LILLEY: Canada playing small ball in trade talks with the United States

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Canada, under Mark Carney, continues to play small ball while the United States under Donald Trump keeps trying to score home runs. If this were a baseball game, we would have pulled the pitcher by now and tried to figure out which other players we could replace.

While Canada got hit with more tariffs on Friday night, China received a 90-day extension on more tariffs on Monday.

“The United States and China have engaged in multiple rounds of productive negotiations to address trade reciprocity and national security concerns,” the statement from the White House read.

You would think that if China could get a 90-day extension on further tariffs because talks were going well, Canada could do the same. After all, before the Aug. 1 deadline, Mexico was able to get a deal, as was every other G7 nation other than Canada.

To Carney’s “Elbows Up Brigade” not getting a deal with Donald Trump is a badge of honour.

The emails pour in fast and furious telling me to get behind the PM, to support whatever he wants to do, that he is the only one qualified to lead the country, that anything less than what they demand is treasonous. I don’t criticize the PM’s approach because I want Canada to fail. Rather, I want Canada to succeed and Carney’s approach so far isn’t working.

When tariffs go up, not just with the United States but with other countries as well, when we can’t get trade deals with countries like Britain due to our domestic policy, maybe we are the problem. Part of the issue, though, is that most Canadians won’t know about these issues because most mainstream media outlets either won’t report them or won’t play them up.

As Canadians from coast to coast call for international trade to be diversified, it would be headline news if the Harper government caused trade talks to break down with Britain over cheese imports.

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Yet, under a Liberal government, the idea that Britain would walk away because of concerns over a small amount of cheese imports barely warrants a mention. But yes, let’s diversify our trade to other countries who have the same issues with us as the Americans do.

For the Elbows Up crowd, none of this makes a difference. We can alienate every trading partner in the world as long as we annoy the Americans. It’s like Leafs fans who accept losing seasons as long as they beat the Habs.

This is a loser mentality and one that we shouldn’t accept.

Right now we have Carney’s proposal on the table for boosting Canada’s economy and the plan from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. Both leaders want to head in the same direction, the difference is the speed and the success rate that they want to achieve.

Carney’s plan, exemplified by Bill C-5, looks like the kid who is trying to get a 51% to pass the class. It’s not too ambitious and will do just enough to get a passing grade and not annoy the left flank of the Liberal Party which doesn’t want Canada’s economy to boom.

Poilievre’s plan is that of the student who is trying to get an A-plus, but will settle for an A if that is what the teacher determines the case to be.

He has called for a government policy that eliminates the capital gains tax if you sell your assets but reinvest them in the Canadian economy, a move that could unleash billions in domestic investment. His plan would reward provinces for dropping provincial trade barriers which cost the Canadian economy billions each year.

Poilievre has encouraged the Liberals to back his bill; you could even say he’s told them to steal his ideas.

Given the current national state, we’d be smart to do so. We need to unshackle our economy to ensure we can compete with what Trump is doing south of the border.

Simply focusing on tariffs isn’t going to cut it.