A shot across the bow and a loose cannon

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/03/2025 (249 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THERE is great value in looking to history when studying current affairs if we are to see parallels that might lead us to better understand what is happening and how to best respond. This is especially true in times of crises when our very wellbeing is under extreme threat.

In the 18th century. when naval vessels — tall sailing ships — wished to signal by their colours who they were and their purpose, they flew flags to identify themselves. If no flags were flown, they could be challenged by another ship with a cannon shot across their bow.

The intention was not to damage or to sink the vessel in question, but to give its captain and crew a warning that their identity and/or their course was in doubt and they need to stop. To ignore the challenge could/would cause quick action.

Given the rogue behaviour of our former ally, the U.S.A., it is clearly time for Canada to fire a shot across their bow. It has not been necessary in the past century to question the identity of our nearest neighbour, for it flew a flag of freedom, of democratic rights and liberties. It welcomed the oppressed from other continents afflicted by war and dire need. That neighbour and ally shared mutual respect and the rule of law on land, sea, and air. That country was recognizable and appreciated.

What has happened to change these fundamental aspects of friendship and understanding such that it is imperative to fire a shot across their bow?

A quick review of the first month of new leadership in the U.S.A. easily answers the question and presses for the urgent need for action. Our former ally speaks the language of war by enforcing economic penalties for doing business across our mutual border to cause the financial collapse in our country. Its president launches a constant barrage of untruths to discredit our institutions and relevance and to mock our self governance. Donald Trump even invitates hostile powers to invade Canada and others, should we fail to meet the U.S.A.’s extortion demands to comply with arbitrarily set expectations regarding our borders and military spending.

To cap all that felonious behaviour, we cannot ignore the American president’s infuriating adoption of the Russian war criminal Vladimir Putin, approving Putin’s demands and villainous actions. Trump is virtually abandoning war-ravaged Ukraine to its almost certain demise unless it bows to the extortion of its resources.

There is not space enough here to further detail the numerous other transgressions of this foreign aggressor.

But, what about that shot across the bow?

It is not enough to say we have waged a war of words. It is obvious this will never appease Trump the bully any more than those of Neville Chamberlain with that other horrendous tyrant, Adolf Hitler. It is not enough to suggest that we will, in turn, impose retaliatory tariffs to share the economic pain for the Americans can likely outlast us. To suggest military action is to invite a certain suicide given their overwhelming military might.. How then does Canada fire a shot across the American bow?

Know your enemy. Find what he loves. Look for his weakness. Target your first blow and put everything you have into it.

Trump loves money only more than himself. He craves adulation and public praise, glorifying in the mention of his name.

Canada needs to unemotionally publicize the extortion Trump is imposing on Canada, Mexico, Ukraine, and the EU and invite the world to declare its condemnation of this bad actor.

Canada needs to declare its readiness to stop all trade of those essential minerals and products and services it is presently affording the states.

Canada can open bidding on these from other markets including China and Japan and stockpile unsold surplus as it puts itself on a war-footing as it did in the Second World War. Trump’s weakness is his pocketbook.

His personal fortunes will take a huge hit and his adoring base will be exposed to an unquestionable truth about their leader and their future as the world aligns itself with Canada in trade and friendship. The isolation will crush Trump. It is not necessary to go to blows to stop a bully, but a bully needs to see the same resolve shown by our soldiers in both world wars and exemplified in courageous Ukraine. Right is might, especially when embraced by the many! Canada will bend, not at the knee, but forward in bracing itself to face a storm.

A final word from naval history, about a cannon. When it broke loose from the breeching rope that held it steadfast to the hull of the ship during heavy seas or firing, a loose cannon created frightening damage as it crushed everyone in its madness.

Imagine it loaded with shot and with a lit short fuse! With its guardrails gone, missing a breeching rope, and the flag and mast blown away, that is what America itself and the world is facing with Trump. The fear is that the ship will go down leaving little to salvage in its wake.

We no longer recognize ship America as it careens over international waters with a madman at the helm. Its colors are obscured in the fog. We see glimpses of a red and white and blue that closely resemble the flag of Russia. When patches of fog lift, what we mostly see is the dreadful skull and bones on a black ensign. With almost certainty this is a pirate ship menacing our shores.

Should we in Canada not fire a shot across its bow before the loose cannon scuttles the vessel?

Romeo Lemieux is a retired educator.