True Patriot Love - Is Canada Rewiring Its Global Alliances？ ft. Mark Morris

00:00:00.000 Mark Morris is a lawyer, legal expert, international business guy, and international

00:00:10.320 man of mystery, and of course, a go-to for us here at TPL Media. Mark, thanks for being here.

00:00:16.200 Oh, it's a pleasure. I'm glad to be back.

00:00:18.580 You know, it's interesting. We often talk about legal things and constitutional things,

00:00:23.320 and sometimes even financial things. But this time, we have a little bit of a focus that I

00:00:29.440 think is important to look at. We have had a lot of issues with tariffs, which was our last

00:00:36.260 discussion with you, and Kuzma on the horizon. Will that get renegotiated? And in between those two,

00:00:43.620 our prime minister has been all over the world doing some sort of business that seems to resemble

00:00:49.840 us lining up with new allies. Do you think that Canada's repositioning with new allies around the

00:00:57.700 world? Well, look, anyone who says that there's not a change in circumstance since Trump got

00:01:05.320 elected is defying reality. Clearly, Canadians have had a sea change in the way that they are

00:01:12.480 perceiving themselves within the alliance structure that was the world. And a good

00:01:18.220 portion of that is, of course, a reevaluation of the relationship with the states. But to be clear,

00:01:24.100 it's somewhat of a pragmatic one to my view. It's not people rejecting the fact that the United

00:01:30.700 States are our brethren and that they are our closest ally and that we will one day again be

00:01:35.280 friends and that at some point the current state of politics will be at an end and the traditional

00:01:40.440 friendship that existed between Canada and the United States won't continue. I think people

00:01:44.980 recognize that. But I think they also recognize what John Turner had to say during the free trade

00:01:51.480 debates, you know, 20, 30 years ago, which is that overt dependence on the United States to

00:01:58.380 the exclusion of others makes us uniquely vulnerable within this globalized economy.

00:02:05.000 And we are indeed experiencing that. I mean, at the end of the day, at the whim of one man,

00:02:10.360 seemingly an unstoppable man, because his party and the pillars of institutions that we have

00:02:17.520 always understood the United States to possess are not stopping him from acting in ways that are

00:02:23.300 somewhat lawless. Well, because of that, and because he's turned his attention on traditional

00:02:30.640 allies, Canada, with its 70 plus percent dependence upon the United States exporting and importing

00:02:37.980 stuff, sees a unique vulnerability. And as a result, I think people are incredibly scared.

00:02:43.480 and Carney, to his credit, has identified that that weakness is something that can be buttressed

00:02:49.960 by new allyship across the world and has been seeking to establish that properly, in my view,

00:02:58.300 over the course of the year that he has been in power. He's been recently rewarded with the

00:03:03.320 majority government as a result. Yeah, that was, and by the way, we're doing this podcast on the

00:03:08.940 heels of that announcement last night. We have a majority government here in Canada, and Mark

00:03:15.160 Carney, by and large, receiving a great deal of support, just had his liberal convention,

00:03:21.880 came off with barely a hitch, and he seems to be steaming ahead. You know, one of the questions I

00:03:28.940 had was, this is sort of a question that relies on two parts to the answer. One of them is

00:03:34.740 economically we've had to find new trade partners we've had to start to look within to see what it

00:03:40.580 is we need to do as a country to start to compete and then on the other side we have nato that is

00:03:47.780 you know a source of demand from trump right now and uh something that he seems very disinterested

00:03:55.380 in overall yeah well trump has if you ask me and we'll see how this plays out trump loves to tell

00:04:06.180 people he doesn't have the cards because trump was the person who kind of held the or america

00:04:11.860 was the place that held the world economy together but unbeknownst to trump and vance and the like

00:04:17.540 they didn't hold the same cards that they thought in fact there's a lot of structural

00:04:22.180 weaknesses if you undergird the fundamental pillars of the American system. Let me give you

00:04:27.580 an example from Canada's perspective. If one just takes a look at the traditional Canadian-U.S.

00:04:34.040 relationship that existed during the Biden years, you would have seen a Canada that was wholly

00:04:39.120 dependent. That is to say, 77% of our exports were going to the United States. And if you were a

00:04:46.440 bully, and Trump, let's be very clear, is a bully, you would look at that and say, wow, there's 0.98

00:04:51.480 something that I can put and exert pressure on, surely they'll bend to my whims because they need 0.99

00:04:59.880 me more than I need them. But underneath the surface, a very different reality exists.

