Economy
With no will for political union, Canada should consider economic union with the U.S.

From the Fraser Institute
According to an announcement on Friday by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, President Dondald Trump will implement a 25 per cent tariff on Canada and Mexico (and a 10 per cent tariff on China) beginning Saturday, Feb. 1.
Over the last few weeks, Canadian policymakers have been rather naïve in responding to Trump’s tariffs threats. They seem not to have figured out what Trump really wants (although perhaps no one knows what he really wants). But the Canadian side has focused on retaliatory measures, lobbying to ensure certain industries are exempt, and an advertising campaign to get consumers to prefer Canadian products—a “Made in Canada” preference.
It’s also been proposed that by lowering trade barriers between provinces, the Canadian economy can offset a trade war with the United States. But this raises the question—why hasn’t this already been done if it leads to such great benefit?
It’s clear that Canadians don’t want to be part of the U.S. However, given Canada’s dependency on the U.S. economy, Canada’s lagging productivity, the inefficiency of separate currencies, and the effect of changes in the Canadian-U.S. exchange rate on prices in Canada, it’s surprising that some kind of economic union with the U.S. is not being considered or even discussed. Or at least it does not appear to be something that politicians north of the border consider.
The post-war European enterprise can serve as a model for how Canada might approach the U.S. In Europe, the Germans remain German, the French remain French and the Dutch remain Dutch. This, despite the fact that the European enterprise has gone well beyond that of economic union. The Maastricht Treaty (1992) created the European Union (EU) by combining the three European Communities—the European Atomic Energy Community, the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community—into a single entity. While it set the stage for a single currency (the Euro), the Treaty was seen as a first step toward an eventual political union. While the EU has taken large steps toward political union, the enterprise is not going as well as envisioned. The United Kingdom left the EU principally because it did not want to take orders from Brussels. The U.K. was interested in an economic union, but not political union.
The lesson for Canada is clear—we do not want political union, but should be open to economic union with the U.S. This would essentially mean two things. First, eliminating the border with respect to trade in goods and services, and free movement of investment capital. Whether this would include labour would need to be addressed, although economists would argue that, from an efficiency point of view, it should. As a blueprint, one might begin with what’s referred to in Europe as the Schengen Area, which is a group of EU countries that have eliminated all internal border controls and established common entry and exist requirements. This would require that the effective border protects both Canada and the U.S. simultaneously—the northern U.S. border moves to the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic oceans. If a person qualifies to come to Canada, they automatically qualify to come into the U.S. and vice versa.
Second, monetary union under those circumstances makes a lot of sense. It would be simple to implement. For example, we might say that one Canadian dollar is on par with one U.S. dollar, or that it’s equal to US0.85 or 0.90. The exact value is less important as wages and other costs will adjust with increases in Canadian productivity that will then lead to increases in wages.
Finally, Trump insists that Canada commit 2 per cent of its GDP to defence. I would argue that, given a willingness to negotiate an economic union, and a commitment to increase defence spending to meet the 2 per cent target by 2030, would be sufficient to remove the Trumpian tariffs.
By agreeing to negotiate an economic union, Canada may convince the Trump administration to remove the tariffs. If an economic union were a threat to Canada’s viability, to our Dominion, then we do not deserve to be Canadian. I would venture that our national identity vis-à-vis the U.S. is strong enough to survive an economic union.

Cornelis “Kees” van Kooten
2025 Federal Election
Mark Carney is trying to market globalism as a ‘Canadian value.’ Will it work?

From LifeSiteNews
By Frank Wright
A campaign to appeal to national sentiment is a strange gambit for Liberals – committed as they are to the replacement of the nation with globalist policies.
The storm over Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs over the Canadian border crisis has been baked into a vote-winning meme by Canada’s Liberal Party. Yet with an election only weeks away on April 28, can a sentimental appeal to a vanished Canada secure a win for Mark Carney?
Trump’s tariffs were expected to hit Canada on Wednesday’s “Liberation Day,” refueling a furor over Canadian sovereignty which has led some to say this is “shaping up to be the trade war election.”
Responding to the tariffs, which ultimately never came to fruition in the way the Liberals were warning, a meme war broke out with Carney responding to harsh reality with a feelgood slogan.
Elbows up, Canada. pic.twitter.com/0gJ2opnPjZ
— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) March 22, 2025
“Elbows up!” is the new Current Thing in Canada, a media craze designed to stir nationalist indignation in elderly voters who may even remember the 1950s origin of the phrase.
The elbows refer to those of Gordie Howe – a 1950s hockey legend from Saskatchewan – a conservative province – and from a time when Canada was populated by Canadians.
