Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Mark Carney and Wilbur Turner, Kelowna, BC February 2025 “In a crisis, plan beats no plan. We have a plan for Canada that is going to deliver the strongest economy and ride out the Americans until they come back to the table,” Mark Carney said during a leadership campaign stop in Kelowna on February 12, 2025.  Watching the erratic behaviour of the U.S. president toward Canada since then, I keep coming back to those words I heard Carney speak that day when I met him in Kelowna. When the United States imposed sweeping tariffs on Canadian goods in 2025, the political temptation would have been to respond to every provocation coming out of Washington. President Donald Trump repeatedly framed the trade dispute as leverage, openly speculating that Canada would eventually fold or be better off as a U.S. state. Mark Carney took a different approach. Rather than chasing every headline or reacting to each rhetorical escalation, his government returned to a consistent message. We are going to...

Amid the ongoing trade war with the United States, Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced a slate of new measures to help and protect the steel and lumber industries. Among the new measures is further limiting foreign steel imports from countries without a free trade agreement with Canada — from 50 to 20 per cent of 2024 levels — a measure largely aimed at reducing Chinese steel imports. Canada had already reduced those quotas in July, from 100 per cent to 50 per cent, and has imposed a 25 per cent surtax on steel and aluminum goods that originate from China, with the latter being Canada’s second-largest source of steel imports. Carney made the announcement in Ottawa on Wednesday, as trade talks with the U.S. remain stalled after the fallout over Ontario’s anti-tariff ad last month ... CLICK HERE for the full story  

There are easy solutions for the government to both raise revenue and rein in spending in a way that is fair and beneficial for Canadians, and that doesn’t compromise services  Prime Minister Mark Carney is about to break a campaign promise made just a few months ago that will hurt Canadians in the middle of Donald Trump’s trade war. During the federal election, the Liberal Party platform in April clearly stated its commitment to “capping, not cutting, public service employment.” Fast forward to Carney’s first budget, and the federal government is ready to slash public service jobs at a rate not seen in decades when we should be reinforcing its ranks to tackle this economic crisis. For Canada’s public servants, this is not new. Public servants are used to being scapegoated as the source of government overspending or used as a bargaining chip to appease fiscal hawks. Justin Trudeau’s Liberals resorted to arbitrary cuts to the public service to win back public support as it waxed a...

Prime Minister Mark Carney is sitting down with his cabinet to chart out the government's fall plan as he prepares to face off against Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre for the first time in the House of Commons amid an unresolved trade war with the United States. Carney's two days of talks in the Greater Toronto Area start Wednesday with plans to focus on helping industries hit hard by Trump's tariffs, building affordable homes, speeding up big infrastructure projects, spending more on defence and combating crime. David Coletto, CEO and founder of Abacus Data, said he's seeing evidence that the public's focus on U.S. President Donald Trump is starting to subside, putting pressure on Carney's government to answer how it plans to tackle other problems ... CLICK HERE for the full story

After two days of strategizing on how to respond to the trade war U.S. President Donald Trump is waging against this country, Canada's premiers ended their summit in Huntsville, Ont., Wednesday focused on domestic issues like violent crime, drug trafficking and health care. At the closing news conference of the Council of the Federation, the premiers insisted those issues are not only still on the agenda, but have actually been easier to tackle because they have become so united by the existential crisis facing the country. "We have to ensure that we are fixing the plane while it's flying. And not only are we gonna do it, but when it's done, it's going to be a project that all Canadians can be proud of," BC Premier David Eby said ... CLICK HERE for the full story

The first post-election session of the British Columbia Legislature closes May 29. Premier David Eby’s NDP took advantage of Donald Trump’s tariffs to divert attention from the record $10 billion deficit budget. The governing party then used the trade war as an excuse to table legislation aimed at expanding the cabinet’s power. John Rustad, leader of the Conservative opposition, joins host Bob Mackin to look back and look ahead. Is Eby’s endgame to call an early election? CLICK HERE for the full podcast (30 minutes)

According to Statistics Canada’s latest Labour Force Survey (LFS), unemployment ratcheted up to 6.9% last month, matching a pre-pandemic high. Joblessness has returned to its level in November 2024, which was the highest since January 2017 (excluding the lockdown portions of the pandemic). Areas of the economy most exposed to American trade uncertainty are beginning to show signs of trouble, with workers of course bearing the brunt. For example, manufacturing and retail and wholesale trade registered the largest job losses in April. As the repercussions of United States President Donald Trump’s trade war continue to accumulate, Canadian workers are feeling the pinch. On a year-over-year basis, the number of unemployed people was up by 13.9%, or 189,000 workers. Moreover, among the jobless, long-term unemployment is growing ... CLICK HERE for the full story

