Thoughts on BC Politics and More

... Carney’s problem isn’t so much that his government is trying to manage a conscious but limited decoupling from the US as much as that, in the process, they’ve refused to grapple with the White House’s depravity and have abandoned anything resembling an assertion of domestic sovereignty or self-respect.  In a latest test, the US ambassador to Canada has said that the government’s purchase of the full complement of American-made F-35 fighter jets must be part and parcel of restarting trade talks. In other words, he’s extorting us ... CLICK HERE for the full story

A lot of people in this country owe Doug Ford an apology. Not for the way he’s run the Ontario government over the past three terms generally, but rather for the Ronald Reagan ad that prompted a presidential hissy fit specifically. Yeah. Doug Ford is right and all the people carping at him are inevitably going to find themselves — dare I say it — on the wrong side of history. And by “all the people,” I mean Prime Minister Mark Carney especially, who made an ass of himself, and the entire country, by apologizing for the national sin of transparently running an ad featuring a former U.S. president’s own speech on trade to a U.S. audience. When the country took a flier on a new Liberal leader at the head of a loathed Liberal government, they did so under the banner of an “elbow’s up” message. I don’t think any of us meant to be jabbing those elbows into fellow Canadians’ eyes, and yet that seems to be the only assertive maneuver outward Carney has mustered since the polling stations close...

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday Canadian and American officials are currently "negotiating terms" of a deal on tariffs a day after he met with the U.S. president to try and bring the trade war to a close — and Canada will come out ahead when the two sides come to an agreement. Speaking in question period while facing pointed questions from the Opposition about what he accomplished out of his Oval Office sit-down with U.S. President Donald Trump, Carney said Canada already "has the best deal with the Americans" — most products are still being sold into the U.S. tariff-free despite Trump's trade action — and "we will get an even better deal." "We are still negotiating further gains in major sectors," Carney said, after he and the president had what he described as a "meeting of the minds" ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

A commentary by the director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax. As August 1 quietly slipped by, so did Canada’s last, best chance to avoid a sharp escalation in trade tensions with its most important economic partner. Unlike Mexico, which secured a temporary reprieve, Canada is now fully exposed to a 35% ­tariff imposed by the United States on a range of ­non-CUSMA-covered goods. For the Canadian agri-food sector — and for consumers from coast to coast — this is less a policy adjustment and more a gut punch ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

U.S. President Donald Trump's three-month pause on his sweeping global tariffs is set to expire in just a few days, unless he opts to give countries extra time to negotiate deals — as his advisers have suggested this weekend. Ahead of the deadline, some trade experts say Canada still faces big risks, despite avoiding that round of levies back in April ... CLICK HERE for the full story  

That was an intense six months for Canadian businesses, consumers, and policymakers alike. Not quite the shock and urgency of the pandemic, or the existential peril of the Global Financial Crisis. But it was right up there. The first half of the year exposed Canada’s economic vulnerabilities. It gave Prime Minister Mark Carney not only an election victory but a wide berth to pursue his promised economic transformation. And we may have even seen the Canada-U.S. relationship fundamentally altered. Yet the crisis Carney warned of—the greatest of our lifetimes—has not materialized, at least not economically. And it may never will ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

With a population of just over 8,000, the smelting and mining city of Trail may hold some leverage in helping Ottawa counter US president-elect Donald Trump’s threats to impose steep tariffs on Canadian imports ... “We don’t need anything they have,” Trump said ... ... “On critical minerals alone, we provide significant amounts and have the opportunity to provide much more,” including germanium. Teck Resources produces the critical mineral germanium, which is used in manufacturing electronics and fibre optics ... The critical mineral has recently been caught up in another of America’s trade disputes. In December, China added germanium, gallium and antimony to its list of minerals banned for export to the US ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Erin O’Toole has seen the Trudeau Liberals' playbook using trade to make domestic political points. He'd rather propose solutions ... ... What’s it going to take for Canada to be seen as credible and dependable, again, I ask. Applying Trump’s metrics, it’s the $100-billion-dollar question. O’Toole has a shopping list of issues ripe for more serious engagement with Trump’s administration. And curiously, the topics that bubble up in that Trump-Trudeau tete-de-tete over dinner (border security, energy, trade and the Arctic) are remarkably similar to O’Toole’s list ... CLICK HERE for the full story