Susan Delacourt is an Ottawa-based columnist covering national politics for the Star. Reach her via email: [email protected] or follow her on Twitter: @susandelacourt
Canada will be marking the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s second inauguration, like many other nations, wondering where this country fits in the president’s wildly escalating ambitions on the world stage.
Trump’s threats to take over Greenland are forcing Canada to consider sending troops to the Arctic island, while Prime Minister Mark Carney is simultaneously weighing what it will mean to join Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace” for Gaza.
That war-and-peace contradiction perfectly captures what an erratic president has been unleashing on friends and foes with increasing consequences at only the one-year-mark of his return to the White House.
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Canada isn’t just a spectator in that turmoil. It has hard decisions to make in the days ahead, and this week the president and Carney will be wandering the same halls at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
Trump invited Carney to join his so-called “Board of Peace” a couple of weeks ago, which would mean likely after U.S. troops plucked the leader of Venezuela out of his country and before Trump ramped up his declarations to own Greenland.
Those events alone, never mind the proposed board, were a demonstration that Trump is trying to impose a whole new order on the world — one that revolves around him.
Some media outlets have viewed the founding charter of this board, and it’s clear it has a mandate that goes beyond its initial purpose, which is to bring recovery and stability to Gaza. Control for this board, unsurprisingly, is solely in Trump’s hands, backed by an “executive board ” entirely composed of men close to Trump, such as Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy to the Middle East, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Carney is meeting Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday while the two are in Davos, and he might want to listen why the French president is saying no to joining Trump’s peace board. A source close to Macron told Le Monde that Trump’s ambitions for that board could be an alternative to the United Nations.
“It raises major questions, particularly regarding respect for the principles and structure of the United Nations, which under no circumstances can be called into question,” the source said.
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There may be one, possibly two, good reasons for Carney to say yes to Trump’s invitation, but there are a lot of reasons to approach that board with immense skepticism.
The obvious good reason is to address the board’s initial mission — to continue the peace effort in Gaza, as Carney said to reporters on the weekend.
Carney’s officials, speaking to reporters on background, have also said more or less that it’s better to keep a check on Trump from inside the circle rather than from outside. As one official told Politico, “it is important to have a seat at the table to shape this process from within.”
But Trump seems to be functioning without guard rails, within or without. Carney has seen for himself how Trump treats those with whom he’s negotiating or those who stand up to him, as Ontario did with its anti-tariff ads.
Then there’s the question of the price to join this table. Trump has said it will cost $1 billion for any nation to become a permanent member of the board. Canadian officials, again speaking on background, have said that Canada won’t pay for membership, but Carney has said this country still needs to get more details of what’s being asked in exchange for his inclusion.
It’s unsurprising that any institution set up by Trump would be a pay-to-play venture, but what’s also unanswered at this point is what he intends to do with the money he collects from “Board of Peace” members.
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Trump seems to have a lot of time for Carney and the invitation can be seen as a mark of the two leaders’ good working relationship. However, should Canada decide to participate in the sovereignty exercise, as it’s being called, with boots on the ground in Greenland, all bets on the Trump-Carney relationship may be off.
Trump has already threatened tariffs on European nations standing up for Greenland by sending in their troops.
And if Carney is reflecting on how exactly Trump is defining peace these days, he need look no further than the text exchange this weekend between the president and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, which Store then made public.
Trump wrote. “Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.”
If that’s Trump’s vision of how peace is made, Carney might want to start backing away from the “Board of Peace” right now.
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