Michelle Rempel Garner: On tariffs, there’s no “Team Canada” without Parliament

The looming threat of deep U.S. tariffs against Canada must be taken seriously.

If the Americans follow through with their suggestion of a 25% tariff, it would have a meteor-grade destructive impact on the entire Canadian economy. And so, it should go without saying that addressing this challenge demands strong leadership capable of uniting Canada’s regional interests, in addition to passing measures to address irritants that the Americans have identified (such as border security measures), in order to craft a response that avoids economic catastrophe.

Enter Canada’s flaccid, scandal-plagued, self-interested and mandate-less federal Liberal government.

In a moment where lame-duck Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could have proven all his critics wrong and united the country in a moment of crisis, his actions suggest he is hell-bent on doing the opposite. By proroguing (shuttering) Parliament to avoid a general election, failing to pass border security measures, tacitly encouraging provincial infighting, and framing of dissent against his actions as disloyalty towards the country, he’s both poured gasoline on the tariff issue and cemented his reputation as a narcissistic dilettante incapable of putting the national interest above partisan politics.

And so it’s through that lens that Trudeau’s (and Liberal leadership front-runners Mark Carney and Chrystia Freeland) “Team Canada” narrative must be seen for the farce that it is: a imprudent attempt at constructing a nuclear-grade divisive political channel changer that sidelines the very institutions designed to foster Canadian unity.

Case in point: the Trump administration has claimed that one of their primary reasons for raising the spectre of deep tariffs with Canada is the federal Liberal’s inability to secure the Canada/U.S. border against a variety of threats, including the smuggling of fentanyl. Before Parliament rose last year, the Liberals proposed $1.3 billion in new border security funding accompanied by new legislative measures that were meant to allay these concerns.

But when Trudeau prorogued Parliament to announce his intent to resign and hold a Liberal leadership race, these proposals died on the Parliamentary order paper. So as long as Parliament isn’t sitting, it’s hard for the Liberals to claim to the Americans that Canada has taken any measurable action to address one of their major concerns. Parliamentarians should have been meeting over the past several to understand if these measures were sufficient enough to avoid tariffs, and if they were, to pass them on an expedited basis.

Instead, this week the Liberals held an (undoubtedly pricey) retreat at the posh Château Montebello, where Trudeau trotted out a so-called “Prime Minister’s Council on Canada-U.S. Relations.” Stacked with figures tied to major corporations and Liberal-friendly circles, this group is no substitute for elected officials representing Canadians’ diverse interests, and is incapable of forcing answers out of the government or passing measures to address American concerns with the border.

Unsurprisingly, the retreat yielded little beyond platitudes and staged optics, capped by a meandering press conference that underscored the government’s lack of a cohesive strategy. That none of the members of this council - nor any Liberal leadership candidate - have publicly recommended to the Prime Minister that Parliament should be reconvened is telling. 

Equally as concerning is that it seems like just about everyone in Ottawa - including legacy media reporters - seem content to parrot Trudeau’s “Team Canada” line without giving voice to what such an approach should actually entail. Ironically, the “Team Canada” nomenclature was popularized during the 1990s under Jean Chrétien’s Liberal government, which used the term to describe multi-partisan trade missions aimed at bolstering Canada’s global economic presence. Those missions worked because they were genuinely collaborative, involving provincial leaders, business representatives, and yes, opposition MPs who were afforded the platform of an operative Parliament to scrutinize decisions, voice concerns, and pass measures to achieve trade objectives.

Fast forward to today. An endless amount of questions about the tariff crisis remain unanswered:

• Did the Liberals propose a border security plan to the Americans?
  
  
• How are they going to implement it with Parliament being closed?
  
  
• Are there other irritants or posture changes on the part of the Americans that have precipitated the possibility of retaliatory tariffs, or was the Liberal’s response vis a vis the border not deemed sufficient?
  
  
• What criteria are they using to select retaliatory tariffs?
  
  
• How have they determined if these measures will actually pressure the Americans?
  
  
• What impact will they have on Canadians’ cost of living, jobs, and industry competitiveness?
  
  
• Who are the Liberals talking to and getting their information from?
  
  
• Does the federal treasury have the wherewithal to back any of these decisions?

Given their dismal track record and their party’s current chaos, it’s unlikely the Liberals have solid answers to any of these issues. That’s exactly why Parliament must step in—to demand them. So it’s utterly preposterous for the Liberals to claim they are leading a “Team Canada” approach when they’re not even capable of interacting with Canadian Parliamentarians, particularly to pass border measures that the Americans have signaled are integral to avoiding the imposition of tariffs.

By refusing to recall Parliament to get this work done, one thing is clear. Trudeau, Freeland, Carney and the entire Liberal caucus are focused on thing right now, and it’s Team Liberal, not Team Canada. 

And that selfishness and irresponsibility is the antithesis of what it means to be Canadian. For shame.