🧭 Beyond Queen’s Park: Do We Still Sing O Canada – National Identity in the AMCAN Era

Mark Carney walked into the Oval Office last week and told Donald Trump that “Canada is not for sale.”
But behind the tough talk, the talks have begun.

Fortress AMCAN — the quiet campaign to form a new North American economic and security union — is no longer theory. It’s moving forward. Carney and Trump are calling it a “new economic and security partnership.” Doug Ford has been championing it for years under the banner of Fortress AMCAN. And Pierre Poilievre has made no secret of his plan to accelerate negotiations if Carney falters.

But while the political class plays chess, the rest of us need to ask something they’re avoiding: What does it mean to be Canadian in the AMCAN era?

🇨🇦 More Than a Maple Leaf?

No one is talking about rewriting the national anthem. Not yet. But let’s be real — Fortress AMCAN isn’t just about removing tariffs and opening job markets. It’s about integrating our economy, our security policies, our supply chains, and, eventually, our people.

When borders blur and economies merge, culture, law, and identity follow.

• Will O Canada still feel like more than a song?

• Will our courts still interpret Canadian law independently?

• Will students in Toronto still learn different history than students in Michigan?

• Will our immigration system still be sovereign — or harmonized?

These aren’t fringe hypotheticals. These are the conversations happening in closed rooms while the public looks the other way.

🇪🇺 Lessons from Europe

Supporters of AMCAN will argue Canada can model itself on the European Union: sovereign countries working together under shared frameworks, while preserving language, laws, and culture.

But the EU isn’t a perfect comparison. European countries spent centuries defining — and defending — their identities through brutal wars, deep-rooted nationalism, and rigid cultural preservation. Canada, by contrast, has always been more open, more pragmatic, and, some would argue, more willing to adapt to outside forces.

That makes us vulnerable. If Fortress AMCAN moves forward without a clear, public mandate, Canada could find itself economically inside the U.S. orbit — without ever formally joining.

🗳️ Where Is the Debate?

The most alarming part? There is no debate.

• Carney isn’t bringing this to Parliament for a vote.

• Poilievre isn’t demanding a referendum.

• Doug Ford is still the only one willing to say the words “Fortress AMCAN” out loud — and he’s not even in Ottawa.

This is happening as a backroom process between political elites and business leaders. The public has been sidelined.

That must change. Now.

📌 Final Word

If Canadians want to keep singing O Canada, keep teaching Canadian history, keep controlling Canadian laws, and keep defining what it means to be Canadian — they need to wake up.

Because Fortress AMCAN isn’t coming. It’s here.

And unless the public demands a seat at the table, Canada might keep its name, its anthem, and its maple leaf — but little else.

📍 Beyond Queen’s Park continues to explore the rise of Fortress AMCAN every Tuesday in GTA Weekly. Follow us @GTAWeeklyNews for bold perspectives on Canada’s future.