OPINION: Rally ’round the flag
O Canada! Not so passive anymore |
Ryan Montgomery, Staff Writer |
Canadians are not a typically nationalistic bunch. As a whole, flag-waving, fist pumping, and screaming til you’re red-white-and-blue in the face puts a bad taste in our mouths. Much too… American for our sensibilities. Or, that was, until Feb. 1, 2025.
It was then that President Donald Trump signed an executive order placing a 25 per cent tariff on all goods coming from Canada, and a 10 per cent tariff on energy. Now, if you’ll permit me a bit of boring policy talk for a bit because they won’t let me write this unless it’s educational, it’s worthwhile to go over exactly what a tariff is because if you read Elon’s Twitter replies, it seems no one really knows.
A tariff is a tax placed on imported goods. For the sake of explanation: you, as an American entrepreneur, want to buy your goods from China because it’s so much cheaper when labour laws are secondary to human rights. However, Uncle Sam wants you to buy American goods to fuel American jobs, so the federal government places a tariff on goods coming from China. This means you now have to pay the price of the Chinese goods you bought, plus the price of the tariffs. In short, you pay the tariff.
So, when President Trump says he’s going to place a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods, (their largest trading partner mind you) this means that the price of all imports from Canada will increase by 25 per cent. Alberta crude oil? 25 per cent more expensive. Ontario car parts? 25 per cent more expensive. Overpriced maple syrup in novelty maple leaf bottles meant as a scam for gullible tourists? 25 per cent more expensive. In America.
Discussing these tariffs in any rational way gives them more credit than they are due. Trump gave various reasons for threatening to essentially tank the Canadian economy.
First, the commander-in-chief drew an issue with the Canadian-U.S. trade deficit. Trump, assumedly having asked ChatGPT to name him a big dramatic number, claimed that the deficit was a staggering $250 billion U.S. This is in spite of the fact that in 2023, the actual number was $64 billion U.S. Where Trump found this extra $196 billion, I’m sure the CRA would love to know.
Then, after the trade deficit, came border security and drugs. Trump claimed that the northern border was a hotbed of drugs and illegal immigrants. Additionally, Trump claimed the tariffs were to “combat the scourge of fentanyl.” A noble end no doubt, if not for the fact that only 43 pounds, less than one per cent of fentanyl in the U.S. comes across the Canadian border. Then after drugs, Trump made up that American banks couldn’t operate in Canada, which is something that isn’t true.
With the spectre of economic devastation looming above the Great White North, questions floated about how Canadians would react. Would they bicker among themselves and splinter? Would they cave to U.S. demands and sheepishly give Trump his 51st state? The unity of the country, especially after the past few years of increasing partisan polarization, was left in question.
In a patriotic turn of events that was by no means surprising, Canadians of every province, language, party, and background rallied against American aggression. One of the major causes of this was Trump’s repeated insistence that Canada would become the 51st state. Canadians, collectively remembering the view of the White House burning through their ancestor’s eyes, unified wholeheartedly against Trump and his tariffs.
In heartwarming Canadian fashion, this newfound surge of patriotism found no louder home than in that of the good ol’ hockey game. Across North America, in Ottawa, Vancouver, and Montreal, hockey fans fervently booed and jeered the star-spangled banner. Where once drunk NHL fans stood silent with their hands over their hearts and their team-branded hats solemnly removed from their heads. Now, the deafening roar of national displeasure drained out the feeble voices of singers wishing they had taken another gig. Even Raptors fans got involved when they booed the U.S. anthem at a Feb. 2 NBA game. Hopefully, come the opening of the 2025 Major League Baseball (MLB) series, Blue Jays fans will join in and we can get the anthem-booing three-peat.
This rinkside patriotism found its zenith at the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off. A nail-biting, heart-pounding, conflict between Canada, America, and the broadly irrelevant teams of Sweden and Finland. While the American team beat the Canadians in their first showdown in Montreal, the Canadians rallied in the final game held in Boston.
With national pride and our hockey cred on the line, Canadians from coast to coast to coast said their prayers to our heavenly centre, Connor McJesus. With his pants-soiling overtime goal, the Canucks beat the Yanks. Glorious.
The great Canadian tariff war did not end at the stadium doors, it also extended to the liquor store. Canadians, doing what they do best, heard there was a fight and ran to buy booze. What ensued could only be described as a purge of prohibition-era proportions. Across the country, American liquors were dragged from shelves in a surge of patriotic fervour. The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), one of the largest liquor purchasers in the world, announced they would cease the sale of American liquor indefinitely.
The same occurred in British Columbia with government liquor stores pulling red-state-produced liquor from their shelves. It was also at this time that many jingoistic canucks tragically learned how many of their favourite types of liquor came from America. Bourbon and Jack Daniels and White Claws, Oh my!
Since February, it’s been True North strong and free, the maple leaf forever, and no one knows what the hell a mile is (insert triumphant goose honk here).
Many questions still stand as to what will happen next. The dreaded date of the return of tariffs—March 4—is now upon us, where in the early hours of that morning, U.S. tariffs came into effect, and so did the Canadian response.
In a decisive move, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that if Trump’s tariffs remain in place, Canada will hit back hard with retaliatory measures: 25 per cent tariffs on up to $155 billion of U.S. goods. The first, covering $30 billion worth of products immediately, with additional countermeasures on the remaining $125 billion in 21 days time.
Maybe tomorrow Trump will change his mind and announce Hawaii is the 11th province, there’s really no way to tell.
In such an uncertain time, it’s nice to cling to a few undeniable truths. Hockey is still our game, our beer is still stronger, and we’ll never be the 51st state. RAH!
Ryan Montgomery is a Staff Writer for The Reflector 2024-2025.
