When is a concession or a capitulation, not a concession or a capitulation?
Everyone in the Country agrees Supply Management is bad for Canadians. There are better ways to assist farmers, if farmers indeed need assistance.
And, yet, we insist on maintaining this Soviet style anachronism in order to placate a tiny cadre of self-interested, rent seeking economic ne’er-do-wells, in spite of the fact it impairs our own best interests and agitated our largest customer.
If we were really ruthless, and really grown up, we would unconditionally and unceremoniously dismantle this beast of a policy and keep our Country moving forward economically and sanely.
When Trump announced these latest tariffs I thought to myself: “They don’t want allies, nor friends nor good neighbours. They want vassals. I’m glad you used that term. That is not a word I thought we would use to describe diplomatic policy in the 21st century, but here we are. Trump wants vassals because it makes him feel powerful: vassals show up with tribute. Trump demands tribute; it is the price of entry. His administration is filled with people who are filled with adolescent views of what constitutes power and vassal states fit the bill.
100%. As Trump gets pummelled in Iran, he's going to go out of his way to crush anything he sees as weak, to distract and rescue his manhood. And we're the easiest, most obvious, punching bag. But as we've seen repeatedly, Trump punches everyone in the face no matter what they do. Resisting, we can at least save our self-respect and help galvanize some opposition and started to happen after Davos. (The EU has just slapped Google with a one billion dollar fine. That's the spirit.)
“I bet a prime minister that doesn’t have the balls to accept the consequences of keeping a bridge closed for a while is not generating the credibility required to re-order the Western alliance.”
There is no need to damage either bridge in Windsor. Just tear up a section of the road to and from the Ambassador bridge on the Canadian side. Declare it 'emergency infrastructure repair.' There is a nice new bridge not far away. Or the Blue Water bridge crossing if you don't mind the rerouting.
Exactly — another thing we caved on. The tolls on the new bridge are going to match the old one now (it was going to undercut). Thus protecting most of the Maroun family’s monopoly rents.
Oh, I have plans in my brain, sir. A Veep/Letterkenney style political comedy with the bridge as the underpinning narrative arc. Netflix, hook me up. JG
Jen, all I can say is, for fuck’s sake, bang on. For years, Matt has hammered us about our inability to do big stuff and now you tell us we’re friendly cowards. Two prophets in a basket.
Every word that you’ve written is, sadly, true, Jen. I am very worried about what happens next. We need to be brave and stand up for Canada. We have much to lose.
Thank you for calling this what it is: a lie. I see some news organizations are avoiding the use of the term, choosing instead to use synonyms for the word.
Jen… I have followed you and Matt since 2023. Once again, you have put down thoughts many of us are working to understand, including that we hope these ‘concessions’ are strategic on the PM’s part. Like you, I am guilty of having faith in our PM, however his reporting on the bridge agreement which seemed to differ significantly from the actual, was surprising, and in turn created doubt. I hope in time we better understand.
I’m not sure any politician rises to the level of having faith. With great power comes great responsibility, but that doesn’t mean the person with power is skilled in strategic analysis and has the willingness to rally a country to accept whatever costs are involved. Carney is a business man. Some conflicts are unavoidable in business, but generally businesses are built on compromise and trying to please as many stakeholders as possible. I don’t think this is what is right for this file at this time. But I guess I would be an asshole leader in many ways because I actually think Trump is a toothless old dog. And if he’s pushed hard enough he’ll escalate - but eventually those escalations would become so absurd that everyone would see he was old and toothless and he’d have to retreat or be replaced.
the dream is dead . . . there is no reason now to think we will be able to resist and survive . . . if we cannot negotiate ownership of a bridge successfully, why should we think as a country we should expect a different outcome in any upcoming trade negotiations . . .
Because with time US citizen agreement with tariffs will collapse. Businesses have been a bit cowardly on this front too. If they had all just turned around and passed the expense on to customers immediately the public support for tariffs would’ve crumbled. Because the simple fact is nobody in the US wants to work in a sweat shop seeing clothes. There are tons of jobs done elsewhere because people in the Us and Canada wouldn’t do them if they were here - or if they did they’d expect 3 times the wage, tripling the cost of things.
People’s wallets know when prices rise across the board. And people do often vote with their wallets and yell at politicians for the price their wallets have paid. Tariffs hurt consumers. Businesses swallowing them and reducing their own profits is a fools errand. I don’t know why they mostly have done that - we’re over a year into tariffs and a survey I read recently said that half of US businesses still haven’t passed the full cost of tariffs on to consumers.
When is a concession or a capitulation, not a concession or a capitulation?
Everyone in the Country agrees Supply Management is bad for Canadians. There are better ways to assist farmers, if farmers indeed need assistance.
And, yet, we insist on maintaining this Soviet style anachronism in order to placate a tiny cadre of self-interested, rent seeking economic ne’er-do-wells, in spite of the fact it impairs our own best interests and agitated our largest customer.
If we were really ruthless, and really grown up, we would unconditionally and unceremoniously dismantle this beast of a policy and keep our Country moving forward economically and sanely.
