ROTHENBURGER – Waging my personal Cheezie war on Trump and his tariffs

THE TARIFFS ARE ON and so is my personal war against Trump’s America.

As of Tuesday, 25 per cent tariffs will come into effect on all Canadian goods, except for energy, which will be 10 per cent. So I will no longer be a customer of the U.S.

That’s just naïve, you might say. So I say, what are you going to do, just accept it? Curl up into the fetal position and take the beating without fighting back?

All across the country tonight (Feb. 1, 2025), province after province (except Alberta, but that’s another story) is lining up beside the federal government to fight back. As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a nationwide address, “This is Team Canada at its best.” I hereby sign up for the team.

Many say it won’t be easy to simply “buy Canadian” but I’m going to do my level best. It’s not just about the economy, or my own pocket book. It’s about standing up to the American bully. I’m willing to lose money doing it.

Donald Trump claims we’re letting too many criminals and too much fentanyl leak through our border into his precious land of the free. It’s BS. He knows it. We know it. He wants our water and our minerals and our Arctic and he thinks he can get his way by destroying us economically. He wants to control us.

I am, I suppose, what Trump might call a patriot, but certainly not an American one. So, I’ll do what I can to make sure he doesn’t win, and that means sending as little money to his side of the border as I possibly can.

It will take some homework. We’re told that fruit and vegetables will be hard because so much of our winter produce comes from California and elsewhere in the U.S. So, I’ll eat more fruit and veggies that comes frozen in a bag, or grown in our greenhouses, or I’ll buy it canned.

I’ve largely stopped buying dry cereals anyway but I’ll make sure to cut them out entirely unless I can find Canadian brands. Meat shouldn’t be a problem. Neither will milk, or things like honey, paper products, vitamins, pet food and tons of things like mustard, maple syrup, ketchup, bread, wine and whiskey, eggs, pickles, peanut butter (yes, we can grow peanuts in the Great White North). Thank goodness for Hawkins Cheezies made with genuine Canadian cheddar right here in Canada.

We make lots of our own clothing, dairy products, pop, frozen dinners, wood stoves, furniture, automobiles, paint and honey. When you think about it, it’s not as hard as the skeptics make out. Canadian companies abound and are ready and willing to supply us with what we need. Companies like Maple Leaf, McCain Foods, M&M, President’s Choice, Aylmer Soups, Tim Hortons (yeah, I’m aware of the argument about whether it’s actually Brazilian), Breton crackers (Dare), Urban Barn, Home Hardware, Lululemon, Canadian Tire, Schneider, Dad’s Cookies, Cineplex, Green Giant, Dollarama, Shoppers Drug Mart — name your favourite Canadian company.

Of course, some will argue it’s hard to even tell what’s Canadian and what’s not. Was the material created here, or purchased from somewhere else and manufactured here? Or did we grow it or make it here, and have it manufactured somewhere else? Is some of it Canadian or all of it?

Well, there are standards for that. A “Made in Canada” label means a product was made with at least 51 per cent Canadian material or content. “Product of Canada” means it’s 98 per cent Canadian. Check the labels carefully. Look for our flag. Still, there will be decisions that must be made, backed up with research.

And then there’s the whole “shop local” thing. If I do buy something online, it will be because it’s hard to get it in a Kamloops store. And I want to know whether the corporation that owns a store or a service is Canadian owned and operated.

Right here in Kamloops, we have more than 120 companies that manufacture and fabricate consumer goods. We make wine and great beer, grow produce and beef and lambs and eggs, build truck racks and doors and windows, and manufacture sportswear. The best guitars in the world are built in the Tournament Capital. Down the road in Kelowna, by the way, Little Creek makes excellent salad dressing.

Maybe it’s time to bring back the 100 Mile Diet. If we can’t buy a Canadian product, buy one that isn’t American, and buy it from a Canadian store. But it’s not all about food or even about the physical products we buy – as columnist David Charbonneau wrote this week, we can stop travelling to the U.S.

Tariffs? By all means. Let’s start with Elon Musk’s Tesla. That’s Chrystia Freeland’s idea and I like it. A 100% tariff.

No, it won’t be painless. If we’re willing to defend our country only if it doesn’t hurt, we don’t deserve to call ourselves Canadians. But though it won’t be without pain, it won’t be as stressful as a lot of the media are making it out to be.

Social media and Internet forums are lighting up with support for buying Canadian and standing up to Trump. There are plenty of websites, Facebook pages and other platforms promoting “how to’s” and telling the American president what to do with his tariffs. It’s a voyage of discovery about our nation. Along the way, we’ll learn a whole lot about our country and what it means to be a Canadian citizen. And you know what; it’s actually satisfying. Serious work, but rewarding.

This is truly a war. It’s not against our American friends and neighbours; it’s against Trump and his tariffs, and we can’t be in it halfway.

I know I have lots to learn. I know you’ll tell me I need to know more about the multi-national aspect of so many companies, and about where things come  from and where they end up.

But if we’re going to be skeptics and doubters about what we’re capable of, we’ve lost. But I’m going to do my level best to do my part in bringing back that proud phrase from years ago — “I am Canadian.”

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the Armchair Mayor opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.