Loaded for Bear: ‘Elbows up’ — how Canada approaches trade and diplomatic wars with the Trump White House

As a Canadian who has lived for many years in South Africa, I have grown accustomed to a few stereotypes. 

One is that we are generally nice people who are not easily riled, and so polite that we end many sentences with a questioning “eh” as if we want to avoid confrontation even when discussing the weather. 

“Looks like it’s going to rain, eh,” would be a typical example on this front.

The Maple Leaf is our national emblem and, well, it’s a leaf – it does not get more inoffensive than that. And our national animal is the mild-mannered beaver while the national bird is the harmless Canada jay.

But a couple of things can get us riled up.

One is being mistaken for Americans. In my case, whenever that happens in South Africa – “which part of the States are you from?” – my answer is invariably that I’m a “Snow Mexican.”

Being threatened with annexation by a far-right and boorish US politician who has also decided to start a pointless trade war that threatens Canadian jobs can also get us steamed up.

And so, as Canada/US relations have soured in recent weeks to freezing levels, it seems appropriate that Canada has looked to the ice for a battle cry taken from our national sport – hockey.

“Elbows up” is the cry and it echoes one Gordie Howe, a late great player who was known as “Mr. Hockey”.

Howe was modest, polite and had a grandfatherly manner off the ice. But when hockey was being played, he was rough even by the rough standards of the sport.

“If a guy slashed me, I’d grab his stick, pull him up alongside me and elbow him in the head,” Howe once said.

So Canada has now embraced “elbows up” as it steels for what could be a long and drawn-out political and economic confrontation with its southern neighbour.