AS I SEE IT COLUMN: What can a Canadian sports fan do to fight Trump’s tariffs?

Calling all sports fans! Desperate times call for desperate measures and now that Canada has been hit with punishing 50% tariffs by the excited states, it’s time to initiate a complete and total boycott of all things relating to American sports.

In the world of geopolitics, specifically on a continent where Canada is embroiled in a bitter tariff war with a corrupt, untrustworthy American president, it would seem like there is little any of us can do individually to fight back.

That is the wrong way to look at the situation. Trump has declared a trade war against us. He has blatantly attacked our sovereignty as an independent nation.

In war, you either fight back, or you get crushed. It’s time for sports fans to join the fight of Manitobans and Canadians boycotting American goods and travel destinations.

If we band together and manifest our collective resolve, all of us – together, united – can make a difference.

This also holds true for sports fans.

As cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

We can act with our wallets and hurt the Trump regime by boycotting anything and everything related to American sports. Manitobans are already acting en masse in terms of boycotting trips to Grand Forks and Fargo. We are rejecting American-made products at the grocery store and we’re cancelling family trips to Florida.

And now it’s time for sports fans to step up and do our part in protecting Canada and fighting back against a deranged American administration that actively wants to harm us, make us their 51st state and control all of our natural resources.

Give up watching American sports – Just stop watching U.S. sports. Institute a complete blackout. If you can’t do that, then watch them only on Canadian TV networks like CBC, CTV, Sportsnet or TSN. Avoid at all costs watching sports on American TV stations with their American ads.

Don’t buy U.S.-made sports paraphernalia – Buy from China. Don’t buy anything from a U.S. company.

Buy Canadian snacks when watching sports from home – If you’re hosting friends to watch a game, ensure all of your snacks are made in Canada. Brag about this important patriotic act to your friends.

Support our Canadian teams and leagues – There is plenty of exciting Canadian content for sports fans to enjoy. With the CFL, the Pistons, Canadian college sports, the CEBL, the Northern Super League of women’s soccer, high school sports and community teams, there is lots for sports fans to enjoy in our own backyard.

However you choose to boycott American sports, feel good knowing you are doing the right thing. Take enormous pride in defending your home and native land.

In any fight, sacrifices need to be made. And as Canada is in an existential fight to remain an independent country against an unhinged president bent on hurting us, making those sacrifices becomes even more vitally important.

It hurts to give up Vikings, Jets and Blue Jays games in Minneapolis. It will be very challenging to stop watching the NFL, NBA, MLB and WNBA.

But nothing important is ever accomplished by doing easy things.

As Theodore Roosevelt said “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty…”

This doesn’t have to be a permanent boycott of all things related to American sports. In a couple of years, madman Trump will be out of the White House (and hopefully in jail for his war crimes and rampant corruption), and with new leadership in Washington, hopefully Canadian-American relations will get back to normal, to a place where the states aren’t trying to take us over.

Is it too much to ask to give up your favourite American sports team for two years, when your country’s very existence is on the line?

Trump wants to own us. It is noble – and needed – for all of us (including sports fans) to fight back and defend our country with every tool at our disposal.

Sports fans in Manitoba and across Canada can make a big impact. By actively boycotting everything American when it comes to sports, we will be putting significantly less money into American hands, while engendering more pride in all things Canadian, including our sports leagues and teams.

Buy Canada. Bye America.