Elbows down — the nationalist dream is dead: Chris Selley

We are an excitable lot aren’t we? Much of the Canadian media, I mean, and a certain class of Canadians who fall for implausible nationalist distractions like “Canada first” and “buy Canadian” and “elbows up.” It wasn’t long ago that a brief Central Canadian spasm of performative patriotism saw Alberta Premier Danielle Smith widely pilloried (in certain circles) for displaying insufficient nationalist fervour in countering President Donald Trump’s tariffs. She wanted to protect Alberta’s oil-and-gas industry.

Boo! Hiss! She’s living in the past! Henceforth there would be no more interprovincial trade barriers, no more petty squabbling — that was the story, anyway. It would be against the orange menace. If Smith and fellow intransigent Scott Moe in Regina wouldn’t play along, well,