The cancellation of the tax was originally a concession to the U.S., with Ottawa promising to protect Canadian content through government funding. But those dollars would be taxpayer money, and their future uncertain depending on budgetary needs.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on August 31, 2026.

OTTAWA—Culture is on the front burner for the first time in modern trade negotiations.

In the aftermath of the breakdown of talks between Canada and the United States, Prime Minister Mark Carney cited attacks on the French language as a major reason for why the country walked away from the deal.

U.S. President Donald Trump attacked the prime minister’s claim with a bizarre statement on his social media platform claiming he loves French Canadians: “This lie was made up by a weak and ineffective prime minister in an attempt to gain political support, which he has totally lost, from the people of Quebec.”

Trump says he has no problem with people speaking French, but his negotiators signalled that Canada’s requirement for bilingual labelling was an irritant. The Canadian government also rejected an American demand to eliminate streaming requirements that make French and Quebec cultural content easily discoverable. Such requirements currently exist in the streaming sector.

Since the breakdown of talks, the U.S. government—through an interview provided by its Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to CBC News on Aug. 26—has indicated that discoverability was not a “red line.” In an X post on Aug. 27, Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said, “Canada is pleased that the United States is now reversing its positions regarding discoverability,” and that his government is looking forward to other “contructive clarifications” on American positions on proposed free trade terms.

Carney’s decision to leave the negotiating table on Aug. 21, and promise dollar-for-dollar counter-tariffs has been widely applauded by Canadians, but his strong defence of the French culture came as a surprise.

It also spawned new demands on the culture front from the Bloc Québécois. In the lead up to the current round of negotiations, the Liberal government eliminated the implementation of a digital services tax.

The proposed tax was seen as an irritant to the Americans. The three-per-cent levy was cancelled in the 11th hour before its implementation, as the prime minister said it would not be worth implementing a tax that may be abolished in the upcoming trade discussions. He also defended cancelling the tax as a way of protecting affordability for families that are struggling with rising household costs.

At the time, Carney announced the tax revenue would be replaced by an annual direct investment of $600-million for Canadian content.

With the collapse of negotiations, Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet is asking Carney to implement the digital tax that was originally introduced by the previous Liberal government. Blanchet says the replacement of the tax by a multi-million-dollar government investment is shifting financial responsibility from entertainment multinationals to taxpayers.

He also says the cancellation of the tax threatens the survival of French-language cultural production and Quebec jobs.

In outlining the government’s counter-tariff strategy, Industry minister Mélanie Joly specifically cited risks to the cultural sector, which she said employs 900,000 people across Canada.

Blanchet is also asking the prime minister to cancel the procurement of fighter jets from the U.S. as part of the Canadian response.

British Columbia Premier David Eby publicly reinforced the Bloc’s request to cancel jet procurement. He said the government needs to reinforce its plan to implement retaliatory tariffs with other measures, including the power of purchasing boycotts such as the fighter jet purchase.

For Carney, it was the first time that culture was front and centre in a positive way.

When the government cancelled the implementation of the digital tax, most Canadians were happy or neutral, assuming it would limit any digital streaming cost increases.

The Conservative Party had opposed the digital tax and lauded the cancellation.

But the move prompted major concern in the cultural sector that defends those 900,000 jobs.

The $600-million commitment by Ottawa would replace the tax, but it could also be subject to potential uncertainty as future budgets could reduce the payment.

More importantly, the change means that global web companies contribute nothing to the CRTC-mandated system that requires domestic broadcasters to pay their fair share.

Several European countries have implemented a digital services tax in amounts ranging from 1.5 to 7.5 per cent.

Carney’s call for Canadian cultural protection has awakened the sleeping cultural giant.

In the 1992 North American Free Trade Agreement, Canada vigorously defended a cultural exemption. The government of then-Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney insisted on a cultural carveout.

The second free trade deal, the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) Agreement—signed in 2018 and revised in 2019—involved the same exemption.

In the more recent CUSMA negotiations, culture was not a major issue in the discussion. The decision to cancel the digital tax preceded the talks, leaving the impression that the Canadian government would be willing to sacrifice culture in favour of a trade agreement.

Carney insists that one of the main reasons for the talk’s breakdown was Canada’s vow to protect French language and culture.

