LILLEY: Canada needs to change its economic path to stay independent

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Canada has a decision to make.

Do we want to radically alter how we conduct business in this country, or do we want to stick with the status quo and let Donald Trump steamroll us until we go bankrupt?

In my view, we need a radical change, and the folks who have done the most to get us into this mess can’t be trusted to get us out of it. Whether we are talking about Justin Trudeau, who is on his way out, or his former advisors – Chrystia Freeland and Mark Carney – none of them can be trusted to make the changes needed in this new economic era.

On Thursday, Donald Trump once again threatened Canada. He said we could become the 51st state or we could face tariffs. He was speaking to the World Economic Forum and the rest of the message he laid out is also of great concern to Canada.

Well beyond tariffs, Trump laid out his vision of an American economy where corporate taxes are reduced further but only if you are manufacturing or producing in America. He said regulations will be chipped away at on oil and gas production, liquefied natural gas exports, banking, manufacturing and more.

Basically, he will provide a business case for investing in America over anywhere else.

Snippy Laurentian elites can sit in their cocktail parties and mock measures such as these, but they will drive investment decisions and, more times than not, those decisions will point south.

Trump talked about the need to double American electrical production to meet increasing demand and said he would fast track approvals for new electrical production, including using natural gas with coal as a back-up.

In Canada, where our electrical grid is already among the greenest in the world, the Trudeau Liberals are fighting any use of cleaner burning natural gas even as back-up for wind or solar.

Do you really think Mark Carney or Chrystia Freeland will change that?

Carney is the man behind net zero banking regulations, which sought to ensure that any business with a carbon footprint couldn’t get financing for their project. He openly spoke about using the financial sector to punish oil and gas companies.

Freeland raised the carbon tax each and every year that she was finance minister under Trudeau. She also proposed and championed the increase in the capital gains tax that took effect last year despite still not having passed through Parliament.

These two are walking policy disasters who will chase investment and jobs away.

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Far beyond the tariffs, it’s Trump’s changes in other areas of economic policy that will drive investment into the U.S., securing jobs for Americans. Our current government has spent the last decade doing the opposite with policies that drive away investment and jobs especially in Canada’s biggest area of strength, natural resources.

The Trudeau Liberals, which Freeland and Carney must both be considered a part of, have cancelled the Northern Gateway and Energy East pipelines. They have blocked projects such as the Energie Saguenay liquified natural gas export terminal in Quebec. They have put impediments up on LNG projects along the British Columbia coast and instituted a tanker ban even as the Americans seek to expand their exports.

“Canada has vast natural resources and raw materials, and we need to diversify our markets going forward,” Trudeau cabinet Minister Anita Anand said the other day at the cabinet retreat.

That’s great to hear and the words sound soothing, but Anand and every other fool in and around the Trudeau government, like Freeland, has endorsed policies that have done the opposite. Carney backs policies that will stifle our economy as Trump unleashes the full power of the American economy.

If we value our independence, if we want to stay the true north strong and free and avoid becoming the 51st state, then we need to replace the current government with people who will take Canada to the next level.

Carney and Freeland are more of the same, but Pierre Poilievre and his team will do what it takes to make sure Canada can thrive – even against the Trump tariff threat.

blilley@postmedia.com