Canada, be prepared for hardships not seen in generations

border_humper

border_humper

Staff Member
Moderator
Chief Disinfo Officer
Canada, be prepared for hardships not seen in generations

Globe and Mail

John Turley-Ewart is a contributing columnist for The Globe and Mail, a regulatory compliance consultant and a Canadian banking historian.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says we will “fight like we’ve never fought before.” Prime Minister Mark Carney boasts about boosting trade with countries that share our values in Europe and Asia, while the federal Leader of the Opposition, Pierre Poilievre, is promoting a “Canada First” policy.
Click to expand...
This is all well and good, but rhetoric aside, Canadians should harbour no illusions about what lies ahead. Canada sends 75 per cent of its exports to the U.S. and sources 33 per cent of all its imports from there. High tariffs will cause economic dislocation – dashing dreams, costing some their homes, halting careers and undermining living standards in the short term if not permanently.

Neither fighting words, old friends nor catchy slogans will solve this. Markets are forward-looking, and what they see is telling. The S&P/TSX has erased all 2025 gains. Bankers see trouble too. The Bank of Montreal has told mortgage brokers that it has a “limited appetite” for lending to Canadians working in large swaths of the economy, given the implications of U.S. tariff policies. As The Globe and Mail reported, this includes sectors such as construction, transportation, leisure and entertainment, retail sales, banking, finance, manufacturing, farming, natural resources, wholesale trade and utilities.

Rather than “fight like we’ve never fought before,” Canadians will be called on to endure hardships that recent generations haven’t seen before. If high U.S. tariffs and our countertariffs persist for any lengthy period, RBC Economics suggests it “could wipe out Canadian growth for up to three years.” A lower Canadian dollar is almost certain, as is a rise in the cost of living and higher unemployment, well beyond the 1.5 million Canadians currently without work.

This gives urgency to what must be our next government’s first priority: salvaging whatever we can from the 2018 Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, be it a bilateral deal with the U.S. or one that includes Mexico. Canada is never going to find an alternative market for 75 per cent of its exports. If you don’t believe me, believe history. Geography matters – we live next door to a US$28-trillion economy with 340 million people.

We have endured trade wars before, and in time the powerful benefits of north-south trade between Canada and the U.S. resurfaced when reality returned to trade talks.

In the meantime, we need to keep as many of the lights on in Canada as we can so we can turn to our second priority: the policies, practices and mindsets that have left Canada in a vulnerable economic state compared with the U.S. and present the greatest threat to Canada’s future.
Just how vulnerable has been documented by the non-partisan Coalition for a Better Future, comprising Conservatives, Liberals and business leaders from various industries and professions. Their economic scorecard paints a troubling portrait of the country.

Per capita income growth is the “weakest since the Great Depression.” Poverty rates in Canada are going up, while median after-tax incomes for households are down 3.4 per cent. This economic decline measures the toll our productivity crisis is taking, which at its core is a crisis born of shrinking business investment in Canada, where “just about every metric for private sector investment looks terrible.”

This is a deeper existential threat to Canada’s future than the mercurial presidency of Donald Trump. The gap between U.S. and Canadian productivity and living standards, if not effectively addressed, will be the slow death of Canada. “The one sure prescription for the eventual failure of the Canadian experiment,” wrote the late historian Michael Bliss in his classic history of Canadian business, Northern Enterprise, “would be to create an ever-widening gap in standards of living between the two North American democracies.” This we have done.

Economist Trevor Tombe noted in September that the U.S. “is on track to produce nearly 50 per cent more per person than Canada will.” Another way to look at this is that the economic output per Canadian, adjusted for inflation, is expected to be about US$22,100 less than the economic output per American.

“This stunning divergence,” according to Prof. Tombe, “is unprecedented in modern history.”

Our existential struggle will come after dealing with U.S. tariffs, regardless of the outcome, when Canadian leaders meet among themselves to reimagine Canada’s economy and adopt changes that will foster a Canadian standard of living that exceeds that of the U.S.
Click to expand...
From the Globe during election season.
 
Upvote 26
The Solution: more Pajeets
 
And more houses no one can afford!

Also drugs, need more drugs so people don’t realize what’s happening!
 
Didn't you hear, Mark Carney is going to be building pre-fab homes by the shitload!

Cabana+9+ft.+W+x+6+ft.+D+Western+Red+Cedar+Wood+Traditional+Storage+Shed.jpg


Enjoy!
 
"Countries in Europe that share our values"... like no free speech, no free press, two-tiered justice system against white people, no freedom of religion for Christians, importation of third world to replace native population...

You know... our great values that we have that the stupid US doesn't.

Vote Carnival!
 
GOOD. ACCELERATE. I hope Carney wins. I hope the trade wars get worse, and they make life in Canada unbearable. I hope things get so expensive we have to reduce the number of meals we eat. I hope housing continues to get so expensive even the wealthy can't afford to buy or move. I hope our infrastructure, health care, education, prisons, all collapse and there's disorder on the streets.

Maybe then all the third worlders will fucking LEAVE, and we can rebuild our country.
 
↑View previous replies…
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top