Adam Chapnick's Newsletter - March 2025
Thank you for subscribing to this newsletter. I hope to use it to update you on what I’ve been thinking and speaking about, where I’m speaking next, and people and issues that have caught my attention.
I have finished teaching for the academic year, and I miss it already. As happens every year, I learned more from my students on my course on Canadian foreign policy than they did from me. Since they haven’t complained yet, I’ll take that as a win-win. I was not completely satisfied with the final written assignment in the course (a choice between drafting speaking notes for the minister of foreign affairs or a commentary that could be legitimately submitted to a Canadian think tank / journal - plus a covering letter explaining the thinking behind either one), but I all-but-knew that would happen since it was the first year I had tried this new approach. (In the past, I had asked for a briefing note, but briefing notes are too easy for generative AI to replicate.)
Thanks to a discussion with most of the class after the course ended, I’ve come up with modifications to both assignments, especially the speaking notes, that should result in a better course next year. Among the changes is the workshop that we do in anticipation of the final submission. I allocate each member of the class 30-45 minutes to discuss a draft of their assignment with their peers and receive feedback to inform their final product. I have typically assigned a grade to this. I no longer will. Rather, the covering letter will be required to include information about how the assignment benefited, or did not benefit, from the workshop. I have found that folks are hesitant to be critical in the workshop because they know their peers are being assessed. By removing the assessment, I hope we will end up with more open and fruitful conversations. This is not to say that the workshops weren’t working as they were; rather, I think they can be better by removing grades from the experience.
Being in the classroom less, and now not at all, has meant that I have had somewhat more time to write and speak. Much of that writing has been dedicated to the work I am doing with Vincent Rigby on the history of the office of the National Security and Intelligence Officer to the Prime Minister (NSIA). Our working draft is now over 13,000 words long. I suspect it will be 15,000 words, give or take, which is an awkward length for publication, but we will figure out a way to make it accessible. We will hopefully also write up a much, much shorter summary of our findings for folks who are curious but not necessarily interested.
Publications
In December, an essay that I started thinking about years ago, and writing about 20 months ago, finally saw the light of day thanks to the great people at the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government at St. F-X. The essay is titled, simply, “Foreign Policy and Canadian Elections: A Review.” It is my attempt to summarize what analysts have said and written about the relatively meagre role that foreign policy plays in Canadian elections. When the next federal election is called, I will likely write a short piece about it for those who, again, are more curious than interested.
Last month, the CDA Institute offered me a great opportunity to write a longer paper but I had to say no because I am committed to getting this National Security and Intelligence Advisor study finished. So, instead, I offered them a commentary about why the challenges facing Canadian foreign policy in the second Trump era are not just about tariffs. You can find it here. I have not been blogging in part because of other writing, speaking, and media work, but also because blogging has always been a weekend activity and my weekend schedule has changed. I suspect that I will revive my blog, but probably not until the NSIA piece is finished. For now, you will get some of the things I’ve been thinking about in the Scattered Thoughts section at the bottom of this newsletter.
In the Media
It’s been a crazy time in world affairs, which has made the work that I do more relevant to the public sphere than it has been in a while. I try to limit my media engagement to areas where I have written or taught a lot already. In this era when so many people are questioning the value of ‘expertise,’ the last thing I want to do is speak on a topic that I don’t know enough about and embarrass myself and/or my institution.
Over the last three months, I spoke with reporters from G4Media.ro (Romania), The China Daily, and La Vanguardia (Barcelona) about the state of Canada-US relations. I was quoted twice in the Toronto Star about the possibility of Canada becoming part of the United States and twice in Newsweek about the implications of Prime Minister Trudeau’s resignation for Canada-US relations. I spoke to CTV News, La Presse, and The Globe and Mail about similar issues. I was interviewed by The Hill Times about Canada’s hosting of the upcoming G-7 summit. I was quoted in The Hub in the aftermath of President Trump’s inauguration. My foreign policy lecture at the University of Ottawa’s Centre for International Policy Studies was covered by Politico and I was quoted in a follow-up article about Canada-US relations.
