Last week, Premier Susan Holt launched her weekly livestreamed press conferences on her government’s tariff “action plan.”
New Brunswickers got to know the media room Holt was using — and the image of leadership in crisis — during Blaine Higgs’s frequent pandemic briefings, fed into laptop computers and smartphones.
The premier instead adopted the role of therapist-in-chief, pledging to use the weekly briefing to respond to questions sent to her office by anxious, frustrated New Brunswickers.
How about a 25% surtax on exported lumber. It’s also a tax for Irving industry that lives rent free in so many ways.
A provincial government with the courage to stand up to the Irvings? One can only dream…
I’m not impressed by the Holt government’s reaction to the trade war so far. The article mentions things the government will “look into”, (selling Teslas in the government fleet, ending government contracts with U.S. service providers) and but there has been no action since the start of Trump’s tariff threats.
Holt said she was also reluctant to levy an electricity threat “just for show,” an apparent reference to Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s blustery imposition of a 25 per cent surcharge on his province’s exports to the U.S. […]
Holt, however, prefers a friendlier, collaborative approach to politics […]
Not to praise Doug Ford of all people, but you have to have your head up your ass to think “friendly, collaborative” politics are going to work with a fascist at our southern border threatening our sovereignty.
I think her tone and decisions are demonstrating cooler heads addressing pragmatic concerns rather than satisfying a desire for catharsis.
The Teslas were a bad deal for which we overpaid. But they are functioning EVs with low operating costs. If we sold them, we’d be flooding the used market with a product already experiencing suppressed demand because of the brand association. So we’d take a bath on the price and still need to buy something to replace them.
The problem with government contracts is that a lot of them with U.S. suppliers have no cost-competitive alternatives. We’d end up paying exorbitantly more and as such a small province just don’t have the capacity to absorb that along with supporting our own tariff-impacted workforce.
And the problem with extorting the NB Power customers in Maine is that they are poor communities that currently contribute to our struggling utility’s bottom line. Threatening their energy security only sours relations with a friendly blue neighbor that would be forced to mobilize support and ultimately get them on Maine’s own power grid. Long term we’d only be shrinking NB Power’s consumer base and discouraging cooperation at a sub-national level. That kind of decoupling brings us closer to a position that can be branded as hostile with the sort of propaganda that manufactures consent for traditional warfare.
I’m hopeful that she’ll find some ways to exert pressure that involve less self-harm, but happy to have supporting our own be the priority. Our national response and provincial cooperation on those pressure points does the most to weaken the U.S. administration specifically, and pivoting to new trade partners and building up our own value-added industries are the real path to success. Even nationally, showing up to the trade war is more a matter of showing strength, undermining the current U.S. administration, and leading other nations by example.
I don’t think anyone (other than Conservatives) think “friendly, collaborative” politics are going to get anywhere with Dumpster’s administration. I have my doubts that anyone actually expects to make a deal, or would think it worth the paper on which it’s written if we did. But we need to constantly message that we hold the high ground - that we only ever operated in good faith. As long as Dumpster is unambiguously the only bad guy, this conflict will be limited to trade, foster international support for Canada, and establish the long-term partnerships that secure us against all manner of American interference.
I honestly agree with pretty much everything you say here, good comment. I certainly don’t envy any of our politicians right now, having to deal with this mess of a situation.
However I do think at this point it’s starting to look inevitable that ultimately, we are going to become less friendly and inter-dependent with the United States, whether we want to or not. Trump seems intent on destroying the many years of goodwill and friendship between our two countries.
Trying to maintain stability for our citizens is a noble goal, but I’m starting to think now is the time to start planning on how we’ll deal with the future instability of our relationship with the US.
Oh yeah. In official public messaging and private dealings we need to appear friendly, welcoming, and beyond reproach from the perspective of international leaders and reasonable Americans. The objectives are: to avoid both escalation and giving the impression bullying us is a free action; and to slow-roll the impact on Canadians, buying time to adjust and build internal industry.
In reality, I think the friendship is already gone for good.
I also think/hope that our federal leadership secretly knows it. They have to at least know most Canadians do not want the previous status quo long term, even if it was freely offered.
