EDITORIAL: Canadian political traditions beat American bluster in tariff battle (for now)

In my decade-plus covering small towns in rural Manitoba for weekly newspapers, there’s nothing more annoying than what has become Canadian tradition, governments re-announcing money.

First, the federal or provincial government announces a program, which they make out to be a big deal. Then every project within that program also is a big deal. There’s nothing governments love more than to announce the same project/funding 10 times to make it seem like they’re spending more than they actually are.

It’s an attempt to bamboozle the public and the media, and it sometimes works, especially as the weekly news landscape sees fewer reporters and editors, who are just looking to fill a newspaper week in, week out.

But I never thought I’d see the day where that strategy was good enough to work on a sitting U.S. president.

Trudeau was able to get Trump to lift America’s insane 25 percent tariffs on Canada by doing what every good Canadian politician knows how to do. Re-announce the same policy and act as if it’s new funding.

Part of Trudeau’s “concessions” to Trump include extra spending on the border, which was already announced and partially executed as Black Hawk helicopters began patrolling before the tariffs were announced. I’m sure some of those supposedly additional bodies to patrol the border are the already announced Manitoba Conservation Officers, who are beginning to help with border security.

Every other thing on the list of changes is a complete nothing policy, like appointing a fentanyl “Czar,” whatever that means in Canada, and designating cartels as terrorist organizations.

Whether or not these will do enough to placate Trump is unknown. The stated reasons for America to tariff Canada at a blanket 25 percent are on their face ridiculous. The net flow of drugs runs from south to north, not the other way around, so Trump is probably looking for another excuse to break the revamped NAFTA agreement he negotiated his first time around.

But presenting already enacted spending plans as new money is as Canadian of a solution as you can get. It’s a time-honoured tradition across all levels of government, and it’s fascinating to see those small-town tactics work on a global scale.