Within the past 70 minutes, as I write this, two notable things happened. One: the Reuters news agency reported — citing three unnamed sources “familiar with the planning” — that the Trump administration would be implementing tariffs against Canada and Mexico on March 1. And two: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt then denied the Reuters report, insisting 25-per-cent tariffs are coming down Feb. 1.
You will likely know by the time you read this which account is correct. Or it may well be neither. In Trumpland, uncertainty and chaos are their own rewards. I don’t know if President Trump cares about or even remotely understands Canadian politics. I suspect not. And that’s probably for the best. Because if he did, it’s easy to imagine him stringing us along just to enjoy the absurd spectacle he is creating.
The idea of a unified “Team Canada” approach has been unravelling almost since the moment 12 of 13 provincial and territorial premiers, and the prime minister, signed that document two weeks ago pledging “united advocacy efforts with key U.S. administration, congressional and business leaders to emphasize the negative impacts of U.S. tariffs on American national interests and the U.S. economy.” Alberta’s Danielle Smith had refused to sign from the start.
Then, within hours, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Quebec Premier François Legault had formed quasi-alliance against limiting fossil fuel, potash or electricity exports as part of this united advocacy effort — though those exports are among the few where Canada might have any kind of real leverage against Trump.
I went to bed Thursday night assuming that Friday’s Ontario-election press conferences would be all about President Trump reiterating the 25-per-cent plan tariff on Thursday — with a possible exception for oil, he mused when asked by a reporter about it, but he said he hadn’t decided yet.
That’s not what the press conferences should have been about. Tariffs and counter-tariffs are the federal government’s business, or they would be if we had a federal government to speak of. There is no discernible disagreement between Ontario’s political parties (or with Ottawa) on how best to react, including when it comes to uncorking a geyser of stimulus spending if necessary.
Every moment spent shaking fists at Washington feels like a wasted opportunity
PC Leader Doug Ford’s media event in St. Catharines bore out my expectations. He pledged his “full support” for the federal government “to hit back and hit back hard.” Ford mentioned Canada or its federal government seven times before he mentioned Ontario.
This is Ford’s anti-Trump election and he is sticking to it. “Yesterday President Trump continued his campaign to undermine Canada,” he thundered. “If tariffs do in fact come tomorrow, the federal government needs to be ready to implement a strong and forceful response — dollar for dollar, tariff for tariff.”
Earlier in the day in Windsor, NDP Leader Marit Stiles — leader of the official opposition in the last sitting of the legislature, but now running third in the polls — auditioned to replace Ford as chief provincial pugilist.
“I have bargained, I have negotiated with big multinational American corporations, protecting jobs, supporting Canadian industry and winning higher wages and better benefits for workers all across this country,” she said of her time as bargaining director at ACTRA, the Canadian actors’ union. “Workers can count on me and the NDP to fight for every single job in this province. That’s a fact. That’s a fact.”
She added: “It’s a fact.”
In Toronto, meanwhile, Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie announced her intention to improve safety on the Toronto Transit Commission, which the provincial government does not run (though it does fund). Most notably, Crombie pledged funding for platform-edge doors on the subway, citing horrifying incidents in recent years of people being pushed onto the tracks. (The suicide toll is far more gruesome, but much less publicized.)
She didn’t offer a budget number on that project — though she did say it would be included in the party platform — and I’m pretty sure I know why. The TTC pegs equipping the system with such doors at a frankly incomprehensible, indefensible $4.1 billion. That’s $59 million per station, which is patently insane. Toronto journalist Matt Elliott pegged it at more than triple the cost Paris paid recently to install platform-doors on its Métro Line 4.
OK, a huge proportion of Ontarians live in Toronto and the GTA, and use the TTC regularly. It is a legitimate provincial issue, as is trade — though premiers might want to consider focusing more on internal trade barriers. Moving goods, services and workers more easily and cheaply from province to province is the “Team Canada” consensus we really need, and it’s telling that it hasn’t yet coalesced.
Not every campaign announcement can be about health care and housing. But especially in a short campaign, with a united front in Ontario (if not Canada as a whole) against Trump, every moment spent shaking fists at Washington and promising urban fantasies feels like a wasted opportunity.
National Post
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