00:05:09.080 Canada, by not moving up the value chain, to be clear, Canada hasn't done a stellar job of moving

00:05:14.520 up the value chain of manufacturing. That is to say, we still primarily produce raw components

00:05:19.820 that we're pulling from the earth, oil, gas, minerals, potash, whatever it may be. We don't

00:05:25.860 refine it. We just export it. Well, the thing about that type of export is that there are other

00:05:31.980 players in this world economy that are far larger with consumer appetites than even the United

00:05:36.940 States. And I'm thinking particularly of China, but others. And if all we're doing is exporting

00:05:42.320 raw materials, and if those raw materials are somewhat unique to us, because they are, like we

00:05:46.980 have an abundance of materials to the extent that others do not. Well, by tariff in Canada,

00:05:53.500 what you do is you actually have Canada redirect to other markets. And those markets are more than

00:05:59.920 willing to absorb Canadian products because there's always been a traditional need for it.

00:06:04.060 We've just gone to the United States because it's cheaper due to transport. So a good example of

00:06:09.260 that is the aluminum. I mean, after all, Quebec relies on aluminum and steel production because

00:06:13.360 of its cheap hydroelectricity. When Trump went ahead and cut out the aluminum, Asia was all too

00:06:20.100 happy to take over every single one of those contracts. And now that the aluminum cannot be

00:06:25.140 produced in the United States because of power, because of minerals and everything else, they want

00:06:29.220 it back. They can't have it back. Those contracts are gone. Canada is no worse off. The United States

00:06:34.600 is significantly worse off. The same as with lumber. Trump takes a look at all the green and

00:06:39.140 says, we have lumber too. But critically, they don't. They have very limited softwood lumber,

00:06:44.780 whereas we have very plentiful softwood lumber. And softwood lumber matters because it's used

00:06:49.160 for a building. And if you cut off our softwood, Japan, Korea, China, everyone is ready to take 0.96

00:06:55.500 these things. Yes, there's a bit of extra transport costs, but those transport costs 0.83

00:06:59.120 pale in comparison to the tariffs that Trump chose to impose. And suddenly we found amongst

00:07:04.360 ourselves in Canada, that the weakness that we all thought that we may exhibit, we actually did not

00:07:10.660 have to a significant degree. And you're seeing it in job numbers. Yes, we've had one or two bad

00:07:15.580 job reports, but overall, we've had massive job growth. Whereas in the United States, which has

00:07:21.620 imposed tariffs, they have had negligible, if not terrible job growth, sometimes zero band.

00:07:28.560 the bureau of labor statistics out in the united states is now a manipulated entity as are most

00:07:35.600 government entities now in the states unfortunately the rule of law there is is is to see is reclining

00:07:41.200 and the way that they've done it is they always announce job statistics that are now massively

00:07:46.260 revised downward one month later and so everyone in the markets are learning to not actually absorb

00:07:51.740 the bureau of labor statistics when they first come out but you have to wait a full month until

00:07:55.420 you get to see real statistics so it doesn't embarrass trump and the administration but if

00:08:00.300 you take yeah i think it's i think it's also pre-loaded with other criteria that wasn't there

00:08:04.540 before and uh extrapolations they're manipulating data but the true data is evident to everyone and

00:08:11.740 we can all see it which is that uh their job market is in peril their inflation is going up

00:08:18.540 um the fact that the gas inflation hasn't even kicked in because the strait of her moves works

00:08:23.340 by ships that basically go at the speed of a bicycle. And as a result, the oil transports

00:08:28.640 that were coming to North America haven't even stopped yet. We haven't even experienced the

00:08:32.720 decline. And gas is a full dollar higher than when Trump was elected. And remember, it's not about

00:08:38.560 your cars. It's about the fact that petroleum is a raw input for almost every single thing that is

00:08:42.840 created in the economy. And so it's going to have massive inflationary effects here as well,

00:08:47.960 but there particularly. All of these factors are suggesting that America's perceived strength,

00:08:56.520 where it thought it could outlast others, are actually a weakness, and that by removing itself

00:09:00.220 from a global system, it actually is tangibly hurting itself and the rest of the global system,

00:09:05.600 which continues to trade, actually more fervently than ever, with one another. China is trying to

00:09:11.480 preserve, Iran is acting, Iran, the moolahs are acting as a guardian of sanity, sitting there 0.94

00:09:18.880 saying, we're ready to keep the straight open to our friends who pay, like, granted, you have to 0.81

00:09:25.920 pay now. And, you know, now they're going to get billions and hundreds of billions of dollars as

00:09:30.460 a result of this most recent action. But my point is, keeping the global trade system going,

00:09:37.800 watching TPP being resurrected by Kearney in Canada

00:09:42.320 and trying to ultimately expand,

00:09:44.880 watching Canada make trade deals with India,

00:09:48.760 with China, with Korea,

00:09:50.780 watching China sit there and say global trade is important.

