The best response to unfair tariffs is to build the Canada we want

This op-ed was written by Council Chairperson John Cartwright and published in the Hamilton Spectator on March 18, 2025.

The chaos we all expected with Donald Trump’s presidency is upon us.

There will be four years of unhinged tyranny at home, and aggression against countries that Trump imagines he has a score to settle with across the rest of the world.

His threats of across-the-board tariffs were delayed slightly, but everyone knows whatever happens won’t be pretty. The first victim is Canadian steel and aluminum. Trump’s destructive trade war will impact on thousands of front-line workers in these vital industries and communities across the country. There will be a lot of pain, but here are four urgent actions that Canada should undertake right now.

First, the immediate strengthening of the Employment Insurance system to support all impacted workers. Instead of coming up with a temporary CERB-style fix, EI should be restored to a truly universal program that provides benefits to all workers impacted today and provide a safety net to those who lose their jobs throughout varying economic cycles in the future. Canadian workers struggled since Great Depression to win this major program that once allowed more than 80 per cent of the jobless to draw benefits, but it has been shredded by successive Conservative and Liberal governments to the point where is covers less than a third of people out of a job. It’s time to fix EI.

Second, the application of significant export taxes for products that the American economy relies on, including all forms of energy and vital products such as potash. This is a hugely contentious question, and the business lobby is very hesitant to apply this measure. The premier of Alberta threatens everything short of civil war if Canada puts a price on oil and gas, but cares nothing about workers in Hamilton or Sault Ste. Marie. Pierre Poilievre has no interest in taxing the oil barons that support his party. But export taxes, as we have seen with Doug Ford’s brief use on Ontario electricity, will provide bargaining leverage with the Trump administration as well as provide funding for the safety net that Canadians will need.

Third, the application of a “Made in Canada Matters” policy for public procurement of Canadian goods and services by every level of government and publicly funded organization in the country. Our policymakers gave up any preference for Canadian purchasing due to NAFTA and the World Trade Organization rulings, while the Americans have continued to insist on “Made in USA” rules in every jurisdiction. Transit vehicles must have 70 per cent American content to get U.S. federal funding, which is why Canadian companies like New Flyer and Bombardier had to set up plants in the U.S.

Updating our approach will help restore the capacity of our industries to diversify and to supply Canadian public and private sectors, as well as public enterprises. And it’s important to note that this should also apply to services — from information and data to care services — that are a growing part of our economy.

Fourth, the development of major programs for public infrastructure and to build nonmarket housing — non-profits, co-op and social housing across the country. This is absolutely needed to deal with the out-of-control housing market that have driven rents and prices out of reach of an entire generation. Such a program will provide a market for Canadian wood, steel and aluminum and other essential building materials, as well as provide permanently affordable housing for hundreds of thousands of Canadians.

There is now a massive downturn in residential construction in most cities, and many skilled workers sitting at home. Done right, this approach would put those skills back into use to craft energy-efficient buildings with Canadian-made heat pumps and building products.

It’s past time for a new economic and industrial strategy for this place we call Canada. To paraphrase the slogan of the billionaire neo-liberals — don’t let this crisis go to waste. Instead, let’s build the Canada we want!

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Getting from the Canada We’ve Got to the Canada We Want

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