When U.S. President Donald Trump announced over the weekend his plans to proceed with tariffs against Canadian imports, there were widespread calls to support Canadian businesses and purchase made-in-Canada products.
“Now is the time to choose products made right here in Canada,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote on social media. “Check the labels. Let’s do our part. Wherever we can, choose Canada.”
This could have only been a good thing, both for our economy and our business owners. Now that Trump has paused the tariffs for 30 days after discussing the matter with Trudeau, let’s hope people still hold to their plans to buy Canadian goods.
I’ve already heard, though, from a number of homegrown entrepreneurs who are frustrated that it’s taken the threat of a trade war for their fellow Canadians to develop their consumer patriotism.
For many years, business owners have been asking the country to pay attention to their concerns. They’ve been calling for economic conditions that help them thrive and for an end to policies that harm them.
There is some skepticism in business circles that this surge of patriotism was more about sticking it to our American neighbours than it was about showing enduring and meaningful support for Canadian business.
But if Canadians are now finally serious about supporting our own businesses, then they need to recognize that there are a number of serious policy reforms that need to be undertaken.
The truth is that Canada has fostered an incredibly anti-business climate for the past decade, both for large and small businesses throughout the economy. It has sent businesses and investment dollars out of the country and has created an untold opportunity cost from those who don’t even bother to grow their business in Canada.
The federal government’s planned increase of the capital gains tax was rightly seen as a slap in the face to hard-working job creators. There was genuine shock from innovators who were effectively told that they’d done something wrong by successfully growing a business in Canada. It sent a signal that Canadian entrepreneurs weren’t particularly welcome in this country.
The feds now say they’re delaying this tax increase until Jan. 1, 2026, but they need to just drop it entirely. Then there’s the red tape we cruelly place on our businesses. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business laments what they describe as “the confusing rules and regulations, administrative obstacles, excessive paper burden, and poor customer service Canadians face every day from all levels of government.” We need to prioritize the removal of these obstacles.
Red tape includes business rules related to climate activism and DEI that are placed on businesses to advance misguided far-left grievances. These are harmful to our economy and must go. They also ironically hurt some of the very demographics they claim to support by making it more difficult to create and share wealth.
Energy rates are another key concern for business. The Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses of Canada—which I’m a board member of—has been raising awareness for years on how high energy rates are one of the biggest foes to homegrown businesses.
Energy is one of the most expensive inputs for manufacturers, and yet the government insists on imposing green energy agendas that keep rates artificially high. This too needs to be addressed.
Canada currently has an opportunity to reframe our economy. It’s time to stop selling ourselves short. We have an abundance of natural resources and one of the largest land masses in the world, yet we think so small and try to constrain ourselves every step of the way.
“Canada can and must now come together in an unprecedented effort to unleash the true economic potential of our country, which possesses more wealth and natural resources than any other nation on Earth.”
Smith is right. Let’s hope we seize the moment. It is not enough to merely take a selfie purchasing a made-in-Canada product as a way of signalling disapproval of Trump.
The real way we decrease our reliance on the United States is by embracing a wide array of business policies that can be beneficial for years to come, after this trade war is long behind us.
