WARMINGTON: With elbows down on U.S.-Canada trade tiff, time to raise glass of bourbon again
Premier Doug Ford hasn't announced his intentions, but there would be no better show of goodwill than to drop the U.S. hooch ban.
Article content
Now that Canada has decided to put its elbows down, it’s time to say to our American bourbon and whisky producers, “bottoms up.”
And put our hands out to shake with our best friends to the south.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
WARMINGTON: With elbows down on U.S.-Canada trade tiff, time to raise glass of bourbon again Back to video
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Yes, since Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced there will be no more punitive counter-tariffs on most items in response to Trump’s U.S. tariffs, the next move should be getting American bourbon, whisky and wine back on the LCBO and Ontario store shelves.
After Carney’s announcement, there was no reversal of this as of Friday afternoon. Premier Doug Ford’s media spokesperson Grace Lee said “no announcement” on this was coming on this day. But stay tuned. Perhaps it will be coming. What’s the point in keeping the ban? What’s the need to keep the boycott going? Why would Quebec, Ontario or any province either throw out or give away their excess American stock?
If the prime minister says there is no strategy to deal with President Donald Trump and team in the trade wars, then end hostilities and punishing trade measures immediately. And sell that quality product that normally ages well with time.
LCBO staff placing the American hooch back on the shelves certainly would be a good photo opp like it was when the crew in March took the U.S. bottles off the shelf. (One of my videos that captured that moment had more than 10 million hits on social media. It will be neat to see if there’s as much reaction to a re-stocking media moment.)
It will also be interesting to see what Ford decides to do. On one hand, it’s the right move to drop those punitive measures since the prime minister has lowered his earlier rhetoric.
On the other hand, Ford has vowed to fight Trump on his efforts to harm Canada and Ontario, even with the constant suggestions from Trump that Canada should become the 51st state. Even this week, Ford reiterated that desire to push back on Trump. And he showed a little fight still in him Friday when he posted on social-media site X, “If the federal government can’t achieve” an overall deal with the U.S., “they need to hit back hard against U.S. tariffs and provide additional supports for the workers and businesses in these sectors” and to “move fast to ensure Ontario steel is helping to build the future of Canada.”
Will Ford stand with the prime minister who changed his tact, or will he now battle on and maybe even go for the leadership to challenge him in an election down the road?
Time will tell.
Ford deciding to restock American booze back on the shelves in Ontario would be a sign of good will. Something has to happen. We can’t keep going on with a cold war like this on both a business and personal basis. The ‘Canada First’ approach is not all bad, but there is reality that we need the American market, security and investment and they need our energy and resources.
It’s always been a win-win and it needs to be again. They buy our products, we buy theirs. We go to their cities and destinations and they come to ours.
It’s got to get back to that as soon as possible.
A good place to start would be in the border communities. As the Sun‘s Brian Lilley wrote this week, Buffalo misses their Canadian friends coming over the bridge regularly and places like Niagara Falls have noticed fewer Americans as well.
In Alexandria Bay, N.Y. in the Thousand Islands, say they notice very few Canadians now and they not only wish to get back their business, they also treasure the close friendship that has been there for a century.
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Maybe this move by Carney will help with this.
Nothing warms up or grows with a cold war. The only way to get both economies hot is for the Americans and Canadians to work together as Mr. Wonderful, Kevin O’Leary, has said from the beginning.
The two countries working together could be an economic juggernaut. It wouldn’t be just good for Brookfield stock but for everybody. Perhaps it’s time the two sides raise a toast of Jim Beam or Jack Daniels along with Canadian Club and Gibson’s Finest and salute each other.
After all of the past months of battling each other, there are a lot of people on both sides of the border ready for a drink.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.