"The old NAFTA contained an energy proportionality provision that limited Canada’s flexibility around energy exports.
That provision disappeared when NAFTA was replaced by CUSMA."
Wow, so Brian Mulroney signed the trade deal that limited Canada's energy exports. When one considers how Poilievre has whined like old gears about oil, this takes on new context.
CUSMA eliminated this provision. No wonder the red-hats are pissing mad about Canada accelerating energy exports to non US refineries.
Canada's sovereignty is not negotiable.
And that weird Jivani guy has some sort of relationship with JD Eyeliner, and apparently is trying to 'help'.
Thank goodness our negotiating team, and Prime Minister, are holding the line.
I refuse to call it "Trump's Administration". Shouldn't it be described as "Trump's Regime"?
It's a regime filled with boot-licking, butt-kissing sycophants. Billionaires and maybe one trillionaire who feel that they don't have enough wealth. Led by a totally corrupt, convicted felon, demented, 80-year old self-proclaimed "stable genius" who by many accounts is insane. So, "regime" is my description of choice.
His Republican Senators and Congressmen/Congresswomen are complicit because too many of them are enablers and lackeys of Trump.
Having said this, I know from our previous travels south in our little camper van, there are many good people in the US. Once Trump was elected, all our trips to the US stopped.
But one thing nags me a lot: after January 6, how could Trump possibly be elected once again?
And yes, there WAS a friendship, but it's going to take many years to repair, perhaps a generation or two.
I expect more from Canadian news, and we've debated the US ownership of our news distribution and publishing to the point where it feels like screaming in the wind. You ARE spot on, and we need to make biased reporting unpopular, and unprofitable. Therein lies the foundation of non controlled media, and private contributors.
We weren't just countries that traded with each other.
We built continental defence together, fought alongside each other, raised families across that border and spent generations assuming the friendship would still be there tomorrow.
I don't think all of that goodwill is permanently gone.
But **trust has been badly damaged...
and whoever eventually tries to rebuild it is going to discover...
trust takes a hell of a lot longer to restore than it does to destroy.**
I think the only question I’m left with after this is how we’re going to fill the gaps left by walking away
I know we’re making deals with Europe and Asia but thinking more closer to home it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try and fill any gaps left by expanding trade further with Mexico in any way we need to
Then again I’m a dunce when it comes to trade policy so it’s not like I even know if that’s possible or not
This, I did not know.
"The old NAFTA contained an energy proportionality provision that limited Canada’s flexibility around energy exports.
That provision disappeared when NAFTA was replaced by CUSMA."
Wow, so Brian Mulroney signed the trade deal that limited Canada's energy exports. When one considers how Poilievre has whined like old gears about oil, this takes on new context.
CUSMA eliminated this provision. No wonder the red-hats are pissing mad about Canada accelerating energy exports to non US refineries.
Canada's sovereignty is not negotiable.
And that weird Jivani guy has some sort of relationship with JD Eyeliner, and apparently is trying to 'help'.
Thank goodness our negotiating team, and Prime Minister, are holding the line.
Now, it's our turn.
Make Boycotts Great Again.
Pete, that NAFTA provision surprised me too when I dug into it.
And you're right...
it puts today's energy-diversification argument into a much bigger historical context.
Whatever Canadians think about pipelines, oil or any particular government, there's a principle here that should cross party lines...
**Canada should decide where Canadian resources are sold. Period.**
That's why I think this moment is bigger than Trump.
We spent decades building an economy overwhelmingly pointed south.
Now we're finally discovering the price of having too few doors.
Build the ports.
Build the infrastructure.
Find more customers.
And I'll admit it…
**“Make Boycotts Great Again” gave this old geezer a chuckle. 😂🇨🇦**
You are right. But at that time Canada did not have any choice but to transport oil by pipeline to the US. We have more options now.
Exactly, Kevin.
That's an important distinction.
For much of our history, geography and infrastructure made the U.S. the obvious...
and often only practical...
destination for enormous amounts of Canadian energy.
**The mistake would be acting as though that still has to be our only choice.**
We have Pacific access through Trans Mountain now...
and we're finally talking seriously about more ports, pipelines, LNG and trade infrastructure serving other markets.
I'm not interested in blaming Canada for the decisions that made sense 30 years ago.
I'm interested in making damn sure **we have more choices 30 years from now.**
Exactly!
Thanks Fred. Thoughtful and clearly stated as always.
Trump’s Administration has destroyed our friendship. Absolutely appalling
I hear you, Gordon.
That's the part I find hardest to watch.
This was never just a trading relationship.
