EDITORIAL: War Is Not the Weather, Dominic

Dominic Cardy is right about one thing: discussions about national defence matter. But everything else in his viral declaration, that “war is coming,” that Europe is already drafting its citizens, that conscription is something Canada should be emotionally preparing for, is exactly the kind of fatalistic messaging this country does not need.

Let's make something clear at the outset: war is not weather. It doesn't blow in from across the Atlantic like a cold front. It doesn't “happen to us.” It is created through political decisions, diplomatic failures, and a willingness by governments to prioritize geopolitical theatre over the lives of ordinary people. Treating war like an inevitability is how you convince Canadians to stop questioning the choices that could drag us into one.

And make no mistake, the framing matters.

When the leader of a registered political party proclaims “war is coming,” the next logical step becomes: “so get ready to accept whatever the government decides next.” You don't soften the public for conscription by announcing conscription; you soften them by convincing them the alternative is doom.

That is the part Dominic pretends not to understand. Europe's conversations are not Canada's conversations. Countries bordering active conflict zones, countries with extremely different histories, alliances, demographics, and political cultures, are making decisions specific to their immediate realities. To hold their internal debates up as a template for ours is lazy, if not entirely misleading. Most Canadians aren't waking up every morning wondering which neighbour is marching across their border. They are waking up wondering whether they can make rent, whether their hospitals will stay open, and whether their kids will have a future worth defending.

What Dominic is doing—intentionally or not—is importing European panic into Canadian discourse without doing the hard work of explaining why. It's easier to paint a looming global catastrophe than to articulate a concrete defence policy. It's easier to claim “war is inevitable” than to ask uncomfortable questions:

• What diplomatic pathways are being abandoned?
• What strategic interests are being pursued without public oversight?
• Who exactly stands to benefit from preparing Canadians for a war they haven't even been told the purpose of?

But instead of addressing any of that, we get this self-assured sermon about inevitability. As if the role of responsible citizenship is to brace ourselves for whatever a handful of political elites decide. As if it's unpatriotic to question the premise.

This is where Canadians need to stand firm: If war is on the table, it must be because elected leaders failed to keep it off.

And if conscription is on the table, it had better include every politician's son and every CEO's nephew standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the working class they expect to carry the burden. Canada absolutely needs a mature, grounded, transparent conversation about national security. But we will not get it by treating war like a thunderstorm gathering in the distance. We will not get it from vague warnings masquerading as wisdom. We will not get it from punditry that treats inevitability as insight.

War is not fate. War is not weather. War is a choice, and Canadians deserve leaders who understand the difference. If Dominic wants that conversation, fine. Let's have it. But we're not starting from the premise that conflict is already written. We're starting from the premise that good leadership prevents war, and bad leadership prepares you for one.

This piece was written and published by the Left Lane Media Group Editorial Board and reflects the editorial position of The Provincial Times and Left Lane Media Group. Read our Content Policy here.