It’s time to be as Canadian as you possibly can – Trump is just getting started
By Lethbridge Herald on March 4, 2025.
POINT OF VIEW – Editor Scott Sakatch
Al Franken, the great comedian and former U.S. senator, once observed about fellow Senator Ted Cruz: “The thing you have to realize about Ted Cruz is that I like Ted Cruz more than my other colleagues like Ted Cruz, and I hate Ted Cruz.”
Now personally, I can honestly say that I’ve never met an American I didn’t like. Granted, I’ve never met Ted Cruz, but you get the point. Recently my wife and I took a cruise out of Los Angeles, where we were surrounded by American passengers. Most of them were from California, Oregon or Washington state, but all of the ones we talked to were lovely people. Again, we didn’t talk to each of the 3,000 people on the ship but we did chat up enough to get a sense of what most of them were thinking.
Every one of the people we talked to, when they learned we were Canadian, had nothing but praise for our country. Some expressed horror over the way Donald Trump has treated our country since taking office less than two months ago. A lot of them talked abut their deep concern for the future of the United States. Some even went to so far as to say they wished they could move here. No one person mentioned anything about fentanyl or the border, or about how Canada was getting some sort of free ride from our friends to the south. Certainly none of them was spoiling for a fight.
When I recently posted about it on Facebook, a number of friends responded that they’d had the same experience in the U.S. in recent weeks. To a person, they all said they’d had friendly interactions with Americans; one even pointed out that a group of Americans they didn’t know even picked up the bill for their dinner.
How can this be? Every time we look at any media coverage, it’s all insults and taunts from Trump and his hangers-on. It seems he can’t let an hour go by without taking some sort of jab at Justin Trudeau, or making some sort of “joke” about Canada being the 51st state. And yet, whatever Trump’s reasoning (assuming he has any, which is a big assumption), he seems to be completely out of touch with what everyday Americans think about their neighbours to the north. It’s the equivalent of your brother suddenly hurling insults at you out of the blue during Thanksgiving dinner. With the tariffs that took effect today, you could actually extend the analogy to include a kick in the shins, or maybe even spitting in the face.
It’s easy to say Americans knew what they were getting when they voted The Tangerine Tantrum back into office. They had a clear choice to make and the majority, slim though it was (again), chose him over Kamala Harris. You could argue until you’re blue in the face about who was right and who was wrong, about Gaza, global warming, Biden’s age, how there were no good candidates, yada yada yada. But ultimately none of that changes the outcome, or the fact that we all have to deal with it.
To be honest (and I could be wrong), I believe a huge number of Americans simply didn’t vote in November because they were exhausted by the constant electioneering in their country, the constant negative media coverage and what they considered to be an impossible choice. Again, that’s all up for debate, but that’s the sense I got from people who talked to me about it. Yes, they have to deal with the consequences of their actions, but I believe many of them simply never expected to see Canadians hung out to dry like that. Even people who voted for Trump were probably surprised by it, though, to be fair, I didn’t actually encounter any who admitted to doing it. Many likely thought it was just “Trump being Trump” and that nothing would actually come of it.
Unfortunately, if there’s one thing I’m sure of after the past six weeks, Trump is just getting started, God help us all.
Now, as we face the uncertainty of our new economic reality here in Canada, Americans are likely to see even more of an impact, especially in the short term. Their costs are about to go up significantly, at a time when many people can barely afford life as it is. Simultaneously, markets are going to be affected and all of us — on both sides of the border — are going to see the value of our retirement investments take a rollercoaster ride.
So what’s my point? I’m asking everyone to be their best selves and resist the urge to be angry at Americans for what’s about to happen. We at least can take solace in the fact that we’re still, at heart, the great nation we’ve always been and, whatever you may think of our political leaders, we’re not at the whim of a toddler with a gun the way Americans are. I ask you to show compassion and remember the other 200-some-odd-year relationship, and recognize that this, too, shall pass.
In short, I’m asking everyone to be as Canadian as they possibly can right now. We’re going to need it.
13-12
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So a 278% tariff on Wisconsin dairy products coming into Canada to favour the Quebec dairy cartel, isn’t an issue or leaving anyone hung out to dry. This paper has become a daily publication for the NDP.
The aforementioned tariff level only kicks in when a specific threshold has been exceeded. The US has an oversupply of milk – Wisconsin alone produces more milk than we do in Canada – so a central objective of the tariff is to discourage dumping. Why should Canadian dairy farmers pay the price for a problem of the United States’ making?
Maintaining healthy Canadian dairy sector can be viewed through the lens of food security, a matter that came to light during the COVID Pandemic.
Look at you being stupid! You saw big number and jumped, like a good bootlicker; all while not having the first clue that the tariff you’re complaining about is based on a production threshold.
“I love the poorly educated”.
And HOW.
https://www.farmprogress.com/management/does-canada-really-charge-a-270-tariff-on-milk-