hundreds of Canadian pilots took to the skies to defend England during the Battle of Britain.

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European nations could be peeved that Justin Trudeau unhelpfully shrugged when they needed Canadian energy to fill the gap caused by the war in Ukraine. In 2022, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz came looking for liquefied natural gas and went away empty-handed. That smug isolationism may be coming back to bite us. It may be the reason we’re getting the cold shoulder, while Greenland is a cause célèbre.

Last week, Scholz said, “the principle of the inviolability of borders applies to every country … no matter whether it’s a very small one or a very powerful one.”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot noted, “There’s obviously no question that the European Union would let other nations of the world attack its sovereign borders.” Greenland, an autonomous region within Denmark, is part of the European Union.

Scholz and Barrot said nothing about economic coercion against a fellow member of NATO. Under Article 5 of the NATO charter, an armed attack on one member is an attack on all members. But what if one NATO member decides to subsume another NATO member economically with tariffs?

Thanks for nothing, guys. Canada gave blood, sweat and tears in defence of European democracy. Now that our democratic rights are threatened, we’re getting crickets. Well, we’ll know better next time.

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