Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 29, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2025 A4 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM NEWS I TOP NEWS Canada must stroke Trump’s ego — not start a trade war T HE most effective way to avoid a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian exports to the United States is to give its new president, Donald Trump, some political wins. There’s no other way around it. Trump is a narcissist. He is unstable and he uses threats, deceit and mis- information to get his way. Countries such as Canada cannot use convention- al means, including retaliatory trade sanctions, to combat those threats. Doing so against an economic power- house like the U.S. — which Canada relies on to maintain its high standard of living — is a losing proposition. It would not end well for this country. Instead, the federal and provin- cial governments must find ways to convince the Trump administration to reverse or modify its tariff threat. That means giving the U.S. president some wins by acquiescing to some of his demands. As distasteful and uncomfortable as that may sound, it is the best chance Canada has to avoid an across-the- board tariff, or at least convince Trump to lower the rate to something less punishing. Beefing up border security by rede- ploying conservation officers, as the Manitoba government has just done, is one way of doing so. The NDP government announced this week that conservation officers, who normally enforce laws regarding wildlife, are now patrolling the border between ports of entry, including sec- ondary roads and background areas. The officers will work with the Canada Border Services Agency and the RCMP (which already polices the bor- der) as an extra set of eyes and ears. It doesn’t matter what impact the new measure may or may not have on border security or whether it’s needed. That’s not the point. The point is to give Trump and his supporters some wins on the tariff threat to get the best possible outcome for Manitoba and Canada. Trump has used a variety of illegiti- mate reasons for threatening to impose a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods, including the false claim that the U.S. trade deficit with Canada is a “subsi- dy,” and that criminals and illicit drugs pour into the U.S. from Canada. Beefing up border security is one way of giving Trump a win to help avoid a 25 per cent tariff. Manitoba’s move to do so comes on the heels of the federal government’s decision to use Black Hawk helicopters and drones to patrol the Manitoba-U.S. border, part of its $1.3-billion border security upgrade plan in response to Trump’s threats. Canada and the U.S. share a border that spans 9,000 kilometres. It’s virtu- ally impossible to police it 100 per cent. The latest measures may do little to increase security, but that’s irrelevant right now. Besides, there’s no real downside to it other than cost. The $360,000 Manitoba is spending to redeploy conservation officers and the $460,000 to pay for RCMP overtime costs at the border is a small price to pay to help give Trump the political wins he needs to reverse or modify his tariff threat. Manitoba also announced it’s open- ing a permanent trade office in Wash- ington, D.C., to help convince states and industry of the benefits of bilateral trade between Canada and the U.S. It also established a U.S. Trade Council to give advice and direction on trade issues. These are all useful measures towards the ultimate goal of appeasing Trump. The wrong way to go is what Lib- eral leadership candidate and former finance minister Chrystia Freeland is proposing. She said Canada should draw up a $200-billion list of retaliato- ry tariffs to target American imports and to consider cutting the U.S. off from Canadian government pro- curement (with the sole exception of defence spending). She wants to stand up to the bully Trump. While she may see that as a winning strategy for her Liberal leadership bid, it would be bad — likely catastrophic — policy for Canada. Trump doesn’t respond well to threats. Escalating the situation to an all-out trade war with the U.S. would hurt the American economy to some extent, but it would cause far more harm to Canada. It would be a bad outcome for Manitobans and for Canadians. The most important work on this file will be through closed-door diplomatic efforts and through lobbying Amer- ican industry and state governors, which the Canadian government is already engaged in. That will have far more effect than trying to go toe-to-toe with the Trump administration with dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs. Some tariff retaliation may be necessary at some point as part of a broader plan, should Trump act on his threat. But an all-out trade war with the U.S. would almost certainly plunge Canada into a deep recession, includ- ing massive job losses and widespread bankruptcies. Canada’s response to Trump’s tariff threat must be measured. The federal government and the provinces must use smart and effective economic and political strategies, not emotional ones. Giving the U.S. president some wins, perceived or otherwise, would help further that cause. tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca TOM BRODBECK OPINION God won’t be saving the King just yet in schools A MANITOBA school division’s plan to bring God Save the King back to the classroom is on hold after the idea met with controversy. The majority of trustees with the Mountain View School Division, which oversees 16 schools in and around Dau- phin, voted Monday night to pause the plan and see whether it is legally re- quired and supported by area residents. Trustee Scott Lynxleg, who is from the Tootinaowaziibeeng Treaty Re- serve, said he voted to get more infor- mation because he’s heard from par- ents and staff that the change could affect Indigenous staff and students. “Times have changed. This law is out- dated. No other school plays it,” Lynx- leg said in an interview Tuesday. Earlier this month, the chair of the board, Jason Gryba, issued a directive that the royal anthem must be included in morning announcements at division schools. The move was based on a little-known provincial regulation that says O Can- ada must be played at the start of the school day, while God Save the King should be played at the end of the day. It has not been enforced for decades, and the Manitoba School Boards Asso- ciation recently said it was unaware of any other boards that keep the tradition. During Monday’s school board meet- ing, Gryba told members that the board must abide by all federal, provincial and local legislation. “When we swear our oath, we are bound to uphold that law. If there is something in the law we don’t like, there are proper avenues to change it,” Gryba said in a recording of the meet- ing obtained by The Canadian Press. “But we don’t have the option to sim- ply stop following it.” The anthem is considered a musical salute to the British monarch. Indigen- ous groups have spoken out against col- onization at the hands of the monarchy. Lynxleg said he heard feedback from people