Buckle up, this is going to be tough. Canada and Canadians are standing at a crossroads and it鈥檚 pretty evident that we, as a collective, aren鈥檛 ready. The world has changed with the new American administration, a hawkish and insular one to be sure, and much like a deer in the headlights our governments, both provincial and federal, have no clear idea how to handle what鈥檚 coming.

Facing 25% tariffs Canada is stuck in position where the federal response is to try and go toe/toe with the Americans while in the background working on another bailout, purported to be in the neighbourhood of $100B. The effects of further quantitative easing will have a staggering effect on our economy, with a further devalued Canadian dollar and another inflation cycle only making the goods/services we consume cost even more. Canadians are already stretched to the limit and the current amateurish provincial government is running deficit spending at $10B/year while the Federal Liberals latest budget saw deficits at an eye watering $60B/year. Completely untenable and completely reckless by any measure. It鈥檚 no secret that the Americans have been enraged with Canada鈥檚 pseudo legalization of hard drugs, incredibly porous border security, insane immigration policies and perpetual underfunding of our military responsibilities and we鈥檙e warned numerous times to get our act together, which was ignored by the Liberals. We鈥檝e been called out, like the friend who always disappears when the bill arrives, and rightfully so.

We鈥檝e spent the last decade watching all levels of government neuter resource extraction/development, all the while genuflecting at the alter of 鈥渨oke鈥� in some silly attempt to assuage our guilt for standing on massive reserves of materials that the world is clamouring for. Bills C-12, C-48 and C-69 brought by the Liberals/NDP have effectively stopped any further resource development and the effects of such has pushed separation talk in both Alberta and Quebec to feverish levels with the latest Nanos poll showing 45% of Canadian youth, aged 18-40, wanting to join the United States. Canada鈥檚 per capita GDP ranks only above the state of Mississippi in North American terms and yet we scream at the top of our lungs for increased funding for health care/roads/schools/airports/military. We can鈥檛 have it both ways, we cannot eschew resource development and also demand cradle to grave social services,  it鈥檚 doesn鈥檛 work like that unless you turn to staggering deficient spending, a gift that鈥檚 left for our kids to deal with.

It鈥檚 time we drop the histrionics and start having adult conversations about the new world we find ourselves swimming in. These are serious times which require serious decisions made by serious people and it鈥檚 been made abundantly evident that none of these most basic metrics have been met in Ottawa or Victoria. Our country is standing at the most important crossroad we鈥檙e known in our lifetime. The first step in fixing a problem is admitting you have one. Canadians are on a very clear path to financial ruin and we鈥檙e arguing about the colour of the sky.

Derek Costantino
Courtenay