Digital tax implementation would strengthen his position.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

Instead of dealing with the boycott by meeting consumer demands for non-American products, grocery stores are trying to trick us into buying U.S. goods. And the sad news is, there is no national law forcing these stores to visibly advertise the origin of their products.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on August 24, 2026.

OTTAWA—Buy local: it used to be an environmental imperative. The closer a product is to market, the less carbon has been used to deliver it.

Not everyone bought into that argument. But buy local has now become a political imperative. With the ongoing bullying from the White House, Canadians are shopping with their eyes on America.

Grocery products made in the United States are remaining on the store shelves. It is easy enough to witness. When you pass through the fresh fruit and vegetable section, American-grown produce languishes and produce from Canada and other countries is selling.

So how are grocery chains accommodating this? They are not. Instead, some seem to be making it more difficult to determine the origin of produce.

At the Adonis store in Ottawa, a recent signage change in the produce section mixes origins. It reads that produce is from Canada and the United States, making it impossible for the consumer to determine which piece of lettuce is which. Adonis is owned by Metro. Another grocer giant, Loblaws, has gone so far as to remove origin signage from the shelves.

It’s explanation for doing so does not hold water. Customers are being told to read the fine print on apples to determine whether they are from Canada or the United States. Loblaws says the reason for the change is the changing nature of produce provenance, making local signage difficult.

Poppycock! The local signage has been fine for years, until Canadians decided to boycott American products, which has led American-grown fruits and vegetables to be left rotting on the shelves.

Instead of dealing with the boycott by meeting consumer demands for non-American products, grocery stores are trying to trick us into buying U.S. goods.

And the sad news is, there is no national law forcing these stores to visibly advertise the origin of their products. That should be on the governmental to-do list in the fall. The provenance of items in the grocery store should be easily identifiable to the customer.

Some grocery stores have made it their business to advertise local produce in very large letters as a customer magnet.

Just like Canadians have been voting with their feet and refusing to visit the United States, so consumer habits have been influenced by this incessant and ongoing trade war.

No one is winning. The president of the United States is deliberately using Canada as a whipping boy while remaining silent on some of our common enemies, like Russia.

Thus far, Prime Minister Mark Carney has escaped the wrath of Canadians because most understand that this trade uncertainty emanates from Washington, and even more specifically, from the White House.

But the country’s patience is growing thin. We are witnessing massive ministerial efforts deployed in Washington, but thus far, there have been no results.

While Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and chief negotiator Janice Charette are mum about the progress, policy makers in Ottawa should be working on ways to shore up Canada’s resolve and assist Canadians who want to do their part in support of our country.

Grocery signage may be a small item, but it is obviously affecting the bottom line of chains like Loblaws and Metro. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be working to fudge the identity of American-grown produce that is not selling well here at home.

Western Canada’s Save-On-Foods has gone in the other direction, offering signage that marks the prominence of local produce. Primary focus is on plentiful and tasty British Columbian fruits and vegetables.

With no national visible labelling law, it becomes more difficult for consumers to avoid spending on American-grown goods.

At least liquor is legislated. Even after booze returns to Canadian shelves, there will be millions who simply won’t buy it.

Carney is working hard to solve the trade disputes, but the rift in Canada-U.S. relations is not going away with a simple tariff signature.

The number of Canadians who are petitioning Parliament to toss the American ambassador out of the country because of his seditious comments continues to grow. At last count, it had exceeded 238,909.

And even if bourbon is back on Canadian shelves, many simply will refuse to buy it, as a personal protest of the ignominious treatment this country has received from Donald Trump.

The on-again-off-again trade threats are only one part of Canadians’ disgust with the behaviour of the American president. The fact that Trump still garners so much electoral MAGA support simply reinforces our desire to boycott America.

Canadians will not be buying anything American any time soon.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

Pierre Poilievre should know better than to get into a public pissing match with senior members of his own party. He is a pugilist by nature. He is also a purist, which is a very dangerous combination in politics.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on July 27, 2026.

OTTAWA—Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre must be tearing his hair out.

No matter what happens, Poilievre doesn’t seem to be able to get any traction. With all the issues facing Prime Minister Mark Carney, he doesn’t seem to be suffering any political damage.