Presentations and Speeches in the Community
There could hardly be a better time to have released a book about the history of Canadian foreign policy (soft cover here; e-book at a discount here), and I am promoting it as often as possible. Over the last three months, I spoke to the Toronto Branch of the Canadian International Council and, separately, to the University of Ottawa’s Centre for International Policy Studies about the state of Canadian foreign policy. I spoke, separately, to the Markham and Oakville campuses of the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies University Lecture Series about Canada-US relations. I spoke about the history of Canadian foreign policy on the Global Exchange Podcast (full podcast) and on the Battle Rhythm Podcast (at minute 37). I spoke to a Queen’s University MBA class about Canadian defence policy. I appeared on a panel hosted by Young Professionals in Foreign Policy Toronto about the future of Canada-US relations. And I testified, along with Vincent Rigby, before the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) about our research on the office of the National Security and Intelligence Advisor. We’re in a bit of a race with NSICOP to see who will complete their study first - which helps explain why I’ve put off most of my other potential writing commitments for now.
Upcoming Talks
In addition to my usual variety of talks in and around the Greater Toronto Area, the wonderfully helpful and resourceful Chris Kilford, who sits on the Canadian International Council’s (CIC’s) Board of Directors, has helped to arrange a small book tour of CIC branches for Canada First, Not Canada Alone. I’ll be in Saskatoon later this week, Nipissing next week, Thunder Bay, Whitehorse, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Nanaimo, Victoria, and Prince George all before the end of April. I’ll also be speaking to the Sheridan Probus Club about Canadian foreign policy, the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies Vancouver Branch about Canada in an increasingly unstable world order, and Third Age Learning - York Region and the Esso Annuitant Club - Toronto North (separately) about Canada-US relations. If you, or your organization, is looking for a speaker, you can contact me here. You can find a list of the topics I speak about most often here.
What I’ve been Reading
I made a point of reading Michelle D. Miller’s A Teacher’s Guide to Learning Student Names over the winter break. Miller does some excellent work on teaching and learning and I agree with her completely that one of the most important things we can do in the classroom to foster a positive student experience is to learn everyone’s name as quickly as possible. Although most of what she is saying in the book was not new to me, she did make one suggestion that I took to heart. Particularly at the beginning of a class or program, when we typically have folks introduce themselves, it makes much more sense to have people introduce one another. When you are introducing yourself, you don’t tend to listen carefully to other people’s introductions because you are too busy thinking about what you are going to say. (This is especially true if you are not speaking in your first language.) When you introduce someone else, you don’t have to worry about yourself. At the very least, you learn one other person’s name and, hopefully, you learn many more.
I also read Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by US Vice-President J.D. Vance. I found it thoughtful, nuanced, and nothing like the Vance that I have seen on television in recent weeks and months. I don’t know who the real J.D. Vance is, but I much prefer the one from Hillbilly Elegy.
Scattered Thoughts
Cutting foreign aid to pay for more national defence is a terrible idea, whether it’s in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, or anyone else. International assistance is not charity - administered properly, it is a partnership that enables the recipient country to lift itself out of poverty on a sustainable basis. The citizens of that country become potential customers for Canadian goods and service providers, among other things. It makes no sense to me to argue that Canada must diversify its trading relationships but at the same time to stop investing in potential customers. Sure, parts of our foreign aid program aren’t working - so fix them, reallocate the funds to more promising projects, but don’t eliminate one of the few ways that this country makes an impression outside of North America. I would like to write more about this if I can find the time.
As much as I am uncomfortable with diplomatic appointments from outside of the Canadian public service, if Pierre Poilievre becomes prime minister, he might seriously consider offering the job of Canada’s Ambassador to Ukraine to Chrystia Freeland. The people of Ukraine need to know that, in spite of wavering support in the United States, Canada stands firmly behind them. Unlike most political appointments, Freeland has actually worked in Global Affairs Canada and her passion for Ukraine is unmistakable.
People who oppose responding to US tariffs with Canadian counter-tariffs often suggest that you don’t cut off your nose to spite your face. Counter-tariffs will be paid by Canadians, and will hurt our economy. I agree with this argument in principal, except - to follow the analogy - when your adversary has an extraordinarily strong fear of blood. In such cases, there is real value in nicking your face in a manner that causes as much bleeding as possible without doing any permanent damage in the hopes that the sight of blood causes your adversary to back off.
Although the world order as we know it is under extreme threat right now, I will not accept that it is truly over unless or until I see countries like Japan, South Korea, and Poland attempting to procure nuclear weapons. For now, it seems to me that the order that has served Canadian interests so well for the last 80 years has not quite buckled.
It’s probably best to leave this newsletter on that somewhat hopeful note.