It bears all the hallmarks of an “astroturf” campaign – intended to look authentic, but in reality a manufactured mass belief for marketing purposes.
“Elbows up” seeks to inspire a fighting mood against the threat – or promise – of tariffs on Canadian trade with the U.S.
Carney will ‘cave’
It is a classic example of the manipulation of popular feeling into political allegiance. How will the feelings of aging voters affect the imposition of tariffs? Not at all. Nor will the Canadian Prime Minister be able to stop them.
Insider reports say that Carney will “quietly cave” to Donald Trump over the issue, if the U.S. president does indeed go forward with them.
Prepare for the Carney ‘cave’ on trade with the USA
Ian Bremmer is the boss of Gerry Butts and Mark Carneys wife’s at Eurasia Group. He just told US decision makers that:
“I expect Ottawa will quietly fold shortly after the vote….”
Ian, sitting daily with Carneys inner… https://t.co/PVQIeUzuFQ
— David Knight Legg (@KnightLegg) March 27, 2025
Silence over ‘devastating’ Chinese tariffs caused by Trudeau
Why? Carney has no alternative. He has already “caved” – to China – over the same issue. “Devastating” Chinese tariffs took effect over a week ago in Canada, as Global News reported:
Canadian agricultural producers are warning of devastating impacts from new Chinese tariffs that began Thursday (March 20th), which they say will compound the economic strain from the U.S. trade war.
The tariffs are severe, and will have a dramatic impact – as China is Canada’s second-largest trading partner behind the United States.
“China has imposed a 100 per cent levy on Canadian canola oil and meal, as well as peas, plus a 25 per cent duty on seafood and pork,” the outlet reported.
These tariffs cannot be corrected by hockey memes, and are a response to tariffs placed on Chinese goods by Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Liberal Party – seeking election over outrage on tariffs – has created a tariff crisis, whose costs will be borne by the people who vote for them.
There are no “elbows up” against China. In fact, their tariffs have been greeted with silence from Carney, who has said U.S.-Canada relations are at an end.
Corruption, drug cartels in Canada
Anger at Donald Trump obscures the serious problems which prompted his suggestion that Canada could be absorbed into the United States. “Elbows Up” is a cool way of making Canadians look past the fact that the crisis they inhabit has been created by the Liberals and their globalist agenda.
On February 1, Trump issued an executive order “Imposing duties to address the flow of illicit drugs across our northern border.”
Terry Glavin, writing in January for Canada’s National Post, dismissed Trump’s earlier claims of a crisis over Canadian “border security and drug trafficking” as a “pretext” for his “…declared objective of exerting ‘economic force’ to annex Canada as the 51st American state.”
Yet this too appears to be a fantasy inspired by national sentiment – which simply ignores reality.
As LifeSiteNews reported, Canada’s second bank has laundered over 18 trillion dollars in the U.S. and Canada for Mexican and Chinese drug cartels. The world’s largest fentanyl factory was discovered in Vancouver in February.
Canada a ‘failed state’?
The serious issue of corruption by Chinese Triads combines with a picture of impotent Canadian law and border enforcement to suggest that Canada may be, as Glavin warned, “approaching failed-state status.” When the memes wear off, this is the reality faced by Canadian voters.
Canadians have complained since 2017 that life is too expensive to have a family.
Now “a generation” cannot afford a home, and many struggle to pay for groceries. Help is at hand, however.
Their Liberal government supports Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) – killing the elderly, poor and ill as healthcare – whilst promoting radical “gender” ideology to help sterilize children.
Will Carney come to the rescue?
Carney is a committed “Net Zero” fanatic, and is the kind of “Catholic” who fervently supports abortion.
His moral integrity is demonstrated further by the fact that his $25 billion “green” investment fund was located in Bermuda to dodge Canadian taxes.
As the Canadian Catholic Register cautions, “[Carney] is a well-connected globalist with deep ties to institutions such as the World Economic Forum, the United Nations, Bank for International Settlements, and the Financial Stability Board.”
Globalist ‘Canadian’ values
National identity is a strange appeal to make on behalf of a party which appears to be working hard to replace Canadians with immigrants, and which is now lead by a globalist technocrat.
It is the values of globalism, of course, which are presented to voters as “Canadian values”: open borders, LGBTQ “rights,” “gender” surgery and hormones for children, and the Net Zero deindustrialization program strongly supported by the Liberal leader Mark Carney.
How long can this appeal to save the nation of Canada from foreign influence convince Canadians to vote for more of the same? The Liberal Party has led Canada into crisis, presiding over corruption so severe that its police, judicial and border authorities are deemed incapable of being trusted by the USA.
