How to Fight Back

When Donald Trump kicked off his malevolent, idiotic trade war earlier this year, he expected Canadians to capitulate immediately. Instead, we raised our elbows—and about 41 million polite but firm middle fingers. The last few months have been alternately confusing, infuriating, nausea-inducing and wallet-draining, but they’ve also been kind of exciting. After years of political polarization, we’re suddenly (mostly) united. Our cars and homes and restaurants are bedecked with maple leaves. We’re demonstrating a David-versus-Goliath resilience that we didn’t realize we had. Here, with glowing hearts, Maclean’s presents an invigorating collection of essays featuring brilliant, occasionally radical ideas about how to fight back against Trump’s attacks—and secure a stronger future for Canada. The message is clear: forget post-nationalism. It’s taken the risk of losing Canada to realize how much we appreciate it.

Economy

Want to Bulletproof the Economy? Build More Pipelines.

Oil is Canada’s superpower in the global energy economy. Think of what turbo-charging production could do.

By Adam Waterous

Politics

Canada’s Military Can’t Defend Us

What are we going to do about it? Pour billions into national defence.

By Aurel Braun

Society

Why Isn’t Canada a Shipping Superpower?

This country is terrible at transporting goods. The solution: more ports, more highways, more railroads.

By Kent Fellows

Society

Keep Canada’s IP in Canada

Canada’s future won’t be built with bricks. It’ll be built with ideas.

By Jim Hinton

Politics

Canada Could Be a Critical Minerals Powerhouse

How we can produce the smartphones of the future

By Ian M. London

Economy

The U.S. Isn’t the Only Customer in Town

Canada needs to find new trading partners, and other countries are clamouring for our goods

By Meredith Lilly

Society

Keep Immigration Coming

To compete on the world stage, Canada needs more Canadians—and more small cities to house them

By Steve Lafleur

Economy

Forget America. Build an East-West Power Grid.

For decades, we’ve prioritized electrical trade with the United States. It’s time to reduce our dependence on them.

By Blake Shaffer

This story appears in the July 2025 issue of Maclean’s. You can buy the issue here, subscribe to the magazine here or send a gift subscription here.