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Just over a year ago in the House of Commons, global affairs minister Chrystia Freeland launched into a long exegesis of foreign policy in the Age of Trump with a question: “Is Canada an essential country at this time in the life of our planet?”

To ask the question was, of course, to answer it — there was much in the speech typical of the kind of self-congratulatory statements all Canadian governments make. But there was also a sense of urgency and anxiety based on what was already known about Donald Trump’s worldview.

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International relationships that seemed immutable for 70 years were being called into question, Freeland said. The core notions of territorial integrity, human rights, democracy, respect for the rule of law and aspiration to free trade were under threat.

That demanded a response from Canada, she said. “The fact that our friend and ally has come to question the very worth of its mantle of global leadership puts into sharper focus the need for the rest of us to set our own clear and sovereign course. For Canada, that course must be the renewal, indeed the strengthening, of the post-war multilateral order.”