It’s 2025. Donald Trump is president. And he is insisting that Canada is for sale. It feels disorienting, even existential, to watch a trade war escalate and to hear an American president vow to make Canada “the 51st state.” Amid this disorientation, there is an urgent question: how do we meet the moment?

CBC host Elamin Abdelmahmoud edited Elbows Up!, a collection of essays and reflections by leading cultural figures speaking candidly on America, on Canada, and on the malleable contours of a national narrative still taking hold.

Come hear Elamin and two contributors (to be revealed soon) discuss this pivotal moment in history, how we got here, and how we walk together into an uncertain future.

Elamin Abdelmahmoud is the host CBC Radio's pop culture show Commotion. He was a founding co-host of the CBC Politics podcast Party Lines, and he is a past contributor to The National’s At Issue panel. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, the Globe and Mail, and others. Elamin is also the author of the bestselling memoir, Son of Elsewhere. 

Elbows Up! On Canadian Resistance