Written by: Eva Zhu (Opinions Editor) & Liam Wilson (Peak Associate)
By now, we should all know that Canada and the United States are no longer besties, and are on the brink of a trade war after Trudeau moved forward with retaliation measures against the tariffs Trump put on Canadian aluminum and steel. Trump is clearly uninterested in being friendly after calling Trudeau “very dishonest and weak” and mocking him at campaign rallies. So, this begs the question: “Yo Harper, what are you doing going to the White House next week?”
According to multiple news outlets, former prime minister Stephen Harper is set to meet with Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton to discuss “Friends of Israel”, which Harper is a founding member. Harper might also meet with Larry Kudlow, Trump’s economic advisor.
I mean, anyone could’ve guessed that Harper and Trump would be good friends. Harper was practically a Republican during his time in office, with his massive corporate tax cuts, health-care cuts, and attacks on science. Additionally, press freedom under Harper suffered, dropping 10 spots to 18th place in the world ranking. However, it seems more than a little shady to arrange to meet a high-ranking official of the most controversial government of our time when you’re no longer the prime minister, no longer even in charge of the opposing party, and you haven’t notified anybody that the meeting is going to happen.
What does Harper have planned? Who knows? From all that we know so far though, everything about this meeting seems to scream “shadiness.” So Harper, just a heads-up: you might not want to get yourself into shady interactions with a controversial government whose leader is currently being criminally investigated if you want to stay investigation-free.
