Hell is freezing over in Canada’s economic climate – and we’re lacking leadership fuel to reheat it

Well, if you’re from Saskatchewan then the only “good” news you might have received for this last week is that Hell hasn’t frozen over yet, despite the bitter cold wind chill that pierced your bones when you first took the dog out for its “walk” in the morning.

Unfortunately, that “reality” is not really a good one either, as if it (Hell) HAD, well that would have meant the Riders won the Grey Cup, wouldn’t it? Not anymore, I guess; the Riders did win it all in 2013. However, it would appear that the non-believers of climate change and global warming are expected to release actual data on January 21, 2025 to claim that the ACTUAL centre of the universe is Mar-a-Lago, and NOT The Big Smoke, as our federal politicians are now reluctantly discovering.

Honest to God, if The Year of the Great Mental Breakdown (2021, when the Covid-19 pandemic did its most emotional damage) couldn’t stop Donald Trump from sucking all of the oxygen out of the atmosphere, the flight turbulence we’re about to encounter when this guy gets stuck back in the Oval Office for four more years will make us all wish we’d been booked on a different flight piloted by, say, Kamala Harris, with Tom Cruise in the co-pilot seat (He voted Democrat, remember?).

Canada, unfortunately, is already preparing for the inevitable by taking a few small but body-piercing blows just for the team – stuff like our dollar falling below $0.70 U.S., premiers Ford, Moe and Smith now pretending that they’re “world leaders” in offering possible solutions to removing Trump’s threat to impose a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods destined for U.S. markets, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre losing the political version of a WWE-style smackdown event with Justin Trudeau in his attempt to have a federal election called, only to see Trudeau losing his next “match” to now “former” Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland who landed a blow to Trudeau’s claim to being a “member” duly aligned with feminist movements.

For the moment, then, Canada at least can no longer be portrayed as “Chicken Little”; it can’t see the sky falling because it doesn’t have a head anymore. Unfortunately, this only further aggravates the significant problem that there is NO ONE in the wings ready to lead Team Canada into a trade battle with Don “The Con” Trump and the United States over the NAFTA Agreement. That’s almost as ego-crushing as Canada losing Game 1 of the 1972 Summit Series in Montreal…

Fortunately, some of these body blows may actually be what this nation requires in order to rebuild its backbone. The $0.70 loonie may annoy cross-border shoppers during the Christmas buying season, but it also means that adding 25 per cent to its cost price may only equalize its apparent value to the American market, which is actually “a good thing”. The market crippling aspect of that differential, however, is that the American prime interest rate is currently three percentage points above Canada’s 1.5 per cent, which is a serious attraction for potential investors, and there’s no sign that the American rate will be coming down any time soon, thus potentially stagnating economic opportunities for future growth, a problem we should also be considering addressing while looking for work-arounds to Trump’s tariff tantrums.

As for the three Squad 2 members pumping themselves with helium to make then inflate in size and therefore importance, there’s nothing wrong with their utilizing their own natural resources to justify their importance to economic growth in the United States, but that approach seems almost self-serving. Equally in its damaging effect is that, as every grade school child already knows, breathing in some helium only makes the pitch of your voice seem higher, so that even to suggest (as did Doug Ford) that Canada should place a tariff on items such as hydroelectric energy going into New York state, is going to annoy the bejesus out of Quebec premier François Legault.

The defeat of Poilievre’s non-confident motion is wonderful, as for Canada to be in the middle of an unnecessary election time when Trump comes to office only invites him to play other games with us. However, this crisis has only confirmed in virtually everyone else’s mind save Mr. Trudeau is that it’s time for him to go. Freeland’s disdain for gimmickry and illusion ($250 cheques to everyone in Canada come late January or early February?) only reinforces Jagmeet Singh’s point being made in his most recent foray through Saskatchewan that the “little cheque of relief” idea Liberals were floating during the crisis periods of the Covid-19 pandemic required some serious critique before the minority coalition government instead wisely chose CERB-style relief ideas the NDP were only too ready to institute.

Freeland’s “loss” to this fiscal discussion may not be permanent, however. Anyone who watched as she made Trump fume during the last NAFTA negotiations knows that only a woman is going to chop this nattering narcissist down to size. There still is room for her participation in formulating the “Team Canada” approach, even if the Boys Club now claiming diverse personalities such as Trudeau, Poilievre, Legault and Ford in the mix may object.

Canada requires leadership to deal with Emperor Trump, as he wants to be known. It won’t be coming from the current pawns still remaining on the chess board, that’s for certain…

-Advertisement-