Dear ABMInsider,
It’s two days after the Great Tariff Bluff and I’m still mentally hungover without having had the good time to justify it.
Weeks of aggravation and panicked negotiation, only to be teased with a last-minute 30-day bait and switch. First it’s about the war on drugs and illegal migrants entering the U.S. from Canada. Now it’s supposedly about the economy. But let’s be frank: what it’s really about is a power-tripping despot with dreams of global domination.
As he has said himself in media interviews and on his Truth Social propaganda platform, he really does appear to believe (some seriously DELUSIONAL overcompensation going on here) that Canada would gratefully drop on bended knee to fulfill his dreams of continental imperialism. First he’ll take North America, then he’ll take the world. As if.
Sure, it’s tempting to dismiss him as Donald Dumb, the Great Quack, but that’s not giving the devil his due. He’s crazy all right—crazy like a fox. But the fox just poked the Canadian bear and I, for one, have never been happier.
If there’s one thing this intentional chaos has done, it has demonstrated just how complacent and vulnerable Canadians have allowed ourselves to become. We’ve been so proud of having the longest undefended border in the world… even though illegal drugs and guns have been pouring into our country from the U.S. for years, fueling our opioid crisis and exacerbating violent crime. With friends like that, who needs enemies?
So, the fact that we’re going to increase border security? Hell yeah, I’m all in on protecting ourselves from the garbage that’s been leaking into Canada. Whether it comes in by land, sea or air, the smuggled contraband that’s been polluting our country has to stop.
While we’re doing that, I’m proud to see we’re filling some of our economic holes as well. Canadians have been chasing the lowest-cost denominator for decades, whether that was outsourcing manufacturing for foreign benefit or flocking to Florida outlet malls or, more lately, shopping TEMU et al, we are finally, FINALLY, realizing the cost of sending billions of Canadian dollars anywhere but home. You see it in the gutted malls and shuttered store fronts, in the empty factories and declining production.
It took the 47th president to shake our complacency and get us angry enough to appreciate Canadian entrepreneurial activity and ingenuity, and to show that appreciation in the most meaningful way possible: with our wallets.
I know we will continue to have some form of trading relationship with the United States, and that can be a good thing. But it can’t be at the cost of Canadian business. To paraphrase He Who Shall Not Be Named, FAIRNESS FOR ALL is a two-way street.
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Dawn Chafe Proud co-owner of Atlantic Canada’s business magazine By Atlantic Canadians, about Atlantic Canadians, for Atlantic Canadians dchafe@atlanticbusinessmagazine.ca |
