On Wednesday, laid-off employees at the Stellantis plant in Brampton, Ont., received a robocall delivering bad news: they had no jobs to go back to.
It was another stall on the road for Canada’s automotive strategy, which has seen federal and provincial governments dole out mounds of cash and add regulations and protective tariffs in a floundering attempt to create more jobs and build a state-of-the-art electric vehicle industry.
As the saying goes, when someone tells you who they are, you should believe them. And where cars are concerned, Donald Trump has been telling us exactly who he is.
He warned in April, “We don’t really want Canada to make cars for us.” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick recently confirmed this goal, telling a Canadian audience “car assembly is going to be in America, and there is nothing Canada can do about it.”
Rah Rah!
Several Canadian snowbirds reported they were fingerprinted and photographed at the U.S. border this month when registering for their winter stay, which U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told CBC News is now standard procedure.
Jacquie and Steve Ree of Ladysmith, B.C., arrived at the Peace Arch Border Crossing between Surrey, B.C., and Blaine, Wash., on Oct. 9.
The snowbirds knew they’d have to comply with a new registration requirement for travellers staying in the United States longer than 29 days. So when a CBP officer said they could complete the process at the border, the couple agreed, unaware of what lay ahead.
Five days before the new president was inaugurated, Justin Trudeau gathered the premiers in Ottawa to discuss the coming crisis.
They emerged, Trudeau said, with a “shared sense of purpose, a shared sense of understanding and a commitment to stand together on a united path forward.” Seated to Trudeau’s right, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said it was “truly a Team Canada approach we’re taking.”
The assembled first ministers didn’t agree on everything. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith was notably unwilling to consider a surcharge on oil exports to the United States. But Ford offered a thoughtful — perhaps even inspiring — take on the display of some broader political unity.
This week’s announcement by automaker Stellantis that it’s moving Jeep Compass production from its Brampton, Ont., plant, to Illinois, highlights the folly of Ottawa’s policy of competing with Washington. But it also provides Canada an opportunity to reduce taxpayers’ exposure to the sagging electric vehicle battery market.
This could be a very lucky break for tax payers.
October is the perfect time of year to drive up the Gatineau River and soak up the riches of the Canadian autumn. The gorgeous oranges and reds are enough to make this Canadian homesick.
And nostalgic.
For if you hang a left at Chemin Mill in Wakefield and continue past the spa, you stumble upon Maclaren Cemetery, the tiny burial ground that contains Lester B. Pearson, that giant of Canadian politics.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has clearly shifted away from the assertive U.S. trade stance seen on the campaign trail seven months ago to a more cautious, conciliatory approach.
As trade tensions continue, Carney has declined to impose retaliatory tariffs in response to Trump’s protectionist measures. Instead, he and his government have pursued low-key ongoing negotiations, focused primarily on key Canadian sectors such as aluminium, steel and autos.
Human rights and civil society groups are urging Ottawa to maintain tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs), saying that allowing them into the Canadian market could pose national security risks.
Pro-democracy group Saskatchewan Stands with Hong Kong issued a press release on Oct. 16, calling on the federal government to maintain its tariffs on Chinese EVs “in light of serious national security concerns.” The call comes after China’s ambassador to Canada last weekend suggested that dropping the tariffs could prompt Beijing to lift its levies on Canadian canola–a proposal Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew have urged Ottawa to consider.
Beijing’s biggest fish bazaar is a briny-smelling maze of stalls stocked with massive crabs from Russia, purple lobster from Australia and yellow croaker fish from China’s southeastern coast.
What’s increasingly hard to find at Jingshen Seafood Market, however, are products from Canada: the casualties of a punishing trade war between Ottawa and Beijing.
This lost business is becoming harder for Canada to write off as the United States under Donald Trump grows increasingly protectionist and unpredictable.
China – Too Big to Bail
h/t Mauser
It’s worth remembering that Canada wasn’t exactly pleased when, under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, it found itself offering huge subsidies to automakers just to keep jobs on this side of the border. There was a real fear that generous subsidies included in Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act would create a giant sucking sound, pulling Canadian jobs to the United States.
I will go to my grave still hollering crankily that there is no such thing as “Canada’s team,” an idea that surfaces every time there’s one Canadian team left in the NHL playoffs.
And the reason it’s not a thing for anyone but the most casual bandwagon-jumper is exactly what’s ripping the trade version of Team Canada apart at the seams at the moment.
Mark Carney has been claiming that we have the best trade deal in the world with the United States. Try telling that to the workers at the Stellantis plant in Brampton now facing permanent layoffs as production of the Jeep Compass moves from Ontario to Illinois.
It was just last week that Donald Trump’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, told a Toronto business audience said that auto assembly jobs would move to the United States and Canada would need to be second.
OTTAWA — A new national poll finds that most Canadians see securing a new trade deal with the U.S. as crucial for domestic jobs and economic growth.
The poll, conducted by Ipsos on behalf of the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI), shows that cross-border relations is a top-of-mind concern for Canadians, as the national economy falters under the weight of tariffs.
We have to accept that this is a very lopsided negotiation.
Reject or accept?
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday his government is not considering hitting American goods with more retaliatory tariffs, even as the trade war rages on, because there are signs that the bilateral talks on relief are headed in the right direction.
Carney is facing pressure from some premiers, like Ontario’s Doug Ford, and organized labour to take on U.S. President Donald Trump as he ramps up his tariffs on critical sectors — levies that have drawn jobs and investment away from Canada.
You have to shame Grok in order to get anything close to a realistic portrait of Carney, or any other figure on the Liberal Left it seems.
Pierre Poilievre put out a series of holiday-themed posts on social media over the Thanksgiving weekend — photos of the family, praise for the work being done by food banks.
One post, however, departed from all the warm fuzziness. It was an endorsement of a petition from one of his MPs calling for an end to diversity, equity and inclusion programs in government. ”Sign here. End DEI. Restore the merit principle,” the Conservative leader said.
Sign here. End DEI. Restore the merit principle. https://t.co/IDanYGgIpv
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) October 13, 2025
