Elbows Up Canada

 

Ever since the Americans have elected their wackjob, extortionist, President Trump, Canada has had to deal with his threats, reneging of agreements, and bullying. Fortunately we have elected a Prime Minister who is the exact opposite in terms of temperment, intelligence, and respectful standing with the rest of the world. And while Carney charts a badly needed diversification path for our country, the rest of us also need to get serious about how we can do our part to reduce our reliance on the U.S.

The most obvious thing we can do is boycott American products and buy Canadian or other country brands instead. There is no shortage of beer, wine, and hard liquor to choose from around the world and they are all, without a doubt, of much better quality. The same goes for food, whatever we don't produce ourselves (and we should be doing even more) we can buy fresh fruits and vegetables from Mexico and the rest of Latin America. In fact there is probably nothing we need that we can't get from somewhere else that's better and cheaper. Appliances and electronics already come from Asia, the same for clothing and other textiles, and the list goes on.

The second thing we can do is avoid visiting the U.S. When it comes to travel it's more than past time for Canadians to start exploring their own country. We have sights and scenery that are just as magnificent as anything in the U.S. and the exchange rate is fantastic. If we want more sunshine, Mexico or the Caribbean are right on our doorstep, and for something completely different there is always Europe or Asia. It's also time for all the Snowbirds to put on an extra sweater and say goodbye to spending all their time and money in the U.S.

Contrary to Trump's assertion there is nothing the U.S. needs from Canada there are at least two essential products we supply. Their farmers wouldn't be able to survive without fertilizer and we supply 85% of the magic ingredient in fertilizer which is potash. Crude oil is another product that has become increasingly important to the U.S. refineries who until now have been able to source it at a discount because we didn't have enough pipeline capacity to ship it elsewhere. These are two products which should have an export tax on them to make them more expensive for Americans and provide us with a revenue stream to offset their own tariffs. Better still we should be refining the oil ourselves and building fertilizer plants instead of exporting the raw material.

But the biggest reset we need to work on is our trading relationship with China which goes all the way back to our dumb arrest of the Huawei executive that led to the two Michaels incarceration. Stupidly we sided with the U.S. and we've done it again by putting a 100% tariff on Chinese automobiles (the cheapest and most advanced electric vehicles in the world) to show support for the U.S. auto industry and to try and protect our own auto workers. Not surprisingly China then put a 100% tariff on our canola which effectively throws all our farmers under the bus.

Yes the Canadian auto industry is an important contributor to the economy but when you compare it to the farming industry it's a different story. Instead of trying to be part of a diminishing U.S. auto industry maybe we should be trying to assemble Chinese cars. Or better still putting skilled tradespeople to work in an expanding nuclear power industry that is facing a shortage of millwrights, electricians, boilermakers, pipefitters, welders, sheet metal workers, and control technicians amongst others.

And while the Americans are putting tariffs on our steel exports maybe this is the time to keep it in-house for use in pipelines, high-speed railways and other neglected projects that would boost our productivity. We could also use it for all the tanks, planes, and ships we are supposed to start building as part of our expanded defense budget.

With regards to defense spending the first thing we have to do is cancel the planned order for the American F-35 fighter aircraft and buy the rights to the Saab Gripen which we can manufacture here in Canada. The same goes for all munitions, guns, and tanks, jeeps, and other combat vehicles we could easily build in our neglected auto plants. And now that we've got our naval shipyards back in production after years of neglect there is no reason we can't speed up construction of all the ice-breakers and other ships and support vessels we need. We used to be world leaders in aircraft and shipbuilding capabilities and now the stars are aligning for us to get back in the game and restore our reputation.

And finally there is Canada's North. Here we have the most to gain by investing in ourselves. In addition to military bases we need more roads, upgraded airports, and infrastructure investments in the communities already established. There are also tremendous resources waiting to be extracted including oil & gas, critical minerals of nickel, copper, zinc, and cobalt, deposits of iron ore, coal and uranium, and of course gold. It's almost overwhelming how much there is to do and how much potential this country has but there's never been a better time to roll up our collective sleeves and get our elbows up.