Our country must escape from our ‘learned helplessness’ mindset and realize there are steps we can take to become more resilient.
Here’s how Psychology Today describes “learned helplessness”:
“Learned helplessness occurs when an individual continuously faces a negative, uncontrollable situation and stops trying to change their circumstances, even when they have the ability to do so. For example, a smoker may repeatedly try and fail to quit. He may grow frustrated and come to believe that nothing he does will help, and therefore he stops trying altogether. The perception that one cannot control the situation essentially elicits a passive response to the harm that is occurring.”
Reading this, you can see how it relates to Canada’s present situation. With Canada facing a serious threat of massive tariffs from the U.S., much of the response has been to act as if Canada is completely helpless, with many of our elected officials desperately trying to appease the incoming U.S. President
While a deal may end up being struck, it’s also quite possible that the incoming U.S. Administration wants the tariffs no matter what, meaning no amount of concessions will result in the threat being lifted.
What’s largely missing in the conversation is the fact that there are things Canada can do on our own to mitigate (though not fully blunt) the impact of tariffs, and we can start doing those things now.
Here are four ideas:
“1) Scrap the carbon tax.
2) Repeal anti-pipeline legislation.
3) Repeal all interprovincial trade barriers.
4) Announce Canada will immediately hit the 2% NATO target and start getting money flowing to munitions companies, recruitment ads, repairing military infrastructure/housing, and procuring drones.”
Let’s expand on each point.
First, repealing the carbon tax would make life less expensive and remove a barrier to business investment. Canada will need to be as competitive as possible in the face of tariffs and a pro-business administration in the U.S., and scrapping the carbon tax would move things in the right direction for us.
Second, Canada will need to rapidly diversify its energy exports and reduce its dependence on shipping energy to the U.S. Currently, our lack of pipeline options means America gets a big discount on our oil (which is a key reason it is so absurd for the incoming U.S. Administration to claim Canada is ‘ripping them off’). Repealing legislation that holds up pipeline construction could speed up the construction of new pipelines so Canada can ship our energy across our country and around the world on our terms.
Third, if there was ever a time for the Prime Minister and the Premiers to sit down and tear up all of our interprovincial trade barriers, now would be the time. Total free trade within Canada should be a no-brainer. We are sacrificing billions of dollars and tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of jobs by continuing to disincentivize interprovincial trade, leading to the absurd situation in which trade between a Canadian Province and a U.S. State is often freer than trade between Canadian Provinces. That must end. If our trade with the U.S. gets cut by tariffs, we need to make up some of that by trading within our own nation.
Fourth, the imposition of a 25% tariff will substantially weaken economic activity within Canada. Thus, the government will need to get money flowing and should do so in a productive way that brings real benefits to our nation. A large-scale military build-up is long overdue and would be a great way for the government to provide much-needed economic support in the case of tariffs. Money could be spent on fixing military infrastructure, which creates construction jobs. Money could be spent on Canadian artillery shells and small arms production, creating jobs and incentivizing investment. Money could be spent on getting Canadian domestic drone manufacturers to start creating lethal drones. Money could be spent on building more military bases and expanding our infrastructure in the North – an incredibly vulnerable area. Money could be spent on ramping up recruitment through an increased investment in recruiting ads, increased military pay, and an increased investment in physical and mental care for our Veterans.
Right now, Canada has a massive military industry just waiting to be born, and now is the time for our country to invest to make it happen.
An additional benefit of ramping up military spending to hit (and exceed), the NATO target is that in the event of 25% tariffs from the U.S., Canada will need to reach out to our allies for deeper trade integration. Many of those allies understandably resent the fact that we aren’t hitting the 2% target, and are thus less likely to want to work with us if we continue to be laggards on defence. Hitting the target – even in tough economic times – will go a long way toward strengthening our credibility. It will also make it easier for Canada’s advocates within the United States (which includes much of the Democratic Party, pro-business Republicans, and much of the U.S. business community) to pressure the Administration to drop the tariffs even if they end up being imposed.
A further benefit of all the four ideas mentioned above is that we strengthen our negotiating position by showing that we are preparing. If we just panic and desperately try to appease the incoming Administration to avoid the tariffs at all costs, then we look like an easy target. If we instead negotiate in good faith while simultaneously promising counter-tariffs and show we are preparing for the worst-case scenario, we show that we are a serious nation that isn’t just going to roll over.
Obviously, being hit with a 25% tariff will be rough for our country. If we can avoid it with reasonable, good-faith negotiations, that would be preferable. But we don’t have to just helplessly sit around and hope it doesn’t happen. We can start taking the steps above to ensure that if we do end up facing economically destructive tariffs imposed by our closest ally, we will face that situation from a position of strength.
Spencer Fernando
