I think this is less a question of Canada being afraid of America and more a question of the US/Canadian working class being terrified of a bunch of hotheads feeding the rest of us into a military meatgrinder to assuage their bloated egos.
To paraphrase the legendary boxer Mohammad Ali when he refused enlistment to the Vietnam War, "I Ain't Got No Quarrel With Them Canadian Mounted Police".
I mean, the US military absolutely can and will roflstomp traditional governments and heirarchies. Both the Taliban (2001) Saddam's gov't were steamrolled. The followup of holding territory and "winning hearts and minds" is where they fall on their face.
And this threat really seems to be for the Canadian government and 'elite' rather than the people.
You didn't get the memo? The US ran from Afghanistan with it's tail between it's legs, while the Taliban rules there and is now literally untouchable. The US's "steamrolling" isn't as impressive as you believe it to be.
“winning hearts and minds”
The US can't even win "hearts & minds" in Bumfucksville, Arizona any more.
The Taliban did return, but I seriously doubt that there was much, if any, continuity of leadership between the two governments. We (the Allied Powers) destroyed Nazi Germany, but their ideological descendents still managed to fester and erupt some 80 years later.
The point still holds that the threat made here is not against the common Canadian, but instead to the leadership that would be targeted.
As for your point on Arizona, I'm having trouble parsing it. Do you mean to say that the residents do not support the US government? US adventurism? The Democratic/Republican Party?
but their ideological descendents still managed to fester
That's because the US and their liberal European collaborators went out of their way to preserve fascism in Europe. The US tried to destroy the Taliban - and now the Taliban is essentially untouchable (which they most definitely weren't before). You get a lot of political credibility on your home turf for defeating the US - just ask Vietnam.
I’m having trouble parsing it.
The whole reason there is a fascist resurgence is because liberalism has been exposed as a pack of lies. That started even before the 2008 recession, and now one of liberalism's holiest cows - Zionism - is collapsing right before everyone's eyes.
No more carrot for the US - now there will only be the stick. "Hearts & Minds" had absolutely nothing to do with the brown people they were dropping napalm and willy pete on - the target of "Hearts & Minds" was always the people doing the dropping.