Since his swearing in on Jan. 20, Donald Trump has been hard at work dismantling the American republic. 

In his quest to rule the world, he is trying to start an economic world war via a relentless blitzkrieg campaign that has so far lasted 22 days. As history has shown, time and speed matter. When Hitler took over as chancellor of the post-Weimar Republic in Germany on Jan. 30, 1933, it took him just 53 days to dismantle the republic and install the Nazi regime under his dictatorship. 

Taking a page from that playbook, the next 32 days with Trump are sure to be filled with chaos, havoc and danger. Canada needs to take this seriously. Trump has his sights set on annexing us.

Appeasement does not work in this type of geopolitical situation. Neville Chamberlain found that out in September 1938 when he signed the Munich Agreement, ceding the German-speaking Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Hitler and the Nazis. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith also recently found out in her recent, very public trip to visit Trump at Mar-a-Lago in an attempt protect Alberta from Trump鈥檚 tariffs that her na茂ve version of appeasement did not work either.

Looking objectively at his comments and conduct, Trump is demonstrably not Canada鈥檚 friend and his intentions towards us are neither honourable nor consistent with our long shared history together. We owe him not one iota of fealty or respect.

Canada has to get serious about this. We are not ready to defend ourselves. We have relied heavily on the goodwill of the Americans and now, the actions of one American make all Canadians regret that. But these politics, in addition to a warming Arctic and disappearing ice and snow, make us in the North more vulnerable than others. With melting, our 快盈v3 coast is now exposed and accessible, with only small populations in scattered communities and minimal infrastructure. It is hard to demonstrate Canadian ownership and Canadian sovereignty.

The stability of the North is a matter of national interest. The good news is the challenges we are facing can be met if Canada steps us and exercises its peace, order and good government powers. It can do this when the national interest is threatened. In the NWT, this means Canada, working with the 快盈v3 leaders, could and should:

Create a permanent military presence along the Arctic coast, with Inuvik as a hub, as well as a significantly expanded Canadian Rangers presence throughout the North;

Fast-track building the Mackenzie Valley Highway, linking in the currently land locked communities by connecting to the Inuvik-to-Tuktoyaktuk Highway and the Dempster Highway. This would ensure year round resupply capability and movement of goods and services from the Arctic ocean to the 60th parallel

Build the Grays Bay road connecting to the Ingraham Trail and a deep water port to create all season access to the Slave Geological Province, a resource rich part of the North.

For its part, the GNWT needs to:

Take active ownership of the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Link (MVFL) and give Inuvik the best IT tools to capitalize on the MVFL鈥檚 high tech potential;

Hook up all the communities on the MVFL right-of-way. We need to actively minimize our reliance on Elon Musk鈥檚 Starlink satellite system because it can be turned off by Musk flipping a switch. This is a real possibility given his aggressive, unpredictable nature;

Get serious about installing microgrid technology in all diesel-dependent communities to make our territory as energy independent as possible. This helps our country;

Do our part to support the negotiation of a Canadian internal free-trade agreement. We are hamstrung as a country by the existing 21 per cent internal interprovincial trade tariffs.

If these projects are designed, built and owned by Canadians, they will be of tremendous value to Canada鈥檚 sovereignty, security and economy. These critical infrastructure projects will create the conditions for the North to realize its vast potential in a rapidly changing world. As a key member of Team Canada during these dark uncertain times, we are ready to work in partnership and collaboration to ensure Canada is ready for what lies ahead. 

Strong leadership, political will, time and speed are critical for Canada.