- cross-posted to:
- world@quokk.au
- cross-posted to:
- world@quokk.au
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Trading primarily with the United States instead of building other trade partnerships has been our weakness since the Avro Arrow was cancelled. It’s about time our leaders started trying to do something about it.
This is why Charles de Gaulle was onto something when he built France to be more independent and resilient to outside influence. He had many flaws, but that was not one of them.
Without naming the opposition Conservatives, Carney seemed to allude to them when he said there are “some who say there’s no need for a comprehensive plan” –- that Canadians should “wait it out” in the hope that U.S. relations will go back to how they were in the “good old days.”
He pointed out that young Canadians have experienced no such good days – their entire lives having been impacted by the shocks and crises of global wars, financial strife and COVID-19.
People should be worried about politicians with no plans for a better future, and politicians that do not react to crisis.
Sitting on their thumbs and intervening only so their cronies can profit should be a huge red flag. Sadly, they keep getting elected with a minority of votes.That should be their slogan, Conservatives: we do nothing and pray better times come.
good old days.
If the Cons want to relive 1814 then passivity isn’t the way to do that.
As opposed to those with plans… but just to do the same thing they’ve always done just with a slightly less odious partner this time.
Damn right. And the solution isn’t to substitute another unreliable trading partner like China. By all means, make deals that make sense, and I think for the most part China will keep them, until they don’t. They will always look to gain an advantage and wield the hammer when it suits them, including hostage diplomacy. I have more confidence in Europe, Indo-Pacific, and expanding new markets in Africa and South America.
But strengthening self-reliance and removing internal barriers can only pay dividends. And working with reliable partners that keep their agreements is the only way forward. The only thing that has long term value in trade is trust.
Trading with China is fine, just not putting all our eggs in the China basket. As long as they’re one trade partner among many it’s a much more equal relationship.
But yeah, favouring internal trade should be a priority.
Diversify, diversify, diversify. And don’t be too dependent on outside stuff. The neoliberal shit needs to end. All it took is one jackass to bring it all down.
It’s not substitution, it’s expansion. It’s better to have more options, even (or especially) when some are unreliable.
Completely agree with your points, though.
That’s what he ran his election on. But his tenure has suggested he doesn’t believe that.
US here… when trapped in a room with a rabid hyena, I suspect the best course of action is to slowly and carefully search for the door. my limited view of canadian news indicates thats what is happening. what am I missing?
Luckily, this is the world at large and not a room with hyena in it. Also, we all know where the fucking door is, it’s actually right behind us, we’re all just too scared to open it.
We’re already so far behind and more of this centrist “being careful” stuff is not only cowardly, but it’s never actually even worked for much more than delaying, and intensifying, the issues. Far too many people believe that anything done by “the left” must be dreamland stuff that we can’t possibly actually do. You press them on it and it quickly becomes clear that it’s all just baseless, vibes-based nonsense which is rooted in what can only be considerer a hostage situation that they keep supporting.
We need to focus on making ourselves stronger. We need to expand and reinforce the rights of workers, make real effort to tackle the housing crisis(supply of houses no one can afford will change nothing), start making trade connections with reliable countries, and for fuck’s sake we have to start taxing the rich and corporations. Carney is doing the opposite of those things, but the average Canadian has the economic understanding of a toddler so here we are.
understood and agreed. thanks for the excellent response.
edit: the enormity of the problem can make incrementalism seem like an acceptable drug.
what am I missing?
Only that people want fast simple fixes to large complex problems that took decades to build.
And some seem to think that we should sever all ties to the US, which is not something he campaigned on, and is also not possible.
Bugs Bunny getting out the land mass separation saw
This is the rhetoric that keeps getting repeated, so it’s totally understandable that from an outside perspective, one might expect that it’s what’s happening … but the actions of the government tell a completely different story.
They have been deepening integration at nearly every turn.
Here’s our Minister of Natural Resources telling the business readers of our paper of record not to worry, this is all going to be fine: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-tim-hodgson-donald-trump-us-stakes-canadian-critical-mineral-companies/
Like, the president of friggin’ Palantir Canada is on the PM’s Council for Canada-US Relations.
We upped our military spending to 2% of our GDP to satisfy Trump’s demands of NATO and we are now promising to 2.5x that number to 5% of GDP, also demanded by Trump. https://globalnews.ca/news/11115774/canada-election-defence-spending-nato-trump/
Carney dropped the Digital Services Tax - at quite literally the 11th hour - for zero reason other than appeasement of US tech oligarchs.
We continue to stay in queue for US-made (and US-controlled) F-35s that will not help us defensively against a US incursion.
Earlier this year, our government brought armoured-vehicle manufacturer Roshel on a trade mission to the US. Roshel had already signed contracts with ICE at that point.
Our “AI champion”, Cohere, runs most of their shit on top of Palantir’s software.
At least one of the “major projects” for “nation-building” being rammed through by the Liberals is the Ksi Lisims LNG project, an export facility floating off our west coast that will be 100% US-owned: https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/03/25/opinion/ksi-lisims-lng-investment-decision
thank you very much for the excellent reply and the links.
This. Canadians are being walked down the garden path with patriotic rhetoric and fear to motivate us, but it’s not leading where we’re being promised. People will wake up in ten years and realize we’re deeper than ever in the US security architecture and with more foreign ownership in critical industries.
Politicians are linking our economy further with the US.
Setting up ways to ignore regulations that they say is to get other countries to invest but refuse to limit US involvement in it.
Cool, then why continue to support their war in Iran and not decry it?
Why not reinstate the digital services tax?
Why not protect our public health care by enforcing the Canada Health Act?
All Carney is doing is making us more like the U.S., and I’d like to see him do more than posturing. Congrats, you got a deal with China… What else have you done to sever ties?
We definitely need to have sovereignty over our resources. It’s time to nationalize our oil exports and start refining here at home. Reliance on trading has put us at a stark disadvantage. Our country could be so much more prosperous, instead we’re exporting profits along with the resources.
Orr, we can ditch oil and gas like scientific evidence has proven countless times to be what we should be doing, and instead build on renewables.
If I’m not going to see the government using oil profits to benefit the everyday man, then then I say fuck the oil and gas industry. They fuck the worker over by replacing them with automation, and leave the taxpayer to pay for their mess such as with the oil well cleanups here in Alberta.
Rose tinted glasses
A friendly reminder that Carney also declared China Canada’s ‘biggest security threat’ in April 2025, while he is now selling Canada to China. He is replacing one unreliable partner with another unreliable partner. The Chinese Communist Party can never be a ‘strategic partner’ as Carney now says, as Beijing will gain advantage as soon as possible.
Canada risks to weaken itself and damage its ties with democratic allies in Europe and the Indo-Pacific if it collaborates with countries like China.
I don’t see how this holds, Europe already allows chinese vehicles so what are you talking about. We are not forming an alliance and he’s said that previously. It’s cars and open visas for more trade that benefits farmers in the west but you speak as if we formed a military alliance.
Again, do you post anything that doesn’t have to do with China?
Sure, but there are a lot of people here that post only pro-China propaganda and/or posts that make Canada look bad.
Whataboutism at it’s finest. “Other people engage in similar behaviour, so is what I’m doing really that bad or annoying?”
I’ll just stop bothering while I have the opportunity to do so.
I’ll just stop bothering while I have the opportunity to do so.
Did you just threaten yourself?