This is not a charge made solely by the Trump administration, but also under Biden – with Antony Blinken pressing the matter of the insecurity of the Canadian border as far back as 2022. In the coming weeks, the real issues which have consigned Canada to a fond memory may well shrink the Liberal lead reported by the polls.
What do the polls say?
With some headlines trumpeting an “eight point lead” for the Liberals, others show a narrower advantage for the globalist Carney – and one leading firm has them tied with the Conservatives.
Abacus Data’s March 30 poll had both parties neck and neck at 39%. Abacus, who describe themselves as “Canada’s most sought-after, influential, and impactful polling firm,” “…were one of the most accurate pollsters conducting research during the 2021 Canadian election.”
A second poll shows a narrower lead, and a clear bonus for Carney for simply not being Justin Trudeau.
338 Canada showed a four point lead for the Liberals on March 31, and its graph clearly illustrates that their lead relies on disaffected NDP voters – and the collapse of the Bloc Quebecois vote.
Reality enters the chat
With the issues at home now overtaking Trump and his tariffs, the cost of living and those allied to mass migration such as housing are returning to the forefront of voters’ minds. The issue of reality – and who is the real Mark Carney – may well overtake the fake nationalism of “Elbows up.”
A campaign to appeal to national sentiment is a strange gambit for Liberals – committed as they are to the replacement of the nation with globalist policies – and of its people through mass immigration. Carney has been powerless to halt Chinese tariffs. He is powerless to halt those of Donald Trump.
If Canadians can see beyond cringe hockey memes these two issues are clearly a reaction to the actions and inaction of a Liberal-led Canada. This is the reason that Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is campaigning on the harm done to Canadians by the “lost Liberal decade.” If Canadians can be persuaded by the argument presented by reality, it seems unlikely they will vote for another – whatever the polls may say.
Business
‘Time To Make The Patient Better’: JD Vance Says ‘Big Transition’ Coming To American Economic Policy

JD Vance on “Rob Schmitt Tonight” discussing tariff results
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Hailey Gomez
Vice President JD Vance said Thursday on Newsmax that he believes Americans will “reap the benefits” of the economy as the Trump administration makes a “big transition” on tariffs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,679.39 points on Thursday, just a day after President Donald Trump announced reciprocal tariffs against nations charging imports from the U.S. On “Rob Schmitt Tonight,” Schmitt asked Vance about the stock market hit, asking how the White House felt about the “Liberation Day” move.
“We’re feeling good. Look, I frankly thought in some ways it could be worse in the markets, because this is a big transition. You saw what the President said earlier today. It’s like a patient who was very sick,” Vance said. “We did the operation, and now it’s time to make the patient better. That’s exactly what we’re doing. We have to remember that for 40 years, we’ve been doing this for 40 years.”
“American economic policy has rewarded people who ship jobs overseas. It’s taxed our workers. It’s made our supply chains more brittle, and it’s made our country less prosperous, less free and less secure,” Vance added.
Vance recalled that one of his children had been sick and needed antibiotics that were not made in the United States. The Vice President called it a “ridiculous thing” that some medicines invented in the country are no longer manufactured domestically.
“That’s fundamentally what this is about. The national security of manufacturing and making the things that we need, from steel to pharmaceuticals, antibiotics, and so forth, but also the good jobs that come along when you have economic policies that reward investing in America, rather than investing in foreign countries,” Vance said.
WATCH:
With a baseline 10% tariff placed on an estimated 60 countries, higher tariffs were applied to nations like China and Israel. For example, China, which has a 67% tariff on U.S. goods, will now face a 34% tariff from the U.S., while Israel, which has a 33% tariff, will face a 17% U.S. tariff.
“One bad day in the stock market, compared to what President Trump said earlier today, and I think he’s right about this. We’re going to have a booming stock market for a long time because we’re reinvesting in the United States of America. More importantly than that, of course, the people in Wall Street have done well,” Vance said.
“We want them to do well. But we care the most about American workers and about American small businesses, and they’re the ones who are really going to benefit from these policies,” Vance said.
The number of factories in the U.S., Vance said, has declined, adding that “millions of workers” have lost their jobs.
“My town [Middletown, Ohio], where you had 10,000 great American steel workers, and my town was one of the lucky ones, now probably has 1,500 steel workers in that factory because you had economic policies that rewarded shipping our jobs to China instead of investing in American workers,” Vance said. “President Trump ran on changing it. He promised he would change it, and now he has. I think Americans are going to reap the benefits.”
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