🇨🇦🇺🇸💸 Trump Slaps 25% Tariffs on Canadian and Mexican Heavy Trucks — Carney Heads to Washington Amid Economic Crossfire

Hours before his Tuesday meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney, U.S. President Donald Trump has announced sweeping 25% tariffs on all medium- and heavy-duty trucks imported into the United States, effective November 1. The move marks another escalation in Washington’s “America First” trade war — and a direct hit to Canadian manufacturers already reeling from similar measures on steel, aluminum, and autos.

The White House claims the tariffs are rooted in “national security,” arguing they’ll protect U.S. companies like Peterbilt, Kenworth, and Freightliner from “unfair outside competition.” But Canada and Mexico — both founding partners of the CUSMA trade deal — are now caught in the blast radius of Trump’s economic nationalism. Under CUSMA, heavy trucks move tariff-free if 64% of their value originates in North America. Ottawa insists Canada already meets that threshold.

For Carney, who meets Trump at the White House tomorrow, the timing couldn’t be worse. The Canadian prime minister has just rolled out his own “Canada First” strategy, vowing to protect domestic industries and rebuild national self-sufficiency. Now, he faces the uncomfortable reality of negotiating with a U.S. president who has weaponized trade itself.

The political optics are clear: Trump is shoring up industrial votes in the Midwest, while Ottawa scrambles to defend Ontario’s auto heartland — including GM’s beleaguered Oshawa plant. What was once a partnership between neighbors is now a contest between national industrial visions.

The question is whether Carney will bow to the pressure — or match Trump’s nationalism with a more forceful, unapologetically Canadian response.

#Canada #USA

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦Toronto Canadian Tire Owner Fined $111K for Exploiting Temporary Foreign Workers

Ottawa has fined the owner of a Canadian Tire in Etobicoke $111,000 for violating Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program after two former employees exposed wage theft and mistreatment.

Federal investigators found that owner Ezhil Natarajan, operating under Geethaezhil Inc., underpaid foreign staff and reassigned them to different roles than promised in their contracts. His company is now ineligible to hire through the program until the fine is paid.

The case came to light after workers Rowell Pailan and Jhan Cresencio told CBC News last year they were threatened, underpaid, and intimidated while working at the store. Pailan’s hourly pay was cut from $20 to $16.50, while Cresencio described being shouted at and humiliated. Both later escaped through special work permits for vulnerable foreign workers.

Pailan, who says he paid nearly $10,000 to an Alberta recruiter for the job, called the fine “justice long overdue.” He hopes it sends a message to other employers who exploit newcomers: “Maybe now, he’ll think twice before doing this again.”

This case highlights the darker side of Canada’s foreign worker pipeline — where employers profit from cheap, precarious labour while recruiters charge desperate workers thousands in illegal fees.

#Ontario #Alberta

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦 Liberals to Table New Border Bill After Privacy Backlash Over C-2

Ottawa is preparing to walk back parts of its controversial Strong Borders Act after mounting political and public pressure. Sources say that the federal government will table a new version of the bill this week — one that strips out the most invasive provisions, including powers allowing Canada Post to open private mail and law enforcement to access digital data without a warrant.

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, who introduced Bill C-2 in June, had framed it as a response to U.S. concerns over border laxity — the very justification Washington used to impose tariffs on Canadian exports. But critics across the spectrum said the bill went far beyond border enforcement, granting sweeping surveillance and data-sharing powers unrelated to customs or migration control.

Civil liberties advocates warned that C-2 would have normalized warrantless spying and undermined the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Opposition parties, including the Conservatives, NDP, and Bloc Québécois, signaled they wouldn’t back it in its current form, effectively killing the bill in a minority Parliament.

The move to replace C-2 with a scaled-down version suggests a government under pressure, not just from Washington, but from its own electorate, weary of incremental erosions of privacy justified in the name of “security.”

As Ottawa seeks to satisfy the U.S. while preserving Canadian sovereignty, the new bill will test whether the Liberals can secure the border without crossing one themselves.

#Canada

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦🤝🇺🇸 Carney in the Oval — $800 B on the Table

Mark Carney finished his meeting at the White House after his second sit-down with Trump — a meeting that mixed banter and brinkmanship.

Trump called Carney a “world-class leader” and a “tough negotiator,” even reviving his troll that Canada could become the 51st state. But behind the smiles, the stakes were high.

Carney reminded Washington that Canada is America’s second-largest trading partner and its biggest foreign investor, over $500 billion invested in the past five years, and 8 Trillion more if a fair deal emerges.

The talks came after weeks of new U.S. tariffs and stalled trade progress. Trump praised Canada’s role in tackling fentanyl, but he’s still leveraging the border as economic pressure.

In Ottawa, Pierre Poilievre has slammed Carney for “encouraging investment to leave Canada.” But Carney pushed back in the oval office, saying Canada and the U.S. will always have “areas where we compete — and in those areas, we need to find agreement.”

