EDITORIAL: Bad foreign policy hurts our economy
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Former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole had some perceptive comments on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s flawed pledge to endorse a Palestinian State at the United Nations in September.
On X, O’Toole said: “Canada has long supported a peaceful, two-state solution. The major deviation the PM made to our foreign policy today is to place the declaration of statehood ahead of the elimination of terrorism.
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“This move risks indirectly making Hamas the guiding force of a new Palestinian state and thereby making a peaceful, two-state solution almost impossible as Hamas does not recognize the legitimacy of the Israeli state.”
O’Toole went on to say Carney’s move was likely made of frustration over Israel’s continued military action in Gaza, but said, “This is not the right approach to apply pressure to an ally.”
He’s correct. Carney has been cosying up to his new best friends, French President Emmanuel Macron and Britain’s socialist Prime Minister Keir Starmer, by copycatting their pledges on Palestinian statehood. That’s exquisitely poor timing and poor diplomacy, coming as it did the day before U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff deadline.
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Sure, this country shouldn’t be bullied by the U.S. in formulating its foreign policy. But we should be sensible. For all the brave talk about finding new markets and diversifying our economy, it’s a fact of life that the U.S. is now and always will be our largest customer.
We may not like Trump and his tariffs, but we must work with him for as long as he’s in office.
Trump’s announcement on Thursday that he’s hiking tariffs on Canadian goods to 35% will hurt our economy. The tariffs apply only to goods that are not compliant with the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). The good news is that CUSMA covers about 90-95% of our exports. The bad news is that it’s up for renegotiation next year.
Carney got elected because he promised to be the Trump Whisperer. He’s been the exact opposite. He’s botched this mission by putting foreign policy ahead of Canada’s economic future. He needs to hone his diplomatic and negotiating skills between now and then.
Could Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre have done any better? Probably not. But he could not have done any worse.
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