Hello, everyone. Today at WPR, we’re covering Latin America’s fragmented response to Trump’s imperialistic approach to the region, and the risks of Europe’s dependence on Chinese drones and drone parts.
But first, here’s our take on today’s top story:
Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper at a ceremony for his official portrait unveiling in Ottawa, Ontario, Feb. 3, 2026 (photo by Adrian Wyld for The Canadian Press via AP).
Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper weighed in on his country’s heightened tensions with the United States yesterday, calling for political unity and arguing Canada “must make any sacrifice necessary to preserve the independence and the unity of this blessed land.”
The remarks come amid rising concerns in Canada that U.S. President Donald Trump poses an existential threat to its sovereignty and independence. Not only has Trump threatened devastating tariffs against its northern neighbor and called for turning Canada into the “51st state,” but Trump administration officials have also met multiple times with far-right separatists in Alberta who are planning a referendum on whether the province should secede.
In response, Harper, a member of the Conservative Party, called for politicians to unite against a common foe. “In these perilous times both parties, whatever their other differences, must come together against external forces that threaten our independence and against domestic policies that threaten our unity.” He was speaking at a commemorative event to unveil his official prime ministerial portrait.
The message of unity was also on display in a separate event Harper participated in this week with former Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien, who warned that the world is witnessing “the beginning of the end of the American empire.” Yet Canada is “on guard” against threats and well-positioned to weather the storm thanks to its abundant land, natural resources and well-educated population, Chretien said.
To be sure, Canadian officials and public figures have been pushing back against Trump’s provocations since his return to office in 2025—a year that, for Canadians, was practically defined by slogans like “Canada is not for sale” and “elbows up”—a hockey phrase for a defensive posture. But it is nonetheless striking to hear prominent Canadian politicians discuss their southern neighbor and longtime ally in terms befitting a wartime address.
The Trump administration’s threats against Canada took a much more realistic turn last week, when the Financial Times reported that U.S. State Department officials had met several times with leaders of the Alberta Prosperity Project, a far-right fringe group advocating for the oil-rich province to secede and declare independence.
Polls indicate a majority of Albertans would prefer to remain part of Canada. But the Alberta Prosperity Project nonetheless aims to gather enough signatures for an independence referendum to be put to voters in the province in May and is asking for the Trump administration to extend a $500 billion credit facility should the referendum pass.
U.S. officials told the FT that no commitments were made in the administration’s meetings with the Alberta Prosperity Project. But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has spoken favorably of the referendum proposal and suggested an independent Alberta would be “a natural partner” for the U.S.
Understandably, all of this has raised Canadians’ hackles. It is one thing for a province to follow a process set forth by law in an attempt to convince a majority of voters to declare independence. It is another thing entirely for a neighboring state to intervene in favor of that effort.
The U.S. moves are seen as having particularly sinister overtones in the aftermath of the Trump administration's attack on Venezuela, which Trump said was motivated by a desire to secure the country’s oil resources. As one Canadian analyst put it, “There is a growing recognition that resource imperialism has become the basic orienting principle of US grand strategy. And that Canada, as a resource-rich and militarily poor nation, has become exceptionally vulnerable to it.”
Unlikely as it may be, Canada—faced with undeniable threats to its sovereignty—is emerging as an unlikely standard-bearer in the resistance to Trump’s neo-imperialism.