The Agenda with Steve Paikin (Audio) - Living as a Canadian in Trump's America

Episode Date: April 19, 2025

The Agenda's week in review features an interview with author and educator Irshad Manji about being a Canadian living in the U.S., and a discussion with Sergey Radchenko, author of "To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power".See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

He was like a father figure to me. Unfortunately, found myself in a very vulnerable position. This is a story about a psychiatrist in Toronto accused of abusing two of his patients, which he denies. It's also a story about a system that is supposed to protect patients. From TVO Podcasts, I'm Krisha Collier, and this is The Oath. Subscribe today wherever you listen. for kids. Regular contributions from people like you help us make a difference in the lives of Ontarians of all ages. Visit tdo.me slash 2025 donate to renew your support or

make a first time donation and continue to discover your 2 Point TDO. People find out about your Canadian background and then the subject perhaps turns to Trump. What do people say to you? Any tips on how to immigrate to Canada? Really? Uh-huh. Yes. And of course, that's a cliché.

But I actually think that this time, many more mean it. And it would be ironic, wouldn't it, if Canada had to seal its southern border? We're going to build a wall. Right, exactly, exactly. But all kidding aside, I really think, and maybe we can get into this later, but I actually think that there are huge opportunities here for Canada. I know that it is natural to live in a defensive crouch right now.

Protect, protect, protect. I get that completely. And I think when we have embarked steadily on the road to defending our sovereignty. We can open up a little bit to Look at what it will take to recruit paying students from the United States whose families are Just disgusted with this administration and want their kids to be educated in a different part of the world. Well, back in the day it was always called the brain drain, right?

People leaving Canada for the States and now you could call it the brain gain or you could call it the Trump bump. We hear that. The reason I ask you the question is that when I talk to Americans, and I do, frequently what they say to me is, I'm so sorry. We're so sorry about what's going on. This is not us, this is just the president. Do you get that? Do you hear that? I don't hear that very much.

And, you know, again, because I work with a lot of universities and K-12 schools, the Republicans whom I have occasion to interact with are younger. And I can honestly tell you that there is a cult of personality with Trump. And so they're not apologetic. What they are is overly faithful in his ability to pull rabbits out of hats. faithful in his ability to pull rabbits out of hats. I had the honor of interviewing Mikhail Gorbachev for this television station and I asked him if he believed the West was actually trying to actively hold Russia down. Let's see what he said.

Russia is a competitor. Russia is an educated country, well-educated people, tremendous resources, perhaps half the resources of the world are in Russia. And if that country gains momentum, it will be a competitor. In a very competitive market, there will be another competitor. So some people in the West think pragmatically, let Russia be down as long as possible. But that would not be, in my opinion, the best style of handling relations with Russia. The best style is partnership, alliance, and friendship. A calm Russia, a stable Russia, a successfully developing

democratic Russia is a lot better than an unstable Russia. In which case, in spite of everything you just said, should we be cheering on a closer relationship between the United States and Russia? I think in the, you know, for the future, a closer relationship between the United States and Russia is a good thing. The question is what actually allows for this close relationship to prosper. If you're building a close relationship on the basis of Russia's domination of its neighbors, or you look away when the Russians basically run over Ukraine, waging an aggressive war, I don't think that is a healthy foundation for a long-term partnership.

Gorbachev just spoke about democracy. Well, Russia is not a democratic country. Russia is a dictatorship today, right? So having a wonderful relationship with a dictatorship that Russia is not a democratic country. Russia is a dictatorship today, right? So having a wonderful relationship with a dictatorship that Russia is today, is that good for the future of the world? I don't know. Worse things have happened, I suppose. We'll see how it turns out.

But I don't have great expectations from the current effort by President Trump to re-engage with Russia on that basis.