By David Krayden 

And Poilievre needs to nail the Liberals to the wall over it

If there is anything funny – and I mean funny strange here – about the current tariff dispute between the Trudeau government and President Donald Trump it is the repetition by all interested parties in Canada to continue to give the Liberals a pass for their “border security plan.” To begin with, I say the fight is between Justin Trudeau and Trump and not Canada and the US because this is a highly personal matter between the two men. Trudeau could have ended this dispute on the night he invited himself to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago lair and did the embarrassing photo op with the president-elect.

It was obviously a fruitless night of conversation and not negotiation because Trudeau did not come back to Canada with any commitment to satisfy Trump’s demand that Canada do something about its porous border that simultaneously allows illegals to cross into Canada from the US and provides easy access for illegals – a significant number of which are terrorists – to enter the United States. Trump announced that a 25% tariff against all Canadian goods will proceed by Feb. 1.

Instead, Trudeau cooked up a scheme that he must have thought would either satisfy or fool Trump and included an “investment” of $1.3 billion in the long overdue Fall Economic Statement that was literally printed and delivered into the hands of the media and MPs just days before autumn turned into winter. Even though most of the mainstream media reported that this funding would be spread out over SIX years, nobody really read the fine print of the document that indicated most of the money would be spent in the fourth, fifth and sixth year of the program and very little in the first two years when of course it would be most required to demonstrate some degree of good faith to the Trump administration in order to avoid the promised 25% tariff that was promised if good faith was not delivered along with literal and tangible border security measures.

Looking at the ridiculous allocation of taxpayer dollars it is clear that this is a facade or a bad joke.

• Fall economic statement 2024 (Page 179): https://www.budget.canada.ca/update-miseajour/2024/report-rapport/FES-EEA-2024-en.pdf

“Securing Our Borders” is a line item under section 3.1 that deals with “Safer, Healthier Communities.” None of the items described herein, with the exception of the border security line, have anything to do with safer or healthier communities and everything to do with more of Trudeau’s identity politics and woke policies.

WATCH Justin Trudeau’s Woke Border Plan Will Cost YOU

Trudeau clearly wants a trade war and to frame the coming federal election as a battle between us and them, or more precisely, Canada, as represented by the Liberal Party, and the US as led by Trump. That’s the only way he, his successor and the Liberals can hope to defeat the Conservatives. That has been the plan long before Trump even started talking about his dissatisfaction with Canada’s borders. That’s why Team Trudeau has done virtually nothing on border security, except for having the RCMP buy Chinese drones in December (they are now saying they are buying American drones, since the USA is passing a bill to outlaw Chinese drones due to the security risk).

Do the Trudeau Liberals think Donald Trump and his staff cannot read the publicly available fall economic statement with all the woke line items and the massive discrepancy between Liberal talking points and what is in this “border security plan”?

The so-called border security plan cannot even get off the ground because Trudeau suspended Canadian Parliament at the same time as his so-called resignation, so the $1.3 billion spending cannot even be approved to start with. Plus, the spending is projected for 5 years into the future. In 2025 to 2026 the Liberal planned gun grab is receiving 5 times more spending than border security. And as experts continue to say, there are no more boots on the ground within this yet to be approved Trudeau’s border security plan.

The focus, instead, for the Trudeau Liberals and Ontario Premier Doug Ford has been talking about shutting off energy to the US. And why has Canada’ prime minister continued to taunt and belittle Trump?

“Trump has announced that he wants a golden age for the American economy. The federal government has continued to say, clearly, as I will, that everything is on the table if he does move forward on tariffs on Canada, as he has said, whether it be back on January 20 or on Feb. 1 or Feb. 15 is a Valentine’s Day present, or on Apr. 1, or whenever he says he’s going to do it, as he keeps repeating, two things will happen,” Trudeau told reporters during a recent retreat.

Trudeau then talked about Canada having “a strong, robust response, because we don’t want this, but we will respond if necessary. And two, prices for American consumers on just about everything will go up, and we don’t think he wants that.” Trudeau then revealed his contempt for Trump saying the president “has talked about the border as being a great preoccupation for him.” The angrier that Trudeau makes Trump, the more Trump helps the Liberals by becoming the very embodiment of the American bogeyman that leftist Canadians have always loved to hate. The Official Opposition must respond and lead Canada into the next election. They need to form a legitimate government that can truly promote Canadian interests.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has been put into the uncomfortable position of defending Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and her insistence that the federal government does not control provincial natural resources while advocating for retaliatory tariffs. Trudeau has demonized Smith and accused her of putting her interests and those of Alberta of Canada. He has suggested that both she and Poilievre are working for Trump and not Canada. Concomitant with this lie, Trudeau has also co-opted Ontario Premier Doug Ford for his Liberal team. Ford has shamelessly repeated Liberal talking points that he has embraced. Ford, of course, is a faux conservative who has supported all of the Trudeau government’s darkest policies.

• Poilievre cannot allow himself to be co-opted or become another spokesman for Team Trudeau. He must present himself as not only the prime minister in waiting but the only federal leader who can effectively negotiate with Trump on behalf of Canada. This is fundamental to Conservative fortunes in the next election. The Liberals will stop at nothing to try to resuscitate their dying party and toxic brand. All leadership candidates are suggesting they represent a new beginning while front-runner Mark Carney has the unmitigated gall to suggest he is an “outsider.”

Poilievre has seized the moment and began to offer some substantive policy ideas. He told CTV News that “he would retaliate” to any Trump tariff and “would target products and services that A, we don’t need, B, we can make ourselves and C, that we can buy elsewhere, so that we maximize impact on the Americans while minimizing impact on Canadians.”

Then he outlined how he would transform the Canadian economy so that it could work in sync with Trump’s fiscal policies. He talked about a “tax cut on work, investment making stuff in Canada, energy, home building so that we can stimulate more economic growth here. Three, we need to become more self-sufficient. That means knocking down barriers. More interprovincial free trade. We have freer trade with the Americans today than we do with ourselves. We have to knock down those barriers, build pipelines, LNG, liquefaction facilities, to sell our stuff to the world without having to go through the Americans.”

Yes. This is common sense, conservative politics that will help Canada to prosper within a world dominated by Trump’s America. But Poilievre also needs to acknowledge that Trudeau and the Liberals and Canada continue to fail on the border. The necessary work has not been done and Trump knows it. He needs to tell Trump that the age of Trudeau is over and it will not be extended by a replacement Liberal leader. If Trudeau will not apologize for his arrogance and rudeness then Poilievre should apologize on his behalf. The Trudeau government is deeply corrupt and thoroughly mendacious.

Poilievre needs to continue to hit back with the necessary ferocity and determination to win.