Once again Justin Trudeau is rushing to the aid of a Quebec industry while ignoring workers west of the Ottawa river. This time it is the juxtaposition of our prime minister freaking out over the Quebec-centric aluminum industry while ignoring western farmers.
Before I fill you in on the latest details, some key points need to be stated.
Justin Trudeau was born in Ottawa while his father was prime minister. He spent the first 14 years of his life living in Ontario but he identifies as a Quebecer. His other family tie is to Vancouver where his mother is from, where his grandfather was an MP and cabinet minister in the first Trudeau government.
Why does this matter?
Because knowing this helps you understand that those are the parts of Canada that Justin Trudeau truly cares about and the parts in between are fly-over country to him.
Thus he sympathizes more with the pipeline protester in downtown Vancouver than the men and women working the oil patch. He cares more about tariffs that hurt Quebec than tariffs that hurt Saskatchewan.
This week Trudeau and his cabinet have been all over the threat by Donald Trump to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum. At this point Canadian officials don’t even know if products from this country will be subject to a 25% tariff on steel and 10% on aluminum considering that the real target is thought to be China and other countries that even we accuse of dumping product at below market prices.
That hasn’t stopped Trudeau from going before the cameras to repeatedly say that this proposal is “unacceptable.” His cabinet has done the same, found cameras to vehemently denounce the proposal inside and outside of the House of Commons.
Their reaction on chickpea tariffs from India? Agriculture minister Lawrence MacAuley issued a statement via email.
This is a domestic issue related India’s food security and Canada has not been singled out.
We remain committed to working closely with India to finalize an arrangement to reduce barriers to export Canadian chickpeas to India and ensure there is more transparency and predictability for our hard-working farmers across the country.
Trudeau parroted that line while speaking in Barrie, Ontario.
Can you imagine Trudeau saying about Trump’s tariffs that, “this is a domestic issue.”
Because that has been the defence from Liberals since the Indian government announced the chickpea tariff, they will tell you that this isn’t about hurting Canadian farmers, this is about helping Indian farmers raise their incomes. If you listen to Donald Trump, he’ll tell you this is about raising the fortunes of American steel companies and their workers.
So why the difference?
Well you could point to the fact that chickpea exports are a smaller market, Gerry Ritz the former agriculture minister appeared on my radio show the other day and said the exports to India are worth about $14 million a year. You could point to reports claiming the increase in tariffs by India from 40% to 60% will not effect the majority of chickpeas grown in Canada. That is the claim that Brian Platt of National Post said he was unable to confirm beyond a comment from one official.
And as Gerry Ritz pointed out in that interview, beyond the chickpea tariff there are a pile of other tariffs and non-tariff barriers imposed on Canadian agricultural exports by India in sectors worth billions.
Yet we don’t see Trudeau rush to the cameras on that. We don’t see Trudeau rush to the cameras calling for a solution to grain farmers that can’t get their product shipped to ports due to a lack of rail cars. We don’t see Trudeau rushing to settle an ongoing dispute between Canada and Italy over the durum wheat we sell to the Italians for their famed pasta.
We don’t see Trudeau on any of these files because they are all files that hurt people in fly-over country and not Quebec.
Compare that to the steel and aluminum tariffs.
There are, according to Industry Canada, 96 aluminum processing and production plants in Canada and 43 of them are in Quebec. That tells you everything you need to know about Trudeau’s reaction to this.
You could argue that aluminum is bigger, that more jobs are at stake. I’m honestly not sure of the stats. I do know that agriculture is one of the biggest sectors of our national economy and Trudeau didn’t even take his ag minister on the trip to India at a time when there are major trade irritants with that country.
But if jobs and total economic impact are what really matter then explain Trudeau slavishly looking after every want and need with Bombardier but when it comes to oil and gas workers he puts every impediment that he can in the way of that industry reaching its full potential.
It comes down to Quebec vs fly-0ver country. For Trudeau, Quebec wins every time.
Yup
Quebecers are pretty smart.
They know that Justin is even more stupid than his Mommy .
And was Not his Dadies chosen Boy.
I never knew that anybody , devoid of any detectable, intellect could become our PM.
I say a prayer every day that this night mare Prime Minister recogiognizes the damage he’s doing in dividing this nation and steps down..Canada,as a nation can not afford to keep him on..As things are appearing more and more,it’s time for the West to develope it’s own soverieign nation and stop catering to Quebec..ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!
This is 1981 all over.
I stopped praying.
There is not one damn thing that this IDIOT legislates, that a just GOD would Sanction.
Pierre Trudeau, and now Justin Trudeau, are the biggest friend of Western Independence movements in all Western provinces. Their policies and attitudes and even what one might say is deliberate alienation WILL end with successful referendums for sovereignty in Western Canada. With Alberta running at 30% for secession and Saskatchewan close behind and rural BC supporting it, it’s just a matter of time. The federal government and especially the Liberal Party have spit on the West for 150 years, they continue to do so at their own risk.
That would be terrible.
You guys should play like Trump.
If you would do this just before the Election—–Justin would Lose.
I don’t get it. Justin is at your mercy.
But –You keep fucking around.
You DO NOT–Separate—
How long would it take you to ramp up a legit Separatist Agenda ?
Co-ordinate it with a PQ Separatist Agenda—-
Slap Andrew Sheer a round a bit— toughen him up—
and Justin will be fucking toast.
Is this going to negatively impact the aluminum fluoride koolaid supply?
“his grandfather was an MP and cabinet minister in the first Trudeau government”. Sorry. Wrong. Fisheries minister 1952-1957 under Uncle Louis.
The problem with Brian Lilley’s article is that it is not a “Quebec centric” industry under attack
Here is a list of the top five provinces in terms of steel exports:
Ontario: $4.8 Billion
Quebec: $611 Million
Alberta:: $148 Million
Manitoba: $125 Million
Saskatchewan $103 Million
source http://www.canadiansteel.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/CSPA_CAN-US-Steel-Trade_Public.pdf
All one has to do is count the number of federal seats that exist for each province. Quebec has more seats than Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba combined. BC is called the “left coast” for a reason, and can’t be counted on to support the “west” as even Rachel Knotley can now attest.
It’s all about appearing to do something for the next vote; the higher the seat concentration, the more effort that gets put into that illusion.
Same goes for the federal budget for women, the pandering to the Sikh community, the postmodern approach to group identity over individual rights…
Is it too late to sign up for the Mars expedition?
Western Independence. The ONLY way western canada will ever get (a shot at) good governance.
You should lead a movement to separate the West. The is no longer any value to the West to be a part of confederation, the values are different, the economies are different, the people, culture and language are different. This constant pandering by politicians to the east serves no value to the West. All the West does is prop up the eastern provinces with transfer payments. It needs to stop.
It would seem the ONLY thing he ever does is to get liberals re-elected with a majority again despite the negative effects on Canada! Unfortunately that does not bode well for our 150 year old nation!
The problem is Trudeau is busy working on his re-election and does not have a clue about the economy. Canada is the richest country in the world, we have trillions in cash enough to pay off all our debts end this ruthless campaign of taxing everything. All we have to do is follow America`s lead to be self sufficient in all our needs (WE HAVE IT)more oil than America who is self sufficient.Why do we continue on this path of economic destruction, it`s like having billions in the bank and living on credit cards, we need to do what is best for all Canada and stop this selfish regional economic suicide.
BC needs to get on the separatist band wagon. Look at all the preferential treatment it gets for the Quebecois!!
If we play our cards right we might even get Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California to join in. Pretty sure they are pissed at Trump’s shenanigans. We could call it Pacifica.