‘Elbows up’ rallying cry evokes memories of Mr. Hockey [Video]

When Canadian actor and comedian Mike Myers, clad in a “Canada is not for sale” T-shirt, twice mouthed the words “elbows up” and tapped his own left elbow on Saturday Night Live last weekend, he was sending a not-so-subtle signal to his compatriots north of the border: Get ready for a fight.

Facing punishing tariffs on Canadian exports and repeated jibes from U.S. President Donald Trump about their country becoming the 51st state, Canadians were understandably riled. “Elbows up” became the rallying cry they’d been looking for.

Weeks earlier, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew had warned Canada “can’t be a punching bag, and we have to get our elbows up” in the face of threatened tariffs.

At protests across the country this week, including one on Tuesday outside the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, Canadians chanted the slogan and scrawled it across their placards. #ElbowsUp appeared all over social media, as both a call to arms and a warning …