Beneath the optics, it’s clear: the new trade era won’t be about friendship — it’ll be about leverage.

#Canada #USA

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦 “We Don’t Need Another Lecture — We Need a Plan to Rebuild Canada’s Real Economy”

Former Bank of Canada governor David Dodge and ex-Finance official Don Drummond have issued a quiet warning — and for once, they’re right about the problem, if not the cure.

Canada’s growth has flatlined. Investment in machinery and equipment is collapsing, down 12% in real terms over the past year. Productivity is sinking, and our per-worker investment is now less than one-third that of the U.S. That’s not just a statistic — it’s a slow economic suicide.

The authors warn of “complacency,” especially as Trump reviews the North American trade deal and hints at a tariff model closer to Europe’s — 10% to 15%. Ottawa is pretending this can’t happen. But it can. And if it does, Canada’s branch-plant economy — built on foreign capital, cheap labour, and imported goods — will collapse like a house of cards.

The real answer isn’t more “innovation credits” or recycled slogans about “inclusive growth.” It’s national reinvestment: rebuilding Canada’s manufacturing base, cutting red tape, and forcing capital to stay in the country. Instead of handing billions to multinationals and foreign-owned battery plants, the federal government should be rewarding Canadians who build, produce, and employ here — not abroad.

The era of cheap debt and outsourcing is over. Canada needs to rediscover what real sovereignty looks like: steel, factories, and productive capital — not PowerPoints and consultants.

The globalists talk about “efficiency.” Realists talk about resilience.

It’s time Canada remembered the difference.

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦🇺🇦 In Canada, Ukrainians have started to be required to provide military service certificates

- Ukrainian men in Canada complain that immigration services are demanding a certificate of military service in Ukraine.

- One of them was asked to explain how he left Ukraine in 2023 and to provide a new certificate.

#Canada #Ukraine

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦⚙️ “America First, Canada Second”: Trump’s Commerce Chief Draws a Line

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick took an “aggressive stance” against Ontario’s auto industry, telling the Eurasia Group’s U.S.–Canada Summit that the White House’s new rulebook is simple: “America first, Canada second.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who was in the room, called it “a massive threat.” “When the U.S. Commerce Secretary says that publicly,” Ford said, “you put your guard up — because he’s speaking with the President’s green light.”

The message from Washington could not be clearer: American re-industrialization comes at Canada’s expense. Factories are being courted south of the border while Ottawa debates slogans about “strong borders” and “inclusive growth.”

Ford says Ontario still wants to “sell our American friends more energy, more electricity, more critical minerals,” but admits the tone from D.C. “was not as clear as we heard today.”

The subtext: The era of quiet dependence is over. Canada either re-tools for sovereignty — or watches its industrial heartland stripped, one tariff at a time.

#Ontario

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦The Mayor of Toronto with a message for the New York Yankees....

🥴 Olivia Chow... Oh Toronto you'll be ok!

#Ontario

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦🇺🇸🤔 One of Carneys' children is "Trans"

Donnie didn't get the Memo... Or did...

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦🇺🇸 US VP JD Vance on his dinner with PM Carney

Are fences all mended?

#Canada #USA

🍁 Maple Chronicles

Carney calls for swift action after Israel, Hamas reach initial agreement on U.S.-peace plan

Prime Minister Mark Carney praised the “first phase” of Donald Trump’s U.S.-brokered Gaza peace deal — an agreement that would see Hamas release all remaining Israeli hostages and Israel pull back to a negotiated line.

Behind the applause lies a familiar pattern: peace framed as compliance. Trump’s 20-point plan — enforced by the same Western and Gulf architects who armed the war — turns “ceasefire” into a managed surrender. A board of peace chaired by Tony Blair and steered by Jared Kushner speaks volumes about who truly writes the rules of reconciliation.

Carney confirmed he’s been “coordinating” directly with Blair and Kushner in the last 48 hours — a rare admission of how Ottawa’s foreign policy now syncs to Washington’s moral metronome. Canada calls it “partnership.” Others might call it choreography.

Arab powers back the plan only if it leads to Palestinian independence — something Netanyahu still vows will “never happen.” Yet Western capitals already spin the deal as a breakthrough. The same capitals that funded destruction now demand gratitude for partial restraint.

For Gaza, this “peace” begins where sovereignty ends. And for Canada, it’s another reminder: foreign policy made for applause in Washington usually comes at the cost of principle at home.

#USA #Canada #Israel #Palestine

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦🇺🇸 Prime minister Mark Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Pollievre clash in question period over Canada-US relations, jobs and tarrifs.

Quite the theater but will it move the needle for fixing Canada's economy? I have my doubts.

#Canada #USA

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦 “A Test of Whether Canada Still Works”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has drawn a new line in the oil sands — proposing a bitumen pipeline to the northern B.C. coast, a project she calls “a test of whether Canada works as a country.”