00:09:54.560 Everyone, you have predictability in us.

00:09:57.140 We're watching the rest of the world

00:09:58.360 continue on the track of increased globalization

00:10:01.080 that America set out for 80 years,

00:10:03.900 that America has course diverted

00:10:05.760 doesn't mean that other people are following and indeed other people aren't seemingly following

00:10:09.920 and so the pain that is being experienced in america may end up being may it's still too

00:10:15.200 early to tell may end up being a unique experiment in that country alone as the rest of us continue

00:10:19.520 to prosper through free trade which ultimately benefits everyone that used to be a conservative

00:10:23.760 precept by the way that used to be a conservative principle um you know mark you kind of raise a

00:10:29.200 point as you talk about uh the the us putting itself in a sort of isolated position at the

00:10:35.360 the moment that it was meant to be a power play. We're in a position right now, I guess, as the

00:10:42.120 rest of the world to find allies. And we understand now at this very moment, it's come into clear

00:10:48.240 focus that we are at war and it's an economic situation. Yes, there are bombs being dropped

00:10:57.520 and missiles being sent. But really what's at the heart of this is economics. We've seen the

00:11:04.000 economic fallout from this. We are predicting what the economics are ahead of this. And

00:11:10.800 now having allies means having trade partners. It's almost like where that used to be separate

00:11:18.660 almost of one another. We see now how integral it is that we have allies that are also our trade

00:11:26.660 partners. You know, it's interesting because trade has driven civilizational advance since

00:11:32.920 the 1200s. The country that trades the most with the world becomes the world power. Now,

00:11:39.200 the definition of trade can be rapacious, stealing everything from India and bringing it back to

00:11:46.040 Great Britain. But the point is goods moving back and forth, whichever country, the Dutch

00:11:51.380 facilitated it through the East India, through the Dutch East India Company. The French facilitated

00:11:59.020 it until Louis XVI. The British facilitated it throughout the 1800s. The Americans facilitated

00:12:05.880 it for the... And now we're seeing the rise of China, which frankly facilitates trade better

00:12:10.120 than anyone else. To remove yourself from the system that has proven itself since the 1200s

00:12:15.520 to be the source of global power is folly. And the Americans seem intent on relearning that

00:12:23.660 lesson. Let me give you an example of the obvious benefits that America

00:12:32.340 held prior to engaging in its current course of action. Because I know we're going to talk about

00:12:39.880 NATO. People love to, and the American, Trump particularly loves to say other people aren't

00:12:47.600 paying their share when it comes to military and defense. And that is very true. Like, let's be 0.98

00:12:55.700 very clear. We have massively underinvested in defense. In this country particularly, it's

00:13:00.020 embarrassing. Canada's military tradition, just give a shout out to the veterans, Canada's military

00:13:05.360 tradition is one of incredibly proud service, but also aptitude. In World War II, we were known as

00:13:11.920 the premier fighting force pretty much of the world, largely because our land was untouched

00:13:17.740 and we were able to build up our capacities in ways that, you know, Europe couldn't.

00:13:21.260 But still, and this is true, by the way, when we fought as the British in 1812 on forward,

00:13:27.500 we've always had a proud fighting tradition.

00:13:29.720 And our veterans in Afghanistan and in Iraq, they did us proud.

00:13:34.340 Like, even though we were massively underfunding our military at that point, they did us proud.

00:13:38.940 We have a military tradition that we as Canadians should be very proud of and, by the way, should rebuild because the military is actually very important for the past.

00:13:47.600 And it's also, by the way, an amazing employment force.

00:13:50.680 It's a great way to create national projects.

00:13:53.660 It inspires us in many ways to do better around the world.

00:13:57.880 But this is my point.

00:13:58.800 My point is that there was a tradeoff that was made with the United States and all allied nations, which is, hey, America, you can provide your forces for everyone.

00:14:07.740 And we in turn will use American military tech stacks. We will involve ourselves in the F-35.

00:14:14.560 We will involve ourselves in the Patriot batteries. We will involve ourselves in what Trump wants to

00:14:19.660 call the golden dome, whatever it is, doesn't matter. We will put our money into that so that

00:14:25.380 we don't need to start from scratch and we can use your platforms. By Trump's singular comment

00:14:33.040 that one day they may not be so friendly so we could turn off the F-35s, suddenly every single

00:14:38.560 person realized that actually dependence upon the American military platforms are really problematic.

