Maclean's

Canada's national magazine covering current affairs, politics, culture trends, ideas and personalities.

Maclean’s

EDITOR’S NOTE • IN THIS ISSUE OF MACLEAN’S

COMMENTS • READERS WEIGH IN

FINANCIAL COOPERATION: How a Century - Old Model Is More Relevant than Ever • As Desjardins marks 125 years, president and CEO Guy Cormier reflects on the credit union’s origins, its impact for Canadians and why the co - operative model remains powerful in thday’s economy

THE INTERVIEW • Diana Matheson, Olympic soccer star and Northern Super League founder, is giving Canadian women a pro league of their own

Harvest Water From Fog

My Weekend at Sad Camp • After my mother’s death, I signed up for a grief retreat in the forests of California. It upended everything I knew about mourning—and healing.

The New Nationalism

Never For Sale • This country has spent 250 years fighting American aggression. How resistance and resilience became the heart of Canada’s national identity.

HOW TO FIGHT BACK • Trump’s tariff war was a wake-up call for Canada to abandon its gentle complacency and take some big swings. Here are eight gutsy, radical ideas to secure the nation’s future.

Pour Money Into the Military • The armed forces need a radical influx of cash to bring in more soldiers, buy new equipment and defend Canada from global threats

Make Canada a Shipping Superpower • Our ports, highways and rail routes need a 21st-century makeover

Find New Trading Partners • The U.S. isn’t the only customer in town. Countries like India, Japan and South Korea are clamouring for Canadian goods.

Keep Immigration Coming • To compete on the world stage, Canada needs more Canadians—and more small cities to house them

Create a Cross-Country Power Grid • For decades, we’ve prioritized electrical trade with the U.S. It’s time to reduce our dependence on them.

Hold on to Canada’s IP • Canada’s future won’t be built with bricks. It will be built with ideas.

Keep Critical Minerals in Canada • Canada is rich in natural resources. There’s no reason it can't become a processing and manufacturing powerhouse too.

Build New East-West Oil Pipelines • Oil is Canada’s superpower in the global energy economy. Think of what turbo-charging production could do.

A DIVIDED CITY • In Windsor, Ontario, lives, careers and family ties have transcended the Canada-U.S. border for generations. Today, Trump’s trade war is an existential threat for Canada’s most American city.

Canada’s Not For Sale

FACES OF THE TRADE WAR • Donald Trump’s trade war is an existential threat for Canada’s small and medium-sized businesses. Every year, they export more than $200 billion worth of goods to the United States and import nearly $150 billion worth—including equipment, food, construction materials and other products they need to stay afloat. Now, as businesses contend with tariff-induced inflation, suppliers are disappearing, prices are skyrocketing and profit margins are shrinking or vanishing altogether. That puts small-business owners on the frontlines of the trade war. Here, five of them describe their hopes, fears and game plans as they navigate U.S. tariffs, Canadian countermeasures and an economic climate of unprecedented uncertainty.

“Each can could be 10 cents more, which would cost us nearly $1 million”

“I thought our entire business model was doomed”

“I didn’t feel safe travelling to the U.S. anymore”

“Reading the news made my chest tighten. My doctor told me I was close to a heart attack.”

“When Trump first announced tariffs, I thought, You must be kidding. All our products would be affected.”

MY ADVENTURES WITH CANADIAN BOOKS • I left Russia as the country slid into...