in the community. “I got a lot of comments — ‘Why did you do this?’” he said. “Personally, for myself, I do not want to hear it any- more. It’s outdated. It’s archaic.” First Nations trustee Jarri Thompson put forward a motion to halt adding the royal anthem to announcements until the board can speak with the province and receive feedback from the public. Gabe Mercier also voted in favour of the motion, telling Gryba it wasn’t ur- gent to implement the policy and that he should have consulted with the board. “We’re not trying to undermine the law. We’re saying, ‘Let us have a procedure by which it can be implemented,’” he said. Tracy Schmidt, Manitoba’s education minister, said a review of education regulation was started before Mountain View’s decision, and it includes morning announcement procedures. She said the work is a balancing act. “We need to balance the need to recognize and observe patriotism in schools, to recognize the constitutional realities that we exist in here in Can- ada, but also to balance that against our commitment and our dedication to truth and reconciliation in this prov- ince,” said Schmidt. Schmidt did not provide a timeline for when the review would be completed. — The Canadian Press BRITTANY HOBSON AND STEVE LAMBERT ‘Never again’ losing ground: Trudeau W ARSAW — The notion that “never again” can the world allow something such as the Holocaust to happen feels like it is slipping away, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk both said Tuesday. The two leaders met in Warsaw a day after they joined dozens of other world leaders to mark the 80th anni- versary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz. At that ceremony, Trudeau said he spoke with the children and grand- children of survivors who say they’re glad their grandparents are not around to see the global resurgence of antisemitism and hateful ideologies gaining ground. He said those words should be a “bright red” flashing warning sign to every democracy. “We have a responsibility to hold up the two-word pledge that we as an international community committed to after witnessing the horrors of the Holocaust — ‘never again,’” he said. “We cannot fail in that pledge.” Trudeau said antisemitism is on the rise, “particularly since Hamas’ brutal terrorist attack” on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. So are Holocaust deni- alism, violent extremism and hatred, “not just against Jews but against all different races and backgrounds” in all democracies. “We have not yet responded force- fully enough, strongly enough.” Opposition parties in Canada have heavily criticized Trudeau for not doing enough to respond to growing hatred and divisions in Canada. He has defended the government, point- ing to investments made in anti-ra- cism programs, new projects funded this week under the National Holo- caust Remembrance Program and an upcoming antisemitism forum sched- uled for March. Trudeau said when he first visited Auschwitz as prime minister in 2017, “It still felt like the world was holding on to that principle of never again.” Now, he said, with such a rise in hatred and extremism around the world, people are telling him it is “slipping a little bit.” The Holocaust, he said, did not hap- pen by accident. “It took careful, deliberate, years- long processes of dismantling dem- ocracy, co-opting institutions and dehumanizing others to establish the conditions for genocide,” he said. Tusk said the alarm bells should also be ringing about the rise of far- right political parties in Europe, in- cluding the Alternative for Germany, a far-right anti-immigrant party that is sitting second in the polls in that country’s election currently. “The problem is that we have such politicians in Europe and they’re gaining power,” he said through a translator. “They’re excited about referring to Nazis and that chapter of history,” he said. Elon Musk, the tech giant who is now a close adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, spoke remotely at the AfD’s election campaign launch on Sunday, telling them that Germany has “too much focus on past guilt” and that multiculturalism “dilutes every- thing,” in reference to the German culture. Musk was heavily criticized for giv- ing what some believed was a Nazi sa- lute during Trump’s inauguration fes- tivities on Jan. 20. He said the gesture was meant to convey that his heart “goes out” to the crowd. The Anti-Defamation League, an American Jewish advocacy organ- ization, said they felt it had been an “awkward gesture” rather than a Nazi salute but several days later Musk posted a series of Nazi puns on X, the social media platform he owns. Anti-Defamation League CEO Jona- than Greenblatt condemned the posts, saying the Holocaust was a “singular- ly evil event” and “not a joke.” Neither Trudeau nor Tusk would specifically respond about Musk when asked Tuesday about his actions. Trudeau said it is important to con- demn any act of antisemitism, or mes- sages that amplify intolerance and hate. But he did suggest more needs to be done to limit the influence of tech giants and social media. “The role of money, the role of so- cial media, the role of propaganda influencing democratic outcomes, is well documented throughout the his- tory of democracies and it is incum- bent upon governments and citizens to be vigilant and to push back against messages that are designed to divide them.” Tusk said that with the AfD sitting at 20 per cent in opinion polls — 10 points behind the centre-right Chris- tian Democratic Union — the world should be on alert. “Let me tell you, ladies and gentle- men, that there is no louder alarm sig- nal,” he said. The two leaders also signed the Canada-Poland Nuclear Energy Co-operation Agreement on Tuesday, so Canadian companies can help sup- port Poland build nuclear power. Poland expects to begin construc- tion of its first nuclear reactors next year, with the plant beginning to pro- duce power in 2033. The deal is seen as a way to help re- duce Poland’s reliance on coal-fired electricity and enhance energy sec- urity. The European energy market has heavily reduced purchases from Russia since that country invaded Ukraine nearly three years ago. Earlier this month, Canada and Po- land signed a general security and in- formation agreement. Once that agreement is imple- mented, it will allow enhanced infor- mation sharing between Canadian and Polish companies in industries like defence, security, aerospace, marine and nuclear. In December, Export Development Canada issued a letter of intent to pro- vide up to $2 billion in financing to support the sale of goods and services from Canadian suppliers to help build Poland’s first nuclear power plant. Trudeau returned to Canada after the meeting, concluding what may be his final international trip as prime minister before the next Liberal lead- er is chosen on March 9. — The Canadian Press PM, Polish counterpart warn against conditions that led to Holocaust DAVID BAXTER SEAN KILPATRICK / THE CANADIAN PRESS Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk decry the rise of far-right parties and growing hatred. ;