There are many things I would like to see improved in Canada, but despite the Conservative hyperbole, Canada is not ‘broken’. Far from it!
And I would much rather be living in Canada than in the US right now!
This brings to mind Trump’s point about the US “protecting” Canada. And on reflection, protecting us from what? Russia is destroying itself trying to invade their next door neighbor. China can’t invade Taiwan, right off their coast. I don’t think Greenland is an imminent threat. North Korea isn’t going to waste one of their 57 nukes on Vancouver. So out of any nation nearby, who actually has the capability to mount an invasion? The only actual military threat to Canada is the US! And in saying “we don’t need Canada… we do need that aluminum though” Trump is already suggesting a pretext for invasion. Although as I have said before, coming up with a pretext has never been a problem for him. When you’re famous, they let you do it.
You have forgotten our most nefarious neighbour, St Pierre & Miquelon.
And has already invaded Canada, twice.
Few things bring Americans to their knees better than an all out run on toilet paper - 2 toilet paper crises in each of the orange turd’s terms.
Are people going to be hoarding TP again?
Trump’s legacy grows.
Is Canada going to need to horde it, or the U.S.? Or both? I want to get a jump on it this time. Last time I got hosed.
(Sorry to make light of the trade war. Apologies, Canada, for our goon.)
If TP really becomes a problem Trump’ll fix it handing out paper towels.
According to this article in The Guardian, the US is 4% of the world’s population, and it uses 20% of the world’s toilet paper, much of it made from Canadian pulp. This trade war is going to get messy fast. Cue “Wipe Out.”
Is it time to consider whether one sign of a good economy is how much of what it needs can be supplied locally/regionally/nationally? Not calling for autarky, but surely arranging supply chains on the principle of securing the highest profit rate causes problems and reduces independence, locally, regionally, and nationally.
I’d say the answer is a bidet but I’m sick of these french translations!
Right from the horse’s mouth. LeBlanc’s US counterpart Jamieson Greer on CBC.
He rejects that Trump accepted responsibility in torpedoing the deal (honestly Trump is so brain fucked he’s probably senile, so who knows if he’s even aware what he did/said a few days ago). Greer doesn’t reject that heavy duty trucks would be excluded, but he does reject that the US wanted a veto on Canadian trade (but he could be just objecting to Rosemary Barton’s phrasing). He professes his love for French and the culture of French Canada, he says this is the farthest thing from a red line for his team (but he admits that it was raised as an issue).
Big thing, Greer sidesteps that an 11th hour injection of demands were made:
There was. there was. there was an agreement. There was a way to get to it. You know. I, I don’t know what ended up, uh, happening. You know, you read things in the press about premiers and, uh, different things like this, and politics going on. I, I don’t know. All I know is this was a great, Canada’s had the best deal. We offered an even better deal. It would have been a springboard for future progress for us. uh. and now that is that’s that’s gone away.
As meandering as this interview was… It is heads and shoulders above the absolute dreck I seen in the past few days from REAL stone cold sleaze balls in the Trump admin. ex. Peter Navarro on U.S.-Canada Trade War (I swear this man is on drugs during this interview he’s so full of smug, empty bullshit)
About a minute or so in that i-view, the addled-like-RFK trooper goes off about how everyone loves Canada but their negotiators are back-stabbing double-dealers who can’t be trusted, and I’m like - ok, I’m out.
I don’t think so. Australia by a wide margin, has more iron ore than any other country in the world. But with only 29 million people, it doesn’t need all that much iron. It makes more sense for Australia to trade iron ore for electronics or foodstuffs than become the world’s largest iron producer for the world’s 54th most populous country.
But that’s really a topic for another thread.
Sales (negotiating 1): if you’re not willing to walk away from a deal, you might as well bend over.
This insistence on English only for American goods and services is also a third rail of Canadian politics. Quebec nearly succeeded from Canada in the 1995 Referendum. Whilst the US has no official language, Canada has two official languages. Trump insisting that US goods and services sold into Canada not follow the Canadian law is most definitely a direct attack on Canadian sovereignty.
Elbows up Canada! I do my part by visiting Vancouver and supporting the local economy as much as possible. 
Except it is. I’m not pretending.
Moderating:
This is a personal attack, virtually accusing another poster of making up their perspective. You’re really pushing the line as if you’re posting in the Pit. You’re not. Dial it back, a lot.
ETA: Mod note withdrawn.
And sure enough, the NYT now reporting Canada’s accusations were accurate.
And also sure enough, US representatives are now backing off language and culture matters - Jameson Greer himself has commented on this - so if this wasn’t one of their demands, why would they walk it back?
There’s enough to draw straight lines from tariffs, immigration policies and the war on Iran to overall inflation, spiralling domestic debt, damage to the agricultural and manufacturing sectors (and housing as well), and a host of other economic factors putting the serious screws to the American middle and working classes, with all the knock-on effects that ensue.
You can say “This plane isn’t crashing - it’s still at 20,000 feet” but if it was at 30,000 feet ten seconds ago, crashing is not an impossible outcome. Especially if you’ve got a bad pilot at the controls.
I should also point out the Greer allowed himself to be interviewed by Rosemary Barton in French too. He gave roughly the same responses as English. They start off with culture and Greer says he understands the importance of French to Quebec and it wasn’t a red line for them.
