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EDITORIAL – Stamer offside with his ‘goodwill gesture’ to Trump

(Image: Mel Rothenburger)

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

SOMETIMES POLITICIANS say things just to be the opposite of what their opponents say. Sometimes they do it because their own party wants them to.

Maybe Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Ward Stamer truly believes that putting American swill back on the shelves of our liquor stores would help get trade talks going with Donald Trump. A goodwill gesture, he calls it.

If that’s the case, he hasn’t been paying attention. Can he come up with a single example of when Donald Trump has reacted positively to a “gesture of goodwill” when it comes to trade or anything else?

Trump is a pitbull who thrives on what he sees as weakness. The only way to deal with him is to push back. Yes, there’s a certain amount of pain to that but that’s often the case when one goes into a battle, and Trump is hellbent on waging war on us.

In this case, though, we aren’t exactly suffering from not being able to buy a bottle of their awful bourbon or whatever else might normally be in the store.

All Stamer and the BC Conservatives are doing is providing David Eby with a good talking point about how they’re siding with Trump. And that’s not a good position to be in. Canadians aren’t in a mood for goodwill gestures right now.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, writes for the Kamloops Chronicle and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and was a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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About Mel Rothenburger (12054 Articles)
ArmchairMayor.ca is a forum about Kamloops and the world. It has more than one million views. Mel Rothenburger is the former Editor of The Daily News in Kamloops, B.C. (retiring in 2012), and past mayor of Kamloops (1999-2005). At ArmchairMayor.ca he is the publisher, editor, news editor, city editor, reporter, webmaster, and just about anything else you can think of. He is grateful for the contributions of several local columnists. This blog doesn't require a subscription but gratefully accepts donations to help defray costs.

6 Comments on EDITORIAL – Stamer offside with his ‘goodwill gesture’ to Trump

  1. Unknown's avatar Walter Trkla // July 31, 2026 at 11:06 AM // Reply

    Trump isn’t causing all the failures of that system. He’s a consequence of that system which is awash in self-delusion, a condition especially dangerous in people who have significant power over others. One thing he is done is expose the consequences to the society that elected him as they said long ago “power corrupts absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Lets not lowball the power ask them why 12 new submarines, 35 new jets, 550 Armoured Combat Support Vehicles. Who do we plan to kill with these? Your tax pays for this while you dont have a doctor, and wait time, schools on a downward spiral, crime, homelessness, deunionization awaits you. The power is the money behind Carnie and Trump not you not me. The system is rigged Mel knows that and so do I. While we talk about vino” they sifon of billions for non productive good submarines from those who cant afford medcine.

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  2. Unknown's avatar John Noakes // July 31, 2026 at 6:17 AM // Reply

    It seems that booze is important enough to a lot of people that a politician thinks it can be used as a bargaining chip against a madman.

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  3. Unknown's avatar clintprice // July 29, 2026 at 6:48 PM // Reply

    The early idea of supporting blue states and ignoring products from red states had merit. With their president in mental crisis everything is off the table. Fingers crossed, the mid terms will start a move toward sanity. If there are midterms…

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  4. Unknown's avatar Walter Trkla // July 29, 2026 at 2:39 PM // Reply

    He does not need to try to destroy us, we are doing a good job by ourselves.

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  5. The hypocrisy continues, western conservatives mock Carney and the liberals elbows up movement as phony toughness and yet here they are bending knee to Trump. Can you hear that, it’s the sound of the air leaking from the big tent of the Conservative Party of BC.

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  6. what on earth was he thinking, who in their right mind wants to try and appease the man who is hell bent on destroying us.

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