Canadians and Americans have been neighbours, friends, allies and family across that border for generations.
Governments can eventually repair trade agreements.
**Trust is a hell of a lot harder to rebuild.**
And I don't blame ordinary Americans for what their government is doing.
A great many of them are watching this mess with the same disbelief we are.
Someday Trump will be gone.
**Canada and America will still be neighbours...
I hope we remember that when it's time to repair what he's damaged.**
I refuse to call it "Trump's Administration". Shouldn't it be described as "Trump's Regime"?
It's a regime filled with boot-licking, butt-kissing sycophants. Billionaires and maybe one trillionaire who feel that they don't have enough wealth. Led by a totally corrupt, convicted felon, demented, 80-year old self-proclaimed "stable genius" who by many accounts is insane. So, "regime" is my description of choice.
His Republican Senators and Congressmen/Congresswomen are complicit because too many of them are enablers and lackeys of Trump.
Having said this, I know from our previous travels south in our little camper van, there are many good people in the US. Once Trump was elected, all our trips to the US stopped.
But one thing nags me a lot: after January 6, how could Trump possibly be elected once again?
And yes, there WAS a friendship, but it's going to take many years to repair, perhaps a generation or two.
Jerry, that last question is the one historians are going to wrestle with for a very long time.
After January 6, after everything Americans had already seen, **how did enough voters decide to hand him the keys again?**
And I agree with your other important point...
we shouldn't confuse the American government with the American people.
I've met too many decent Americans to do that.
But something fundamental has changed for me too.
I no longer believe Canada can build its future on the assumption that the United States will always be the predictable friend we grew up beside.
Trump will eventually be gone.
Geography won't be.
So we'll remain neighbours, and hopefully friends again.
**But Canada should never again confuse friendship with dependence.**
A Fascist one!
That was an annexation agreement and im furious. And why is canadian news reporting what the US regime is saying without corrections
Cat, I understand why you're furious.
I wouldn't literally call the document an “annexation agreement” because we haven't seen enough of the proposed text to prove that.
But when another country wants a say over **who Canada can make future trade agreements with**, Carney was right to call it a sovereignty issue.
And on the media... I actually want Canadian journalists reporting what the Americans are saying.
**But don't stop there.**
Tell us what Washington claims.
Then tell us what Ottawa claims.
Then dig into the evidence, explain what the disputed terms actually mean, and tell Canadians what can and cannot be verified.
Repeating a government statement isn't journalism's final job.
**It's where the journalism is supposed to start.**
I expect more from Canadian news, and we've debated the US ownership of our news distribution and publishing to the point where it feels like screaming in the wind. You ARE spot on, and we need to make biased reporting unpopular, and unprofitable. Therein lies the foundation of non controlled media, and private contributors.
Agreed. Centuries of good will gone
Yes, Gordon.
And that's what makes this so damn sad.
We weren't just countries that traded with each other.
We built continental defence together, fought alongside each other, raised families across that border and spent generations assuming the friendship would still be there tomorrow.
I don't think all of that goodwill is permanently gone.
But **trust has been badly damaged...
and whoever eventually tries to rebuild it is going to discover...
trust takes a hell of a lot longer to restore than it does to destroy.**
I think the only question I’m left with after this is how we’re going to fill the gaps left by walking away
I know we’re making deals with Europe and Asia but thinking more closer to home it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try and fill any gaps left by expanding trade further with Mexico in any way we need to
Then again I’m a dunce when it comes to trade policy so it’s not like I even know if that’s possible or not
Kyle, don't sell yourself short...
that's exactly the question Canadians should be asking now.
Mexico absolutely belongs in this conversation.
We're already CUSMA partners, and there are plenty of areas where stronger Canada-Mexico trade and investment could make sense.
But I don't think we're going to replace one giant American customer with another giant customer somewhere else.
**The whole point is not needing one.**
Mexico.
Europe.
Asia.
The UK. Indo-Pacific markets.
And a hell of a lot more trade between Canadian provinces while we're at it.
Some American trade will remain because geography makes it sensible.
What Canada needs to eliminate isn't trade with America.
**It's dependence on America.**
You're asking a very important question. No dunce granted. We all are attempting to read pages and chapters ahead of where the country goes.
Exactly, Pete.
That's where I am too.
Nobody has the next chapters in front of them.
We're watching Canada make decisions today that could shape the country for decades.
That's why I love questions like Kyle's.
We don't need to pretend we have all the answers.
**We need Canadians asking the right questions, comparing what we know, and thinking a few moves ahead.**
That's half the reason I write this stuff.
And increasingly...
the smartest part of the article shows up down here in the comments.