00:14:46.960 And that's the reason that our spending has gone up from 0.8% of GDP to over two. It's because not

00:14:54.760 only are we massively investing in actual guns, bombs, and everything else and training, but we

00:15:01.760 are now also creating the raw infrastructure that America basically provided as a sunk cost.

00:15:07.920 And we have to build that up ourselves now. And so do every allied nation. So does France. So does

00:15:13.040 Britain. So does Germany. We're all realizing that we need to spend money. But that money comes at a

00:15:18.840 direct cost to the United States, because we were subsidizing their military. Every person was

00:15:24.840 subsidizing their military, because the military in turn was subsidizing trade routes, global peace

00:15:30.100 and everything else. When Trump announced he's no longer going to do that job, when Trump said,

00:15:34.240 you're on your own, fellas, what he did was he gave everyone the incentive to ultimately say,

00:15:38.960 well, that's fine. But if you're not going to provide the raw sunk costs, we now need to spend

00:15:42.940 on our sunk costs. And that explains Carney's recent decision that, hey, 70% of our military

00:15:49.140 spend was going to the United States, no more. Why? Because now if America's not going to protect us,

00:15:53.920 well, let's build our own economies. Let's build our own resources. We've done it before.

00:15:57.620 We are very good at it. We're a military nation when we want to be, and we will be again.

00:16:02.680 And that's being forced on us. But at the same time, it's something that provides unique opportunity at this time of day.

00:16:09.720 It's interesting that we are sitting here talking about the increase in defense spending, which came out in Carney's budget.

00:16:17.800 By the way, he's suspended that budget and we're expecting a new one.

00:16:21.360 But I wonder if that new budget will have an even larger increase in defense spending.

00:16:29.140 And it makes me think to myself, OK, we're going to participate in NATO properly.

00:16:34.140 Where are we getting this money from?

00:16:36.840 I mean, the dollar is diminishing day over day.

00:16:41.440 We're watching it right now.

00:16:43.620 We are not really equipped to be building anything here in this country that, you know,

00:16:48.720 maybe some of the shipyards have the room but apparently we're already outsourcing it seems to

00:16:53.760 me that we're going to be begging uh borrowing from paul to beg from peter later on and i'm

00:16:58.720 wondering can we just keep printing money to satisfy nato yeah so let me answer that first

00:17:05.600 off i'm going to take umbrage with something you said mike go right ahead actually not following

00:17:10.800 in fact the canadian dollar is showing massive resilience and let me explain why right now i

00:17:15.200 I just looked it up, it's 73 cents to the dollar, which by the way, is a stable and traditional

00:17:20.620 point for the Canadian US dollar at this time. But the reason that it's so impressive at 73 cents

00:17:29.660 is because with the global uncertainty that's recently happened in Iran, the greenback still

00:17:33.860 remains a point of security for the world. Massive amounts over the past two weeks of dollars have

00:17:40.160 been flowing into the American dollar and bond market as security. And yet we're still maintaining

00:17:46.700 a 73 cent. Usually we'd be at 69 cents during perilous times like this. We're at 73. You can

00:17:53.600 expect that if the Strait of Hormuz somewhat cancels out, the stronger dollar that would result

00:18:00.940 from us will be directly tied to the strong oil prices that are expected for the next five years

00:18:06.380 as a result of Trump's actions.

00:18:08.360 High oil prices, because Canada primarily exports raw materials

00:18:12.200 and oil is a major component, directly affects our dollar.

00:18:15.560 You'll remember the last time we were at par, the oil price was spiking.

00:18:20.740 Our dollar is set for a pretty good run,

00:18:23.780 and vis-a-vis other global currencies were really high.

00:18:26.700 Vis-a-vis the United States, the United States still being the reserve currency,

00:18:30.160 is partaking in the benefit of massive global instability.

00:18:33.400 um and as a result huge dollars are flowing in right now i have a feeling that i think though

00:18:39.080 that our dollar is being propped up right now by the increase in oil uh per barrel it is out of

00:18:45.400 alberta and i wonder if okay so you know the u.s has all of these options likely on oil moving

00:18:53.740 forward they're looking at venezuela they're uh you know bullying their way around the world trying

00:18:58.920 take whatever oil or make whatever oil deals they can they're the biggest buyer of our raw product

00:19:05.400 i just wonder if what we're looking at by the way over the last couple of days is an increase in the

00:19:09.960 dollar but we were decidedly headed that way and if the effects of this war haven't really taken

00:19:16.920 effect yet we might find ourselves there in as little as 30 days so so first off because we're

00:19:23.720 only talking about the dollar now you asked a whole bunch of other questions i don't know why

00:19:26.040 we got on that sorry about that no problem but first off the dollar is directly reflective of

