Trump has put in place a 25% tariff on all Canadian products being imported into the United States. Canada's elected officials are taking the dumbest possible approach in response to the tariffs and are turning this into a trade war. It doesn't really matter what someone says if they're not in government.
00:00:00.000I'm going to say right off the bat in this video that obviously I disagree with U.S. President Donald Trump putting a 25% tariff on all Canadian products being imported into the United States.
00:00:13.020He has concerns about the border, our defense spending, and other things, but it's still not a fit response to the actual issue at hand.
00:00:21.280Now, moving on to Canadian politicians' response to this, let's at least stick with Canadian elected officials because it doesn't really matter what someone says if they're not actually in government.
00:00:33.200Canada's elected politicians are taking the dumbest possible approach in response to the tariffs.
00:00:40.640They are turning this into a trade war, and you could say maybe it was inevitable, maybe Canada would have to respond in some way by tariffing certain U.S. products, and I could agree to that.
00:00:51.280Tariff certain ones register our discontent.
00:00:55.140But the problem we have here in Canada is we are already overtaxed, overregulated, and we even have provincial trade barriers between our provinces.
00:01:05.000They might not work like literal barriers, but if you go into certain jurisdictions in Canada, you cannot sell certain products into another because there are certain red lines around where dairy can be produced and sold
00:01:18.720and where different other sort of farm products and other finished products are allowed to be sold without being taxed more.
00:01:26.080So why would our response be more taxes?
00:01:29.520That is what we are doing by trying to do dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs.
00:01:34.660I know some of the premiers and Trudeau are doing it in stages, which is a little bit better, but at the same time, the problem is that it doesn't matter if Canadians are willing to fight a trade war.
00:01:45.900We can't fight a trade war because our politicians suck at their jobs, and we're all broke.
00:01:50.520We do not have the bandwidth to fight with the Americans.
00:01:53.820We can have a bigger fighting spirit than they do, but it doesn't really matter when every single province with combined provincial and federal taxes pays more in income taxes than even the highest taxed state in the U.S.
00:02:09.320It's absolutely insane that we thought that we're going to be able to get them to back down, intimidate them.
00:02:17.300Well, I want to go through some of the statements that different premiers and Justin Trudeau have made in the aftermath of Trump putting in place the 25% tariffs
00:02:27.140and why this is rhetorically, I guess, smart in the short run.
00:02:31.840But if we're thinking in the medium to long term in terms of Canada's economic health, this is very foolish,
00:02:37.640and they are doubling down on the reasons why Canada's economy is weaker than the U.S.
00:02:42.920Before I get into it, guys, remember to like this video, subscribe to the channel, and leave a comment.
00:02:48.600What do you think about the trade war is the obvious question of the day.
00:02:52.120Here is Ontario Premier who just got newly elected from his snap election, Doug Ford,
00:02:58.060talking about taking booze off the shelves, American booze off the shelves of LCBOs to get back at them.
00:04:53.940Okay, a tariff on them is really us taxing our own people to import American goods.
00:05:01.260Yeah, you could say, well, we shouldn't be buying their goods if we're in a trade war.
00:05:04.460The problem is, if there's not a cheaper Canadian alternative, what's the point?
00:05:09.640We are simply paying more for our basic needs.
00:05:12.960And we wouldn't be importing it if we could get it here cheaper in the first place.
00:05:16.780We actually already have a lot of tariffs on American dairy, cheese, other farm output goods, certain raw materials.
00:05:25.380We tariff them quite a bit on certain products.
00:05:27.580So we already are kind of hypocritical.
00:05:29.720I was just checking out what Fox News was trying to say about this.
00:05:32.620And they were already saying, well, Canada already tariffs us on a bunch of our products.
00:05:36.460So they can't complain too much if we tariff them.
00:05:38.680And it's like, yeah, the blanket 25% tariffs are way bigger than what Canada has on them.
00:05:46.100Yeah, we have like 250% dairy tariffs, but that's just dairy.
00:05:50.140At the same time, it does undermine our ability to make an argument to Americans themselves that this is unfair when they can see, well, you guys were technically tariffing us before.
00:05:59.680And it's like, yeah, and that's technically true.
00:06:02.960And now we don't have a leg to stand on.
00:06:04.800Like, let's, I don't want to highlight this because it's so stupid looking.
00:06:09.140All the liquor going off of Canadian shelves.
00:06:12.480I guess we're going to really hurt Kentucky by taking all their bourbon down.
00:06:21.640Is this, like, I know maybe certain governors aren't going to like this, but this is not going to be what ends up causing the trade war to end.
00:06:29.740I think what would be more effective, not just in terms of sustaining the living standards of Canadians, but also ending the trade war faster, we cut our taxes.
00:06:45.220So then we actually become the better jurisdiction to set up shop and do business in if there's tariffs or not.
00:06:51.660The problem, again, like I said at the start, is that we're overtaxed and regulated.
