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HALIFAX — Justice Minister Sean Fraser hammered home the message of strength through global unity and respect at the Halifax International Security Forum.
Speaking at a panel Sunday morning, Fraser talked around the issue of U.S. president Donald Trump, without ever naming him directly.
Fraser referenced the controversy of Trump referring to Canada as the “51st State” saying those types of comments made many Canadians of all political parties angry.
Fraser went on to lament the “disruption to a long-standing trading relationship” between the two countries, as something that’s causing distress on both sides of the border.
“But you should be careful not to blow up a relationship that has existed for the entirety of our history,” Fraser cautioned. “If the short-term political interest is reactionary, in order to speak to a narrow slice of the electorate to serve your own political interests, you do damage in the long term.”
When appealing to a small swath of voters with reactionary politics, Fraser said, you set the stage for future populist leaders who “will be empowered by an erosion of our norms and rights today.”
Fraser sat on the panel alongside Rushan Abbas, the executive director for the Campaign for Uyghurs, and Colombia’s Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez.
Also on the panel was the U.S. Senator for North Dakota, Kevin Cramer.
The panel opened with a video compilation of politicians and public figures and the names that Trump has called them over the years. Images of Hillary Clinton with the words “nasty woman” and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy with the caption “dictator” flashed on screen.
Cramer opened up his comments responding to the video, calling it “indecent,” and saying that “this has become an absolute ‘throw every arrow you can at Donald Trump while we feel entitled to everything he has.’ And that’s not a great way to build friendships.”
Cramer, a Republican, went on to say that words do matter. But he implied the framing of the video was not a fair look at the political situation in the U.S.
“What was missing from that video were things like a weekly revelation of new subpoenas issued by the previous administration on members of Congress on their phone records simply because they were Republican. That’s a problem. That’s indecent.”
The panellists responded to questions about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the treatment of Uyghurs in China, and terrorism in Nigeria.
On the topic of Nigeria, Cramer said that he has openly disagreed with President Trump on the cuts to U.S. AID funding.
“Globally speaking, aid to friends and would-be friends, is a bargain compared to munitions. And I just think we need to be more directly engaged in your challenges.”
The panel, titled “Democracies Demand Decency,” centred on the idea of political politeness, and the ways in which decency has been eroded in recent years.
“In today’s world, we too often treat people that we disagree with as our opponents and enemies rather than our friends and neighbours,” Fraser said. “We are constantly fed, through algorithms, perspectives that seek to confirm our biases rather than challenge our perspectives.”
Part of the solution to this issue, Fraser said, is strengthening independent media and the courts, as they are institutions able to help citizens understand the issues.
“If we can’t agree on what facts are real, we have no hope to sort through, collectively, very challenging subjects.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 23, 2025.
Emily Baron Cadloff, The Canadian Press
