Canada finds itself at a disadvantage when combating U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs due to a missed opportunity for economic expansion over the past ten years under Liberal leadership.
The Liberal leader, Mark Carney, accurately points out that while Canada has control over our own actions against tariffs, we cannot dictate what President Trump decides to do.
However, Carney is aware that our economy was struggling even before Trump’s tariffs took effect; he mentioned this during the Liberal leadership contest.
He particularly highlighted uncontrolled immigration and, as he put it, "government expenditures that increased more than 9% annually, year after year, at a pace double that of our economic growth."
The Liberal administration he currently heads holds the poorest track record for economic growth when measured by real GDP per capita—a commonly used indicator of a country's wealth—since Prime Minister R.B. Bennett's tenure during the Great Depression.
This outcome was expected due to the Liberal Party, during Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's tenure, constraining our economy with growth-inhibiting laws like their persistent assault on Canada’s energy industry.
Despite this, Carney commits to upholding these policies—such as the Liberals' Bill C-69, often referred to as the "pipelines off-limits" bill—which obstructs the transportation of our abundant oil and natural gas reserves to coastal areas and subsequently to international markets hungry for energy.
Rather, we have to offload them at significant markdowns to the United States, resulting in an annual loss to the Canadian economy of tens of billions of dollars.
In their last economic statement before calling the election, the Liberals overshot their deficit target of $40.1 billion for the 2023-24 fiscal year by 54%, coming in at $61.9 billion.
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In her resignation letter to Trudeau, former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pointed out the impending Trump tariffs when she mentioned that the Liberals' expenditure on "expensive political stunts" indicated their failure to maintain "our financial readiness...so that we can have resources available for an upcoming trade war."
The reality is that the war has arrived, and for the Liberals to say it’s positive that Canada didn’t suffer as much as other nations doesn’t hold up. Given that the federal government is facing significant budget deficits during an economic downturn, we find ourselves at a disadvantage in this trade conflict.
For the Liberals, after getting us into this predicament, to assert they are our best option for extricating ourselves from it is absurd.