00:06:55.340That's why a lot of jobs are already going down to the U.S. pre-tariff.
00:06:59.960So what we're doing right now is we're trying to circle the wagons, but we're circling the wagons around a patch of land where there isn't any real resources we can live off of.
00:07:09.360We have picked a very stupid ground to try and fight on.
00:07:14.060But anyways, I wanted to highlight this other comment that Doug Ford made before I move on to David Eby and Justin Trudeau.
00:07:18.800So this was just patently ridiculous and demonstrating how this is all just an ego-stroking exercise for some people like Ford.
00:07:26.900You know, to the president, I'm a different type of cat.
00:08:09.620At the same time, we have an economy a tenth of the size of them, so maybe it's not the best move to start, like, trying to push the envelope and pretend, like, he's being ridiculous and we're going to fight back.
00:08:21.360Like, okay, well, you know, that guy has a machine gun and we have, like, a .22 pistol.
00:08:27.580This is not exactly, like, a fair fight here that we're trying to get involved with.
00:08:31.460Rather than, sometimes you just kind of do what the person wants a little bit, so that even if they try and tariff you anyways, we could have called his bluff.
00:08:39.400We could have shown to the American people that he wasn't serious.
00:08:41.780But now, we don't even know if we actually did do something substantial to secure the border, if he wouldn't have tariffed us or not.
00:08:51.720But we will not back down from a fight.
00:08:54.760Not when our country and the well-being of everyone in it is at stake.
00:09:00.220And now, to my fellow Canadians, I won't sugarcoat it.
00:09:06.140This is going to be tough, even though we're all going to pull together, because that's what we do.
00:09:13.400We will use every tool at our disposal so Canadian workers and businesses can weather this storm.
00:09:19.980So, from expanding EI benefits and making them more flexible to providing direct supports to businesses, we will be there as needed to help.
00:09:46.400But the problem is, our federal budget, we are in a $62 billion deficit because of all the wasteful spending that the Trudeau government already engages with.
00:09:56.520So, we can't really cut taxes without cutting wasteful spending.
00:10:28.780I even read a Fraser Institute study the other day that in British Columbia specifically, if you were to reduce the top-line tax bracket from 20.5% down to 14%, the province would barely lose any revenue.
00:10:41.900Because you're taxing people at such a high volume that they just stop working after a while.
00:10:47.460And so, if you reduce the taxes, your actual growth in the pie of the economy will more than make up for it in the long run.
00:10:54.520But we can't learn any lessons here in Canada, apparently.
00:10:58.040And we're just going to continue doing more socialism in response to troubles coming down the pike.
00:11:25.360We will take measures to prevent predatory behaviour that threatens Canadian companies because of the impacts of this trade war, leaving them open to takeovers.
00:11:36.740We will relentlessly fight to protect our economy.
00:11:41.880We will stand up for Canadians every single second of every single day.
00:12:35.480These people are doing the exact same thing they did for COVID, and they're expecting different results because they're insane or they're deeply dishonest.
00:12:44.520Okay, well, here's David Eby's response from...
00:12:52.500We didn't ask for this fight that the president has brought to Canada.
00:12:56.740By the way, though, if there is a politician in Canada who asked for this fight, it was David Eby, because he is the man who is letting fentanyl and other drugs flow freely around his province, including handing out government-created drugs to addicts, flooding the streets with hydromorphone pills.
00:13:16.340He is the poster child that Trump needs to justify the tariffs because this guy does not care about border security and drug enforcement at all.
00:13:26.700But I'll tell you this, we're not going to shrink from it.
00:13:33.080The president wants to hurt Canadians.
00:13:36.080If he wants to hurt British Columbians, then we have no choice but to respond in kind to the United States.
00:13:44.860Our response is pretty straightforward.
00:13:49.440It's a message to Americans about what this is going to cost them.
00:13:53.380Everything from the cost of pasta to the cost of a home or a car or to turn on the lights or to fill up a tank of gas is going to go up in a way that is noticeable and significant for American families, for Americans who work in manufacturing.
00:14:14.620By the way, think of how hypocritical this is.
00:14:18.660He's talking about how they should know how much, because the Trump administration is doing this, how much pasta is going to go up in price, how much gas, housing is going to go up in price, all of your critical minerals.
00:14:30.440How can we not apply this to the stupid taxes and regulations that people like David Eby pass?
00:14:37.840Every time he passes something and people tell him, you know, the price of everything is going to go up because of this.
00:14:42.900Well, don't you believe in climate change?
00:14:47.760Every time somebody calls these guys out for their big government policies that makes people's lives worse, then you're wrong.
00:14:56.680But if Trump makes Canadians' lives more expensive, then the government's going to call him out in the same way more conservative, you know, economists, more conservative politicians call them out for being complete hacks.
00:15:12.500I actually did appreciate the new blue party of Ontario calling out Ford and the PCs for all of the taxes that they've raised, for all the taxes they've refused to lower over the past decade or so, since 2018, at the same time that they're attacking Trump because he's the one making people's lives expensive.