The Trudeau–Carney government says Alberta will need the blessing of B.C. Premier David Eby and coastal First Nations before anything moves forward. Ottawa’s “Major Projects Office” promises to be “constructive,” but admits approvals could take months just to decide whether Alberta’s proposal qualifies.

Translation: bureaucracy before nation-building.

The irony is sharp — a nation founded on railways and pipelines now needs permission to connect itself. Smith says Alberta has the resources, the market, and the will to supply the world with energy and critical minerals. What it lacks is a federal government willing to get out of the way.

Even Pierre Poilievre put it bluntly: “If Carney’s government simply grants the permit, billions in private money will rush in and build this pipeline.”

Canada’s prosperity has always depended on its ability to build — not just to debate. If Ottawa wants unity, it starts with letting provinces move their own lifeblood to tidewater.

#Ontario #Alberta

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦⚖️ Ottawa vs. the Provinces: Who Owns Canada’s Democracy?

Attorney General Sean Fraser has warned that “ruthless provinces” could “steal Canadians’ rights” through repeated use of the notwithstanding clause — a constitutional tool that allows provinces to override certain Charter rights for five years. Ottawa has now taken the fight to the Supreme Court, arguing that provincial use of the clause “denies its very existence.”

But here’s the paradox: the clause was written into the Constitution precisely to protect democratic sovereignty — to keep power from centralizing in Ottawa or unelected courts. It was meant as a pressure valve, not a sin.

Five provinces — including Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Quebec — have pushed back hard, warning that Ottawa’s case undermines the very federal balance that keeps Canada intact. Even Doug Ford and Yves-François Blanchet, rarely on the same page, agree on this one: Ottawa is overreaching.

Fraser calls it “unimaginable” for the federal government not to intervene. But what’s truly unimaginable is a Canada where the national government treats its provinces like colonies and its courts like instruments of moral correction.

The Constitution was built to hold competing sovereignties in tension. When Ottawa demands obedience instead of partnership, that’s when the real erosion of democracy begins.

#Canada

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦💳 “Automatic Benefits? Welcome to the New Canada.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney just unveiled his latest “cost-of-living relief” plan — automatic federal benefits, a permanent National School Food Program, and a renewal of the Canada Strong Pass.

On the surface, it’s help for families. But look closer — it’s also the quiet centralization of power. Ottawa will now directly manage your benefits, your meals, and your social safety net, bypassing provincial systems in the name of “efficiency.”

It’s welfare by algorithm — the age of automatic governance.

When the federal government starts running the household budgets of millions, provinces stop being governments and start being branch offices. And once dependency replaces accountability, democracy tilts — not toward representation, but toward management.

What Carney calls “Canada Strong” might just be Canada Streamlined — and centralized.

🍁 Maple Chronicles

📮🇨🇦 “Canada Post Delivers Again — But the Future’s Still in Transit”

Mail will start moving again as Canada Post workers end their nationwide strike, shifting to rotating walkouts while talks with the Crown corporation continue.

For the 55,000 postal workers returning to work, it’s not a victory — it’s a pause. The union wants fair pay and job security, but it’s also fighting to keep Canada Post from shrinking into a leaner, more privatized model. Ottawa insists reform is needed to stop mounting losses — $1.3 billion last year, $1.5 billion expected this year — but workers fear “reform” means gutting rural routes and home delivery.

The truth lies somewhere between nostalgia and necessity. Mail volumes are down, parcel competition is fierce, and taxpayers are covering the losses. But rural seniors, small businesses, and communities still depend on a reliable national postal service — something that can’t be measured only in profit.

Canada Post will deliver again. Whether it can still deliver for everyone is the harder question.

#Canada

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🌎🇨🇦 “It Depends”: Carney’s Green Balancing Act Meets Canada’s Energy Reality

Prime Minister Mark Carney — once firm on keeping the oil and gas emissions cap — now says it “depends.” A subtle phrase, but in Ottawa-speak, it signals a shift from ideology to survival.

After years of chasing climate targets that never quite materialized, Canada’s so-called “green plan” is colliding with economic gravity. Oil and gas — the same industry demonized by urban climate crusaders — still keeps the lights on, funds hospitals, and pays the taxes that bankroll the bureaucracy lecturing it.

Carney insists his government wants “results, not objectives.” Translation: the emissions cap, tanker ban, and other symbolic gestures may soon be negotiable — if that’s what it takes to rebuild a “grand bargain” with Alberta and get a pipeline to tidewater moving again. Even the revival of Keystone XL was floated in Washington this week, a quiet nod to the reality that energy security still matters in a world of tariffs and geopolitical fractures.

The irony? The same federal machine that spent years throttling domestic production now finds itself courting it again — not because Ottawa has rediscovered sovereignty, but because global markets have rediscovered scarcity.

Environmental virtue-signaling plays well at Davos. But the future of Canada — and its working class — will depend less on cap tables and carbon credits, and more on whether the country can still build, mine, and move the resources that built it in the first place.

🍁 Maple Chronicles