00:19:31.720 the oil price because we're a petrodollar that's that's what we are like i'd love to say that we're

00:19:36.440 an economy of brains and brawn and manufacturing prowess and everything else but we're actually 37

00:19:42.360 million people in an 8 billion person world and all we have is land and resources and so the

00:19:48.040 petrodollar directly affects us but it is expected that the petrodollar now will have or the

00:19:56.040 oil price will be spiked for a very long time and when i say a very long time i'm talking about

00:20:01.400 several years not several months which means that given the reality of our goal

00:20:06.520 yeah given the reality of our dollar we are simply put going to see a higher canadian dollar as a

00:20:13.160 result because again the way it works is that in order to buy canadian oil you have to buy

00:20:19.880 canadian dollars because we then will sell it to you and so that's what props up the dollar fine

00:20:26.120 as regards to the fact that the united states has other sources who cares oil is a global price

00:20:33.480 it doesn't matter if the market goes up our price is based on texas sweet crude right

00:20:39.240 it's based on texas street sweet crude sure but texas sweet crude is in turn based on the global

00:20:44.680 oil price which is impacted by the i got you okay right and as a result it doesn't really

00:20:49.160 matter where the United States is getting their product from. China wants our product. So if we

00:20:54.580 have to put it on a tanker and get it out there, great. People are still ready to pay the dollar

00:20:58.600 value. Moreover, India is now desperate for our product because China is a bit different than 0.53

00:21:04.160 India. China has over the past five, six years actually reduced. I'm not talking about reduced

00:21:10.440 its growth in fossil fuels. Last year, it reduced its total fossil fuel consumption.

00:21:18.900 And it was the second year it did that in a row. Look up the stats. It's very interesting.

00:21:23.520 And the reason that they did that is because, don't get me wrong, they still are producing

00:21:27.580 coal and they're still doing all their stuff, nuclear, but they are massively producing

00:21:33.520 renewables. And they're not doing it because they're good people, by the way. I want to be

00:21:37.700 very clear about this. They're not sitting there singing kumbaya, holding hands and saying we care

00:21:42.460 about the environment. I'd love if that was the case. Environment is my thing. That's not what's

00:21:46.440 going on. What's going on is that they don't have domestic sources of fossil fuels outside of coal.

00:21:52.240 And as a result, they see it as a source of strategic disadvantage and massive vulnerability.

00:21:57.260 The reason that they've invested in solar the way that they've invested, and the reason that 0.98

00:22:01.000 America doesn't give a shit about solar is because America sees its future in fossil fuels because 0.96

00:22:06.660 it has a lot of them. China, which has none of them, and by the way, has no water either, 0.98

00:22:11.520 sees a much bigger problem. And it realizes that renewables are the only way forward through

00:22:16.080 its security advantages. And it made that deal about 2011, 2012, when it massively invested in

00:22:23.120 solar. The efficacy of full solar rose to 35% efficacy, which means every single electron of

00:22:29.660 sun that comes from the sun, 35% of it is converted into electricity at the present time.

00:22:34.300 and they've now been able to generate huge huge huge quantities to the point where they're no

00:22:39.540 longer as dependent upon oil as they once it's incredible you see the you see the fields that

00:22:44.820 they've built i mean it's miles by miles isn't it i pointed out to you the tibetan field last

00:22:50.380 spoke and i told you there's a 500 square kilometer tibetan field for solar that is

00:22:55.680 generating one i think it was one terawatt of energy which is by the way the united states

00:23:00.620 consumes 1.2 terawatts in total on a given year and they're generating one terawatt i mean check my

00:23:08.380 numbers because i'm not an energy expert but i remember reading these numbers they're just

00:23:11.820 astounding whatever they are it doesn't matter so mark but to this end i mean my point is this my

00:23:17.180 point is china's not dependent but india hasn't made that transition yet and neither has uh brazil

00:23:23.580 and neither has a whole bunch of other countries and all of them are massively dependent and all

00:23:28.300 of them need our product. So on that note, do they then become allies of ours? And the reason that I

00:23:35.180 ask this is because we're seeing what dependence on oil means around the world and how it impacts

00:23:41.420 humanity. Do we start to sell to the Chinese market? Does that upset the US when we're

00:23:49.020 diverting and doing business with China when they would prefer that we don't? I mean, 0.75

00:23:54.060 Trump has made it really clear that we shouldn't be doing as much business with China as we're

00:23:57.980 doing and i just wonder if our economic ties to other countries now will strain our relationship

00:24:05.180 with the us sure meaning we've got new allies and we're upsetting our largest ally sure well

00:24:13.740 first off it's worth calling the kettle black i mean the united states on a gdp basis does far