00:15:30.200It's like, no, that was you guys, by the way.
00:15:32.700Anyways, I'll let David Eby finish this one up here before I want to move on to Jagmeet Singh now using this as a catalyst to avoid the next election.
00:15:41.260The factories that you work in, the inputs that you use to make the things that are sold around the world, have just become significantly less competitive.
00:15:51.380Your jobs will be taken by people living in countries, other than the United States, who have access to the raw materials that Canada provides without tariffs.
00:16:04.440You know, we could actually manufacture those goods in Canada instead of the US, not from like a protectionist perspective that we should tariff people who make the products so that we have to build them here.
00:16:14.660And like, it's like some autarky economy. I don't, I'm not, I'm not in favor of autarky, but you can lower taxes enough that people will manufacture in your country.
00:16:24.720Ireland did it. Singapore did it. Other small jurisdictions have done it. Ireland's not exactly small.
00:16:30.100And you could say, well, we're not Singapore, we're Canada. Why not be Singapore with resources?
00:16:36.040Why not be Singapore with oil and gas and aluminum mines and coal mines? Why not? It sounds great to me.
00:16:41.500We could produce steel and then make things out of the steel if we lowered taxes enough and become the economic boom zone of the entire world.
00:16:51.180And then we don't have to import, we don't have to import labor, cheap labor also, if taxes are super low and people can pay Canadians very high wages to do work,
00:17:01.420knowing that they are, can still be hyper, hyper profitable at the same time.
00:17:05.860Anyways, well, here is Jagmeet Singh now taking this as his best opportunity to say, oh, you know, maybe we need to push off the next election for a while.
00:17:15.340There's already good evidence that Mark Carney was never going to call an early election because there was a by-election happening in Halifax in April.
00:17:23.640So why would they schedule a by-election for Halifax in April if the federal election was going to be called before April?
00:17:31.500And even then, you're not going to call a federal election literally right after a by-election wraps up.
00:17:36.660That seems fairly silly. And it might even hurt your brand in the province of Nova Scotia to have suddenly a by-election in Halifax.
00:17:45.160That guy gets elected. The whole province focuses on the by-election.
00:17:48.500Then a week later, that person has to then run for re-election because the party was obviously just using that riding as a litmus test for their overall national campaign.
00:17:56.880You want to vote down the government at your earliest opportunity.
00:18:01.780Do you still stand by that statement? And do you think now is the time for an election?
00:18:08.880We need supports of workers first, put in place working an election afterwards.
00:18:14.240This tariff work could go on for four years. So how long would these measures that you're suggesting go on for? And how are we paying for it?
00:18:21.600So the employment insurance should be permanent changes to the employment insurance that cover workers when they're impacted.
00:18:27.320And then the measures in terms of economic stimulus, we need it immediately. We need a short-term fix.
00:18:33.860And as we move towards building a more resilient economy, we can look at ways to adjust it.
00:18:38.120Do you see this legislation, or if it would require legislation, receive royal assent before you'd be comfortable going to an election?
00:18:45.480Do you just see it become law or pass through the Senate and return back?
00:18:50.180Yeah, I don't want just a lip service. I want protections in place for workers passed and implemented, helping out people.
00:18:58.080We literally have a dire situation. 25% tariffs on our country will mean potentially hundreds and thousands of workers lose their jobs.
00:19:10.940So to Canadians listening, my commitment to you is I promise I'm going to fight to protect your jobs.
00:19:17.040I promise I'm going to fight to make sure workers impacted get help.
00:19:20.340And I promise that I'm going to put in place supports that I can do so that people who are worried about the cost of living that's already so high going up, I'm going to fight to make sure life is more affordable.
00:19:29.260I just decided to let that entire clip play all the way through there.
00:19:33.760So yeah, there's not going to be an election.
00:19:35.640He dodged the question about, well, this could go on for a long time.
00:19:39.620If you're saying you don't want to have an election in the middle of it, couldn't you now make the case that you're not going to hold an election until you have to in October?
00:19:47.100And by the way, you can technically still push the election back by another year because our charter says elections every five years.
00:19:53.940And it was not until another basically piece of legislation that was passed basically saying the election should happen every four years.
00:20:01.380Maybe Carney and Jagmeet Singh and Blaschet were basically say that, well, it has to be five years because we're in the middle of an economic crisis.
00:20:44.400We might not have the actual infrastructure to provide those services and products ourselves in the short run.
00:20:51.980And yet we're going to put in place tariffs without even thinking.
00:20:55.600This is not just going to be something that's going to hurt certain select industries.
00:20:58.760This hurts everyone as soon as you put tariffs in place.
00:21:01.220If we didn't put tariffs, we could then try and support those specific industries that rely heavily on exports into the U.S., while also trying to make the economy more competitive through tax cuts and other measures.
00:21:14.320Anyways, so that's it for me today, guys.