You can’t blame people for tuning out of politics because of the sneaky, self-serving and mealy-mouthed way politicians sometimes do things.
But maybe part of the problem is we don’t give enough credit to politicians when they do behave honourably.
So let’s offer some credit today, and maybe a little bit of criticism.
The issue in play should be familiar to you by now — the escalating trade war between Canada and the United States.
There are some out there apt to side with U.S. President Donald Trump’s criticism of Liberal Premier Justin Trudeau as being weak simply because they share those sentiments. Some might even share Trump’s view that Canadian supply management, especially as it is applied to the Canadian dairy industry, is wrong.
And those of a partisan nature might go as far as to see such criticism as a political opportunity to advance either the Conservatives’ or New Democrats’ political cause.
This is troubling. There is too much at stake. Here are the realities.
For as wrong-headed subsidies to the Canadian dairy industry may be in the view of some people, the 270-per-cent tariffs Trump speaks of only apply to some products in special circumstances of over supply. Both countries provide subsidies and they are about equal.
In fact, we should be aware of Trump’s hypocrisy, given the United States’ $349 billion in subsidies to its own agriculture industry in the past 20 years.
Contrary to Trump’s message to his base about how unfairly the United States is treated by the rest of the world, consider the average tariff rate of all G-7 nations: United States - 1.6 per cent; European Union - 1.6 per cent; United Kingdom - 1.6 per cent; Italy - 1.6 per cent; Germany - 1.6 per cent; France - 1.6 per cent, Japan - 1.4 per cent, and; Canada - .8 per cent.
Yes, on average, Americans — and virtually everyone else — charges twice the tariffs as Canadians.
A massive trade deficit? Trump is incapable of telling the truth. Here are the real numbers for 2017: Canada’s U.S. exports were $341.2 billion compared with $332.8 billion in Canadian imports from the United States. The Americans enjoyed an $8.4 billion surplus in total goods and services trade.
But we are straying from the point of this column — those politicians who have stood tall in the face of these unfair tariffs.
In last week’s column, credit was given to Premier Scott Moe and his predecessor Brad Wall for skipping past partisan opportunities to take shots at Trudeau and standing firm against the tariffs from the very beginning.
Conservative Opposition leader Andrew Scheer was rightly criticized for initially taking cheap shots at Trudeau and the federal government for not doing enough to protect aluminum and steel. But since then, Scheer appears to have seen the error of his ways and has sent out strong signals of opposition to Trump’s tariffs.
Perhaps those Conservatives advising Trudeau behind the scenes — former leaders and ministers like Brian Mulroney, Rona Ambrose and Perrin Beatty — have spoken to Scheer.
It’s a message that can’t be repeated enough to Scheer’s followers who also need to know that former prime minister Stephen Harper, Alberta UCP leader Jason Kenney and newly elected Conservative premier Doug Ford of Ontario are all strongly opposed to the tariffs.
Also credit the provincial and federal NDP for doing what the Conservatives and Liberals are doing — standing up for the nation.
Yes, there has been slippage.
Saskatchewan NDP leader Ryan Meili initially tried to tie Doug Ford’s admiration of Trump (pre-tariff) to Moe’s eagerness to have Ford’s support in the carbon tax.
And the Sask. Party is now clumsily soliciting support by tying the tariffs to the Liberal/NDP carbon tax in online petitions.
But overall, politicians deserve credit.
