Wanderings – Putting our money where our mouths are

Watching the spectacle emanating from the U.S. White House with equal parts of awe, wonderment, and horror, it is astonishing to see 75 years of progress in trade, international relations, and trust get flushed down the drain in such a wholesale manner. The reality TV show of Donald Trump’s edicts is a show that should have been cancelled before the pilot was made. That said, we, the rest of the world have to navigate this mess.

Trump has made Canada one of his favourite whipping posts the way a high school bully would target the fat kid in every John Hughes teenage coming-of-age movie. Everything wrong in America is our fault. Illegal migrants – that’s our fault. Fentanyl pouring over the border and killing Americans – that’s us too. Taking advantage of those poor helpless American businesses in our trade agreements – yup, that’s us again.

These narratives feed the simplemindedness of the Trump machine. Five second buzzwords, nonsensical terms, un-factual claims disguised as news – this is the hallmark of a person repeating lies often enough to hope others believe it is the truth.

There is no need to fact check the words that come from the White House – assume it is all false. There is nothing you can trust about the current administration, especially in how it will deal with others.

In opposition to the threats of economic impact, tariffs, and overtures of annexing Canada to be an American state (no thanks), many are deciding to stop buying from the U.S. There’s an App for that when you are grocery shopping. Ontario Premier Doug Ford wants retailers to mark on the shelves what’s not American-made. And municipalities are looking at buying Canadian, and trying to not buy anything from the U.S. All this is great. But there some things that should be done, that our governments – specifically the federal government – are not doing, that will really put our money where our collective mouths are.

The Royal Canadian Air Force has a multi-year, multi-billion dollar contract for the F-35, joint strike fighter project. The replacement for the CF-188 fighter aircraft will cost $19 billion up-front and according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, has a lifetime cost of over $73 billion. Cancel it. Our friends in Sweden have the Saab Gripen, which finished second in the RCAF defence bidding, buy those.

A $19 billion kick in the shins for launching a trade war sounds appropriate. As for any cancellation costs, ignore them – rip up the agreements. Trump decided to rip up a three-nation free trade agreement due to his delusional idea that tariffs will make America rich again.

Canada is building three new Navy frigates as well. Remove the American military tech from the contracts and go with our European friends’ instead.

Federal and provincial governments are spending millions on advertising with U.S. social media companies like Meta. These same governments are using Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (still can’t call it X). Stop using those platforms. Stop spending Canadian tax money on advertising on those U.S. platforms.

Another easy way to hit the U.S. in this trade war – and one of Trump’s henchmen specifically – is to eliminate all federal electric vehicle incentives and credits for Tesla-made vehicles.

As Canada has a housing crisis, and softwood lumber exports to the U.S. are being tariffed at stupidly high rates, buy some of the supply for building homes in Canada. Call it an indirect subsidy or whatever you will? The States’ can’t tariff items that are not shipped to it in the first place.

Canadian comedian Mike Myers has re-introduced the hockey term “Elbows Up” as a form of protest against the U.S. and Trump. Perhaps the better term to use when looking to ways to battle back is “Digits Up” – preferably the third one.