00:24:20.140 more trade with care with china than canada does far more okay yeah way way way way more on a per

00:24:26.940 person basis they do way way more so for them to sit there and say you can't work with china

00:24:32.140 is just the the height of hypocrisy and can be pointed out in real time to them at all times 0.60

00:24:38.620 but it's shocking that they won't hear that but well i mean it's true they don't want to hear

00:24:43.740 what they don't want to hear but it doesn't change the reality um the really interesting

00:24:50.700 part here is your question okay well what formulates the basis for new friendships

00:24:57.980 and i'm going to go back to the 1200s what formulates the basis for um new friendships

00:25:04.780 actually it's not the 1200s it was um uh it wasn't until free trade came about

00:25:11.900 that trade itself became mutually beneficial it wasn't beneficial for the indian subcontinent

00:25:18.300 that that that that multiple hours of china or for any of the conquered territories that people came

00:25:27.180 in scrubbed their land clean of treasure and and and uh and and riches and took it back to their

00:25:33.980 country that was trade that wasn't beneficial trade right since free trade i think that was

00:25:40.140 called plundering but that was called plundering since the advent of free trade that benefits both

00:25:46.220 sides and i mean there's classic economics that bears this out and it's the whole thing that

00:25:50.060 trump doesn't want to understand but the idea is that it's not a zero-sum game trump trade is

00:25:54.620 something that can ultimately expand the pie meaning that both parties benefit a conservative

00:25:59.020 a traditional conservative audience understands this very well this is the whole basis of

00:26:03.340 our global economy and to that end if you're asking where the new ally ships will lead all

00:26:07.980 All you need to really look at is where the growing trade routes are, because where the growing trade routes are, there is more of a pie that both of us are eating from.

00:26:15.300 And the more we both eat together, the more you sit together with someone and have dinner, the more friends you make.

00:26:20.720 I mean, that's what it is.

00:26:22.080 And the rest of the world is continuing to expand its pie.

00:26:25.000 And the United States has decided to take its pie and go home.

00:26:28.080 Okay, fine. 0.97

00:26:29.460 So if you're wondering where our new traditional growing allies are going to be, I mean, no one in Canada is stupid enough to say the United States isn't going to be a massive. 0.89

00:26:37.980 massive part of our life forevermore. They will. In the same way, by the way, that someone who has 0.89

00:26:43.980 three kids with someone and is getting a divorce cannot possibly say, this person is not going to

00:26:49.520 be part of my life. They're obviously going to be part of your life. That's it. You have to learn to

00:26:53.440 live with it. You have to learn to deal with it. And to the extent that, by the way, that we're

00:26:56.540 having perhaps a fight, we probably won't even end up divorced. We'll probably end up remembering

00:27:02.440 that this was a poor time in our relationship and we'll recover with better leadership and

00:27:06.700 everything else. All of that's true. But in the interim, we're eating pie with other people and

00:27:12.320 we're developing new relationships. Some of those people that we're eating with and going on dates

00:27:16.480 with are pretty sexy. Yes. Tell me the sexy list of our current dates in your mind. 0.99

00:27:24.220 Well, let's, I mean, let's just take the growing powers of this world. So there's a couple of

00:27:29.940 growing powers. There's India, very clearly a growing power. Brazil, very clearly a growing

00:27:36.740 power. China, very clearly a growing power. Those are the three. Oh, and then I would have I would

00:27:45.460 add long term, obviously, they're going through a bit of a rut. But the Middle Eastern countries

00:27:50.280 of saudi arabia um and uh the uae and others are also equally powerful uh economic forces

00:28:01.880 those are trade allies do you see any sort of defensive allies out there that we are

00:28:08.520 gravitating toward that we might not have before yeah um oh and by the way mexico is also a growing

00:28:14.840 power and that that's very important because we have deep and abiding um disputes and also trade

00:28:24.840 uh with with mexico so let's keep that in mind although it's not growing the same way china is

00:28:29.400 and india is but it's still growing significantly um so sorry mike your question was oh yeah uh

00:28:36.280 these are good trade partners that we're developing but are you starting to see any

00:28:40.280 sort of defensive positioning that we might find in countries where we weren't hanging out before

00:28:45.560 or uh teaming up with or aligning with well there's a very simple reason that we're aligning

00:28:51.640 with the people we are which happens to be north uh in north europe um there's there's actually

00:28:57.960 two major reasons one the arctic's about to open up and we need to have arctic security it's the

00:29:03.800 same reason that trump was trying to go for greenland uh the arctic is everything russia

00:29:08.840 knows it and they're now a dissipated force because of what has happened in the ukraine

