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So, who is looking out for Canada now? We hear a lot of words, yet it appears that even a diminishing of perceived worry over climate change and deforestation in comparison to our country’s slowing economy, housing, security, migration and the ways we can defend ourselves through collaboration with friendly neighbours remains unaddressed.

As always, the USA has plans to protect the Western Hemisphere one way or another for a variety of reasons. The idea that Canada could possibly ever lessen our ties with the USA is beyond illogical. Our joint engagement for both security and prosperity are necessary in a rapidly dangerous and changing world. We are integrated with the USA in a variety of ways, but whose side are we really on?

While we have a small population comparatively to the size of our country, we share the longest unsecured friendly border and trade a wide variety of raw materials with the USA, including metals and minerals in exchange for our security. In the face of any conflict, we are, without question, reliant on the USA for both safety and defence. Recently, that seems to have been forgotten and, at times, shamefully buried in negative commentary about our USA neighbours on various world stages and in our news sources.

The utmost importance of our relationship with the USA lies in our ability to fall under their safety umbrella, while knowing that despite all the rhetoric, they are our best chance for safety against unfriendly adversaries. However, this does not mean we should neglect our committed five per cent contribution to our own safety.

What seemed to have gone unnoticed by us was that Venezuela has been borrowing billions of dollars from China to cover their plummeting oil production under Maduro, who also was being supplied armaments from Iran. Venezuela, in turn, transformed into a huge base of operations for Iran armaments, drug trafficking and money laundering. None of this escaped the watchful eyes of President Trump and his defense team. Particularly when it appeared the drug trade was now flowing through Venezuela while the USA was preoccupied, failing to notice North America was being surrounded by enemies from the south.

Click Here to Read My Full Opinion Column in Business in Calgary Magazine

Shane Wenzel

Shane is the President & CEO of the Shane Homes Group of Companies and the namesake. Shane's responsibilities include strategic direction for the companies, policy advice for the building industry through BILD Calgary, and political involvement through the Alberta Enterprise Group on the economy, making him an industry leader in his field. Shane's sales and marketing background comes from growing up with two entrepreneurial parents, Cal and Edith, and participating in a business advisory group. On the personal side, Shane considers himself a bit of a "tech junky" and social media influencer on various platforms. He's also proudly apart of the LGBTQ community.