With regard to America’s illegal collection of $5-billion in tarrifs on Canadian softwood lumber, and their refusal to abide by the NAFTA rulings against them, Bloc Québecois leader Gilles Duceppe today put it with characteristic bluntness:

The American strategy is very clear. They want to gain time. They know they’ll lose in the end, but if the winners are dead—I mean, it’s not a win for us.

Well said. Canadians (specifically, the Mulroney Conservatives) foolishly entered into an agreement with the U.S. believing that the world’s most belligerent bully would abide by its signed agreements. Now that it’s clear to the entire world that America explicitly rejects the rule of law where the law infringes on its interests, maybe our politicians won’t be so gullible in future. I wouldn’t bet my life on it, though.