00:29:13.000 um but so do the arctic states finland norway sweden iceland us um and so there's a natural

00:29:20.440 affinity of interest that we have given that we see the next 30 to 40 years worth of conflict

00:29:27.320 resolving or really being over establishing that new territory because really it is new territory

00:29:33.480 new routes, new transport, new trade. It's critical. Also, we have an affinity of cultural

00:29:40.400 interest with most of the European countries. After all, we come from there. We have the same

00:29:45.000 culture. We have the same beliefs. We have the same technologies, systems, understandings,

00:29:52.440 languages. So obviously, our natural tendency, if the Americans are out, is to bolster our European

00:30:00.300 allies who seem all too well willing to do a bolstering. But more importantly, and this is

00:30:06.460 not really known by many people, particularly those people who have only paid attention to

00:30:10.800 military materials tangentially. One of the premier powers in this world, military powers in this

00:30:19.700 world is Ukraine. And people don't really appreciate it. But Iran's war is bringing it 0.68

00:30:27.400 into sharp relief and focus. Look, Ukraine has 1 10th of the population of Russia. And they are

00:30:35.380 now in a position where they are not losing a single piece of territory. Moreover, they're

00:30:40.600 bombing the hell out of Russia and Russia can't do anything back. That was the easy one. The fact 0.79

00:30:47.100 is the Americans sent over two aircraft carriers to Iran. Only one is there because it had a

00:30:54.300 washroom malfunction, but actually it was later revealed that Iran pummeled it with it had a fire

00:30:59.420 on board. Yeah. And now it's out of commission for two years. Yeah. That's the power of Ukraine's

00:31:05.600 technology. It's not an advanced weaponry in the form of multimillion dollar drones. It's in the

00:31:12.420 it's in the massive scale up of cheap technology brought to bear. And Iran actually was really 0.99

00:31:22.500 its counterparty, but it was beating Iran because Iran was supplying Russia. We were all supplying 0.68

00:31:27.140 Ukraine. Ukraine has now built up this defense capability, and that defense capability is wanted

00:31:32.300 by the whole world. The Americans are extremely angry at Saudi Arabia at the present time because

00:31:36.660 Saudi Arabia just did a defense deal with Ukraine. America, Trump hates Ukraine. Trump's trying to

00:31:42.000 do business in Russia, and so he's trying to undermine it and destroy Ukraine as a country.

00:31:46.700 They were furious when they suddenly realized that Ukraine, not the United States, was being

00:31:51.660 asked for so i'm able to solicit saudi money because saudi arabia looked at their defensive

00:31:57.500 network and said this is more valuable to us in today's economy i don't need a patriot

00:32:01.100 bed missile battery even though it's better that costs two million i need a drone that costs

00:32:06.620 three thousand and i know that's that's an interesting point because now you're not

00:32:11.660 fighting missiles with multi-million you're not fighting wars with multi-million dollar missiles

00:32:15.900 you're fighting them with drones and and i don't know if you know this uh mark i've never told you

00:32:19.980 this but i have a warehouse uh do you know how many drones i can fit in my warehouse 2000 and i

00:32:26.700 have six warehouses okay exactly and you know i i had a meeting so i i ran a podcast for for a bit

00:32:35.020 and uh i do do writing a podcast and one of the guests on that i had was general ben hodges

00:32:40.060 uh who was commander of the uh eastern european um uh sorry the european uh the american command

00:32:47.100 in Europe. And we had a big discussion about asymmetric warfare, because that's what this is.

00:32:52.160 And asymmetric warfare is the idea that America, you can invest trillions of dollars, but trillions

00:32:58.240 of dollars is something that becomes a vulnerability when you invest that much, if you can take it out

00:33:04.080 with 5,000. And so if you're asking where our natural military allyship is, both because of

00:33:10.280 culture and because of the geography of situation, but above all else, because they are now the

00:33:17.080 premier exporter of the defense that the world needs. It's Europe. It's clearly Europe. China

00:33:22.920 is learning from Europe. India is learning from Europe. People are not trying to buy... 0.79

00:33:29.320 Russian technology is totally discredited. It's always been a joke, but it's been proven to be

00:33:35.400 joke. No one buys commercial. American technology is now discredited because of political leadership,

00:33:41.480 where Trump has basically said we can cut you off at any time. Well, because these tech stacks cost

00:33:46.040 billions of dollars, you don't invest in something where someone is erratic and ultimately can cut

00:33:50.280 you off at the push of a button. So who do you invest in? Well, you invest in someone who is

00:33:54.760 proving that they have a technology that is cheap, easily deployed, and that fundamentally can't be

