He said those Canadians could be targeted by propaganda campaigns that sell American citizenship as the answer to their economic woes.
"And there will be individuals within Canada who could potentially be co-opted to push that narrative forward," said Bisson.
Trump administration officials have given numerous rationales for the tariffs against Canada, but Trump himself has said that he wants to use
economic force to join Canada to the U.S. On Tuesday morning, he again said Canada could
only avoid economic ruin through annexation.
"He intends clearly to try and destabilize our economy," said Elcock. "The reality is that if Canada is really impoverished, people may start to think about it. That's always the possibility — that not all Canadians are are going to be willing to endure economic deprivation. And so some may start to think about it as time goes along."