The North American free trade deadline is upon us, and Ottawa is panicking. The usual chorus of hand-wringers is comparing their predicament to the Fall of Rome, but they have it backwards. The true parallel is the Victorian Era: empires crumbling under the weight of their own incompetence.
The United Kingdom, after much sound and fury, has shown that the route to renewal lies in breaking free from continental chains. Canada should take note. The post-Brexit deal is not a perfect model, but it is a realistic one.
It prioritises sovereignty and adaptability over the suffocating inertia of multinational pacts. The Canadians face a choice: continue clinging to a fading American hegemony or embrace the risk of being their own master. I say, take the plunge.
The alternative is a slow, tedious decline into irrelevance, which is far worse than a brief, invigorating crisis.
