Canada never had an equivalent of Uncle Sam, sternly exhorting its citizens to sign up to fight for their country. That is changing. Jennie Carignan, Canada’s top soldier, is looking for Canadians—whether they are 16 or 65—who will come to their country’s aid in the event of a military attack or calamitous natural disaster. “We’re going to need heavy-equipment operators,” says General Carignan. “We’re going to need drone operators. We’re going to potentially need cyber operators as well.” Call her Aunt Jennie.
There is no direct line between her plan for a 400,000-strong civilian-defence force and Donald Trump plucking Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro, from his safe house in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, on January 3rd. But nor is the timing entirely coincidental. In the past year Mr Trump has repeatedly asserted that it would be in Canada’s interest to become America’s 51st state. No one in a position of responsibility really believes the United States would ever invade. Even Mr Trump himself, when asked whether he would use military force to annex Canada, has said “no”, or that it is “very unlikely”.
