A united response to the threat of tariffs, and hard work to build up Canada.
We live in the dumbest timeline.
An American president cozying up to the dictator Putin while threatening Canada.
Prime Minister Trudeau nicely summed up our nation’s collective frustration: “Make that make sense.”
One might say that it’s stranger than fiction, except that today’s plot parallels the B-movie classic Canadian Bacon. At one point in that film, a nutty security official even says about Canada: “They’re practically the 51st state.”
As a one-off comment from the President, it could be laughed away uncomfortably.
But when repeated and paired with damaging tariffs, we face a real and serious threat to our economic and national security. The long-standing friendship between our two countries is now upended, in the most chaotic and irresponsible way possible.
The tariff threat has been on, then off, then on, now delayed to April 2 (but maybe tariffs on dairy are still coming), all at the whim of America’s King Lear.
Back in December, I laid out the case against tariffs, explained the non-existent flow of illegal drugs and migrants, and pointed to our important history of cooperation.
Watch: Dear American, remember Canada is your ally and friend
But bad reality TV has gone to Washington and facts don’t seem to matter.
So we are left to fight tooth and nail, with a united Team Canada approach.
Prime Minister Trudeau has led the way, as the statesman and national leader our country needs. Our federal government has now implemented forceful and targeted retaliatory tariffs (if you are affected by these measures, there’s a remission process) that will be lifted when this trade war is over.
Premiers like Doug Ford have also been effective, not only taking the fight to the American airwaves, but moving forward with measures on alcohol and electricity.
In my last post, I shared my pride in being Canadian. Especially in this moment.
Know that we will remain united. We will defend our country against these threats. And we will build our country up at the same time.
It’s time to build: update on Housing & Infrastructure
We will continue to build up Canada in a number of different ways.
Our federal government recently announced the next step towards high speed rail between Toronto and Quebec City. As I said in interviews, it’s a huge boon to productivity and we need to speed up the timeline for making it a reality.
Of course, sustained productivity also depends on increasing our housing supply.
Last week, in Winnipeg, I co-hosted a meeting with provincial Housing Ministers to discuss ways we can best work together to drive down the costs of home building, get more community housing built, address homelessness, and respond to the threat of tariffs. I spoke to CBC’s The House about this latter challenge too.
We’ve kept incredibly busy otherwise, making a number of deals with provinces and territories on housing enabling infrastructure, and travelling across the country for announcements:
PEI: announced an $86 million deal to build more housing enabling infrastructure. See CBC interview here.
New Brunswick: spoke at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Sustainable Communities Conference about how we’re supporting zero emission transit, greener buildings, climate adaptation efforts, and more.
Yukon: announced $33 million, the largest federal housing investment in Yukon history. A housing infrastructure fund deal is soon to come.
BC: announced $675 million for over 80 affordable housing and rental projects. A housing infrastructure deal is coming there too.
Manitoba: announced $240 million for over 100 affordable housing and rental projects, followed by a $204 million housing enabling infrastructure deal.
Ontario: announced over $85 million to address encampments and homelessness, over $130 million for the Housing Accelerator Fund, as well as $2.2 billion to strengthen and expand existing public transit networks in 40+ cities.
In Toronto, we landed a major deal (federal contribution of $500 million) on the waterfront to unlock 14,000 homes, finalized a $1 billion deal to deliver 50+ subway cars, and we’re working towards a Toronto Builds financing model.Quebec: met with Ministers towards a deal on housing enabling infrastructure, hosted a roundtable with Quebec builders, and engaged with community housing providers.
We are also starting to announce a number of community and climate resilient infrastructure projects. Last week, for example, we committed:
$20 million to build a new Somali Centre for Culture and Recreation.
$25 million to expand the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.
$7.2 million for a new skilled trades training centre in Scarborough through the Toronto Business Development Centre.
On the question of driving down the costs of homebuilding, we’ve seen major progress in zoning and permit approvals through our Housing Accelerator Fund. Next, via the Housing Infrastructure Fund, we’re pushing for action on development charges, including a freeze, deferring collection (and waiving interest) to occupancy, and waiving DCs entirely on the first 4 units of a multi-unit residential building.
On a personal note, I’ve made clear my commitment to ending homelessness on a number of occasions, including recent remarks at the Youth Homelessness Prevention Conference. I’m now working to reprofile funds that are set to lapse and direct them towards addressing homelessness in communities that did not receive initial support and CMHC has opened applications for innovative housing solutions, prioritizing delivering homes to address homelessness.
Watch: Ending Homelessness and Addressing Encampments
If I leave you with anything, it’s that my team and I have worked to make the most of too short a runway.
What comes next?
That runway will hopefully be extended in the coming months.
There’s so much more to do (especially on community housing), and we need experienced and thoughtful leadership now more than ever. We’ve seen a huge shift in the polls, driven by many things no doubt, including a realization that we can’t afford the unserious slogans and childish personal attacks that Poilievre’s leadership represents (after a brief flirtation with defending Canada around Flag Day, Poilievre and team are already back to their regularly scheduled character assassination).
We deserve better in our politics. We deserve smart, fair, and honest representation. And we deserve a leader who has what it takes to stand up against President Trump.
Thanks to everyone who has participated in the leadership process (I know how challenging the voting process has been).
I’ll be in Ottawa on Sunday to welcome our new leader and Prime Minister, and I remain committed to serving our community and country in these challenging political times.