See my last column! JG
I try to read everything written by Jen Gerson that I can, so, perhaps, I may have missed one.
This essay is a manifesto, Jen. I have read it twice and I am going back for more.
Well done, friend.
When Trump announced these latest tariffs I thought to myself: “They don’t want allies, nor friends nor good neighbours. They want vassals. I’m glad you used that term. That is not a word I thought we would use to describe diplomatic policy in the 21st century, but here we are. Trump wants vassals because it makes him feel powerful: vassals show up with tribute. Trump demands tribute; it is the price of entry. His administration is filled with people who are filled with adolescent views of what constitutes power and vassal states fit the bill.
100%. As Trump gets pummelled in Iran, he's going to go out of his way to crush anything he sees as weak, to distract and rescue his manhood. And we're the easiest, most obvious, punching bag. But as we've seen repeatedly, Trump punches everyone in the face no matter what they do. Resisting, we can at least save our self-respect and help galvanize some opposition and started to happen after Davos. (The EU has just slapped Google with a one billion dollar fine. That's the spirit.)
“I bet a prime minister that doesn’t have the balls to accept the consequences of keeping a bridge closed for a while is not generating the credibility required to re-order the Western alliance.”
Simply brilliant.
There is no need to damage either bridge in Windsor. Just tear up a section of the road to and from the Ambassador bridge on the Canadian side. Declare it 'emergency infrastructure repair.' There is a nice new bridge not far away. Or the Blue Water bridge crossing if you don't mind the rerouting.
You can pay the Danegeld but you won’t get rid of the Dane…
You know what the most ruthless action would be vis a vis the bridge? $0 tolls for 15 years.
Here’s half of nothing fuckers, oh and your corrupt partner with the other bridge? Enjoy not having anybody paying for it because of the free bridge.
Great idea - but we can't do that either because the agreement we signed doesn't allow us to.
Fuck the agreement. $1 CAD toll, these are the Loonie Years.
Exactly — another thing we caved on. The tolls on the new bridge are going to match the old one now (it was going to undercut). Thus protecting most of the Maroun family’s monopoly rents.
If nothing else, The Bridge on the River Detroit would make a great CanCon film.
Oh, I have plans in my brain, sir. A Veep/Letterkenney style political comedy with the bridge as the underpinning narrative arc. Netflix, hook me up. JG
That was savage. Well done Jen! I've been getting tired of the Carney fluffing on the podcast.
That's OUR Jen!
Giving perfect voice to what so many of us are feeling ... ❤️🌹
Jen, all I can say is, for fuck’s sake, bang on. For years, Matt has hammered us about our inability to do big stuff and now you tell us we’re friendly cowards. Two prophets in a basket.
Every word that you’ve written is, sadly, true, Jen. I am very worried about what happens next. We need to be brave and stand up for Canada. We have much to lose.
Thank you for calling this what it is: a lie. I see some news organizations are avoiding the use of the term, choosing instead to use synonyms for the word.
Jen… I have followed you and Matt since 2023. Once again, you have put down thoughts many of us are working to understand, including that we hope these ‘concessions’ are strategic on the PM’s part. Like you, I am guilty of having faith in our PM, however his reporting on the bridge agreement which seemed to differ significantly from the actual, was surprising, and in turn created doubt. I hope in time we better understand.
I’m not sure any politician rises to the level of having faith. With great power comes great responsibility, but that doesn’t mean the person with power is skilled in strategic analysis and has the willingness to rally a country to accept whatever costs are involved. Carney is a business man. Some conflicts are unavoidable in business, but generally businesses are built on compromise and trying to please as many stakeholders as possible. I don’t think this is what is right for this file at this time. But I guess I would be an asshole leader in many ways because I actually think Trump is a toothless old dog. And if he’s pushed hard enough he’ll escalate - but eventually those escalations would become so absurd that everyone would see he was old and toothless and he’d have to retreat or be replaced.
the dream is dead . . . there is no reason now to think we will be able to resist and survive . . . if we cannot negotiate ownership of a bridge successfully, why should we think as a country we should expect a different outcome in any upcoming trade negotiations . . .
Because with time US citizen agreement with tariffs will collapse. Businesses have been a bit cowardly on this front too. If they had all just turned around and passed the expense on to customers immediately the public support for tariffs would’ve crumbled. Because the simple fact is nobody in the US wants to work in a sweat shop seeing clothes. There are tons of jobs done elsewhere because people in the Us and Canada wouldn’t do them if they were here - or if they did they’d expect 3 times the wage, tripling the cost of things.
People’s wallets know when prices rise across the board. And people do often vote with their wallets and yell at politicians for the price their wallets have paid. Tariffs hurt consumers. Businesses swallowing them and reducing their own profits is a fools errand. I don’t know why they mostly have done that - we’re over a year into tariffs and a survey I read recently said that half of US businesses still haven’t passed the full cost of tariffs on to consumers.
Well said Jen!
And that photo is nails 😆