00:34:01.480 controlled through centralized means and that that that that avails itself incredibly well

00:34:06.840 to artificial intelligence swarms of drones can be controlled through artificial intelligence

00:34:13.400 and this is the new reality that we face so if you're asking where our defensive posture is

00:34:17.960 i think anyone both in the military for the economy and for our culture everyone looks to

00:34:23.400 europe first and foremost then secondary is yeah i was going to say and and beyond that

00:34:29.880 it seems like we're developing relations in japan south korea china right well the reason

00:34:37.640 that those guys are militarily important is because they see benefit in the status quo so

00:34:42.600 it's not that they have the same culture or understanding or desires but what they do have

00:34:47.720 a desire to keep doing is it's been global trade has been very good to china it joined the wto in

00:34:53.720 2001. Look at what it is now. It wants to keep this system going. And more importantly, it will

00:34:59.940 use force to protect it. There's a reason it hasn't attacked Taiwan recently. May still. I don't think

00:35:07.400 it will. I think it's just, personally, I think Taiwan's, even though Trump is there, and Trump

00:35:13.580 won't raise a finger to help Taiwan, China has not chosen to attack Taiwan. And I think the reason

00:35:20.160 that is because it just keeps growing stronger stronger and stronger and stronger and perhaps

00:35:25.040 the best way to take over taiwan tsmc and everything else is just to build out your

00:35:30.480 economy such that you're better and then at that point taking them over becomes a non-issue the

00:35:35.040 reason we're all freaking out is because they produce the nvidia chips and they produce all

00:35:38.240 the other chips that exactly china's china's massively investing in lithography they're 0.88

00:35:43.120 expecting to get ahead of the game um you know like they have the power to produce for the chips

00:35:48.880 all of these anyways the point is you just raised a good point we spend our existence

00:35:54.960 intimidated by the us will they do trade with us will they protect us will they take us over

00:36:00.560 that wouldn't be in question if we just got better right right exactly and look to some

00:36:07.360 degree canada can't become you know let's be honest like like we're 37 million there are 400

00:36:14.480 million like at some point there is a structural limitation to becoming a global power the way the

00:36:23.360 united states is but it doesn't take away from your point which is canada can be way better than

00:36:27.040 it is canada can yeah i mean it can put ourselves in a position where the status quo is that they

00:36:33.360 find us mutually beneficial right that we're not viewed as a drain on their economy that we're

00:36:38.400 productive and supplying things to the world that are desirable to them right well i mean strangely

00:36:45.120 the americans that are actually in business and not in graft understand that we are all those

00:36:50.640 things i mean canada is massively those things for the united states we are a huge benefit to

00:36:55.040 the united states to the point where we are impeding our own growth because we just give

00:36:59.200 our raw materials to them and then we become a consumer economy where we buy out their finished

00:37:04.320 products i mean we're we can do better we can do better you know what mark i want you to be part

00:37:09.760 of my new team i'm gonna start a company called petro canada and we're gonna make petroleum for

00:37:15.600 our own nation what do you think i think it's a great idea and then i think we should ultimately

00:37:20.880 sell it to uh private interests at some point in the turn of a government and then we can all

00:37:26.080 lament we've lost oh you know what let's learn from our lessons previously mark morris thanks

00:37:32.160 sir uh i really appreciate you doing this on short notice you're the guy that we turn to and i hope

00:37:36.800 that you'll be around more as we dissect what's going on around the world uh because you're out

00:37:41.520 there uh your next trip is madagascar you are in asia you're the guy that we know that has more air

00:37:48.000 miles uh than anybody else on our team so thank you i appreciate for being here i want to be clear

00:37:52.960 that's not for business that's because king julian's theme song from madagascar thing i have 0.94

00:37:57.840 young kids played in my ear forever i'm gonna go find that lemur i'm gonna go kick him in the rear 0.64

00:38:03.040 and i'm gonna take my vengeance that's the reason that's the reason for madagascar 0.89

00:38:07.840 i understand i got lion king on my list all right thank you my man my best take care mike

00:38:20.080 patriotic means looking up for each other and fixing things together true patriotism is being

00:38:27.120 in a country you love surrounded by people you love and great weather being a patriot is being

00:38:31.840 a part of your community and caring for it it doesn't matter who you are or where you're from

00:38:36.320 patriotism is the one thing we all share it's okay to be critical of government and still be

00:38:42.400 a patriot it's gratitude to your country of course i'm a patriot i'm canadian it's my home

00:38:48.080 Well, actually, true patriot love is the mission.

True Patriot Love - April 17, 2026

Is Canada Rewiring Its Global Alliances？ ft. Mark Morris

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