New legislation, if passed, could allow the BC government to impose a transit tax on Alaska-bound trucks coming from Washington state; but it also gives government sweeping regulatory powers to respond to perceived tariff threats from the United States ... ... the bill states government may make a regulation under the act to “address challenges, or anticipated challenges, to British Columbia arising from the actions of a foreign jurisdiction” and to “support inter-provincial cooperation in reducing trade barriers within Canada.” But the bill allows for all these decisions to be made outside of the legislature ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Canada and the U.S. have entered day three of a tariff-driven trade war that threatens to undermine the two countries’ deeply linked economies and raise consumer costs. On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order instating 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian goods – with the exception of energy, which are tariffed at 10 per cent – came into effect. Canada since unveiled phase 1 of its response with its own 25 per cent tariffs on $30 billion in American imports. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Trump had a “heated” phone call yesterday, a source told CTV News. Trump offered to drop some tariffs if Canada backed off its countermeasures ... CLICK HERE for the full story

CTV News has the wrong headline. This isn't the U.S. provoking a trade war. This is Donald Trump and MAGA provoking a trade war. What I think about seeing that headline isn't that Trump and MAGA did this, but that so many Canadians truly never thought he'd go through with it. The number of people that told me it would never actually happen became so large I stopped counting. Now here we are. How long will it last? How devastating will this be? No one can give anyone else a good answer on that. I sure can't. This could come to an abrupt end in a few weeks or it could go on for years. Truly only the Americans can end this. Either Donald Trump ends this or he is removed from power and whoever takes over ends this. Certainly, negotiation can end this but that requires the Americans to follow through. No one is coming to our rescue either. Our European allies are mostly silent with a few former leaders saying the Trump is acting irrationally. Sit...

Canada’s punditry class is in overdrive analyzing President Trump’s tariff threats and other provocations toward the country. The prime minister’s gathering of corporate and union executives together with his advisory council is a welcome initiative, and so are his consultations with political leaders in Europe and Asia worried about the implications of U.S. tariffs on the global trade system. Ideally, Canada’s response will be with a unified voice, but lessons from other eras—Nixon’s devaluation of the U.S. dollar, the extreme protectionism of Congress in the 1980s, and Trump’s first term—will inform the timing and nature of countermeasures ... CLICK HERE for the full story

... Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday after speaking with Trump that the tariff threat has been paused for 30 days while Canada and the United States work together on plans to increase border safety and target organized crime. Eby said after the delay was announced that the uncertainty is especially hard on the forest industry. He said forestry companies aren’t sure how they should invest or if they should put money into their companies at all. Forest companies are left not knowing what to put their money in or how to invest, he said ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Donald Trump has said that he will impose 25% tariffs on Canada starting next week. There is a general expectation Canada will retaliate with tariffs of its own, on selected goods, in response. If this is the sum total of Canada’s response, it will not be enough. The economic impact of America’s tariffs on Canada will be devastating. The economic impact of similar tariffs by Canada on America will be relatively minor. We need to punch the bully in the nose, and to do that, we need to be far more aggressive in our thinking. To achieve a proportionate response, we need disproportionality ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Canada may find itself in a stronger position than the United States if a trade war breaks out between the two countries. Don’t take my word for that. That’s Paul Krugman speaking. You know, the distinguished professor of economics, winner of a Nobel prize in that field and for almost 24 years until late last year the New York Times’ widely respected economics columnist ... CLICK HERE for the full story

... If Trump’s tariffs are a bluff, Finlayson agrees with the B.C. government’s forecast of 1.5 per cent GDP growth in 2025. That is based on slightly improved global growth—which is good for commodity prices—and further interest rate cuts, which are good for real estate and construction. That all goes out the window if Trump puts tariffs on $600 billion worth of Canadian exports. “The Canadian economy will be catapulted into virtually an immediate recession, in my view,” Finlayson said ... CLICK HERE for the full story

On January 20, Donald Trump will assume office for his second (and final?) term as President of the United States. Even before his return to the White House, Trump has proposed policies that could pose significant risks to the Canadian economy, should they come to fruition. Canadians appear far from enthusiastic about a second Trump presidency, as recent polling data highlights widespread concerns about his potential impact on key issues affecting Canada. Let’s dive into the numbers ... CLICK HERE for the full story

We are told, ad nauseum, that the world is facing a climate crisis. To add to the hysteria, we are told that we are quickly reaching the point of no return. We are not doing enough, and not soon enough to prevent catastrophe. Now we are told that fires in the Amazon rain forest are an international crisis. G-7 leaders meeting in Paris pledged aid to Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – finding equal to about equal one day’s cost of the G-7 meeting. Why didn’t the G-7 leaders insist that the Amazon rainforest be declared a world heritage site under protection from damage? All four nations, who have parts of the rain forest in their territory, are signators to the world heritage conventions, and would then have an obligation to protect the portions in their jurisdiction. Aid offered to help protect a heritage site lacks the political hazards of not doing so.         The term “crisis” has become meaningless. The Intergove...