EDITORIAL – Sometimes, Donald, Canada has to stop playing Nice Guy

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

WE SHOULD ALL be proud Canadians today. The Orange Bully pushed and pushed and we stood our ground — no bad deals.

Prime Minister Mark Carney expressed what so many of us feel. In his late-night statement Friday, and his speech today (Aug. 22, 2026), he was reasoned, measured, articulate, clear and strong. It was the elbows-up kind of response we’ve been hoping for, and it made us proud. So unlike the blathering, incoherent non-sensical stuff that spills from the mouth of the American president.

When the Trump trade delegation tried moving the goal posts one too many times, Carney ended the charade and called our negotiators home. So… punishing new 50 per cent tariffs on a wide variety of Canadian goods going into the U.S. will now be in place.

It will hurt, and hurt badly. Many people will lose their jobs. A lot of things will cost more, both here and south of the border. The Trump tariffs will affect $28 billion worth of annual exports from Canada to the U.S. They will include things like steel, aluminum, copper, dairy, alcohol, furniture, cement, clothing, lumber and the oft-mentioned hockey sticks.

SEE ALSO: ROTHENBURGER – Waging my personal Cheezies war on Trump and his tariffs

In turn, we will match the U.S. tariffs dollar for dollar. The U.S. will almost certainly retaliate. This is war. It won’t be fun.

But, to borrow a favourite line of the American president, if we don’t do it, “We won’t have a country anymore.”

Comes a point when we can’t go along just to get along. As Carney said today, “We were not prepared to compromise Canada’s sovereignty.”

We are not without cards. Despite what Trump has said, we have stuff the U.S. needs, including the big-ticket items of steel, lumber, alcohol and energy. Did you catch Carney’s subtle threat on the latter? “I don’t think they want us to stop sending any of that energy.”

And, of course, there are the initiatives to diversify our economy and find new markets outside the U.S.

It’s not, however, all up to our federal and provincial governments. We, as individuals, have been doing our share, and now we have to step up even more. Here are some things we can do.

First, stop going there. Simply do not travel to the U.S., or even through the U.S. It’s tempting to tell ourselves that our one trip down there isn’t going to hurt anything, but collectively it makes a huge difference. So simply stop going south.

Second, we can stop buying U.S. products. Again, we’ve done that to a significant extent but we need to do more; we need to be even more determined to buy non-American, so let’s all double down on learning what we need to learn about differentiating among products that are truly Canadian and not made or assembled in the U.S.

Thirdly, let our American friends know, through social media and personal connections, that their leader is messing up, that he has taken the greatest international friendship on earth and made us enemies. And we should do so politely, as is our way, not with exaggeration or nasty language.

Importantly, we all need to educate ourselves on how tariffs in general work and how the Trump tariffs harm both Canadians and Americans. If we’re going to argue against his tariffs, we need to understand them, and his excuses.

And, finally, we must stand united. Early reaction from business leaders, unions, citizens and politicians — except for some waffling from Alberta premier Danielle Smith (but that’s not unexpected) is solidly behind Carney on this one.

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.