Every day, United States President Donald Trump comes up with a new “Hate Canada” reference, and most people are blaming him for the mess of our bilateral relationship.

Imagine having the gall to joke that you are going to add a “smoke” tariff to Canada while our country’s largest province is facing the worst wildfire season in history.

When California was burning, Canada sent in trained aerial firefighters to help save lives and property. So why does the American president have such a short memory?

If he thinks Americans are upset about the lack of their liquor on Canadian sales shelves, imagine how Canadians feel about the barrage of insults levelled by the president against our country on a regular basis.

Carney is not facing the ire of the voters because our anger is currently directed to the man causing all these trade problems: Trump.

After more than a year in office, Carney is still receiving popular support for his approach, even though we continue to suffer increasing tariff threats from south of the border.

Polls are consistently showing that people are willing to cut Carney some slack, which must infuriate Poilievre to no end.

Meanwhile, Poilievre is busy stoking fires internally within his own party.

Most of the flames are of his own making. In a speech at the Calgary Stampede, Poilievre lauded the victory of Kerry-Lynne Findlay in the British Columbia Conservative leadership race. He characterized her triumph as a “big win against Liberal lobbyists from out East.”

The “Liberals” he was referring to were actually Conservatives who had worked on the campaign of Findlay’s main opponent, Caroline Elliott. Her team included Kory Teneycke, former adviser to then-prime minister Stephen Harper and to Ontario Premier Doug Ford. Two other well-known Tory organizers for Elliott were Nick Kouvalis and Anthony Koch.

Poilievre fired the first salvo. And therein lies the problem. If the man truly wants to be prime minister, he needs to start turning his guns outward. He certainly cannot afford to start a fight with some of the key organizers from winning Conservative campaigns both federally and provincially.

Elliott produced a video in which she urged the leader to “unite, not divide.” Conservative columnist Brian Lilley wrote a scorching piece publicly questioning whether Poilievre actually wanted to be prime minister.

Lilley also reported that after Poilievre won the party’s leadership in 2022, he spurned multiple attempts by Ford to reach out and congratulate him. The bottom line for Lilley is that Poilievre must decide whether he wants to be right, or to be prime minister.

There is no love lost between Poilievre and Teneycke. But the leader should know better than to get into a public pissing match with a senior member of his own party. Poilievre is a pugilist by nature. He is also a purist, which is a very dangerous combination in politics. As a purist, he is not willing to bend to meet the moment. As a pugilist, he savours the knockout punch in the ring, instead of looking at the long game.

At the very least, if Poilievre wants to send a message to his internal adversaries, he should use a surrogate. Most leaders keep their negative comments about colleagues to themselves, focusing instead on being the glue that keeps different factions of a party from coming apart.

If there is a public message that needs to be delivered, it should NEVER be coming from the lips of the leader. Instead, he should be taking the high road.

Poilievre’s Stampede sortie reignited an internal party fight that started back when Teneycke and others vocally attacked the leader’s “Trumpy” approach and his perceived alignment with the MAGA factions of the Republican Party.

Poilievre has definitely softened those edges. When it comes to criticism, he is making an effort to modify his pro-Trump approach.

But if he is ever going to form government, Poilievre needs to enlist the best and the brightest in his party. Instead, his public attacks have only served to weaken his position, as even ardent supporters are frustrated with his standing in the polls.

When the Toronto Sun’s Lilley attacks Poilievre, it underscores how deep the wounds in the party really area.

Poilievre needs a tourniquet, not a knife.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

Unity in the country and unity in the Conservative Party work in the leader’s favour. His edges are softening and, if he can keep that up, it could help reshape his image. But ‘hissy fit’ claims launched by his own members won’t help

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on February 23, 2026.

OTTAWA—The Tumbler Ridge tragedy in British Columbia did what no political manoeuvre could. It united the country and the parties.

Prime Minister Mark Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre shared a podium. Even Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet made a special effort to speak English to reach those touched by the tragic school shootings that were too close to the memory of the femicides at École Polytechnique.

Death knows no language. It knows no politics.

So, every leader parked their partisan trappings and opted to work together to try and heal the country.

With the self-inflicted death of the shooter, we will probably never really understand the reason behind this horrendous attack on innocent students.

No reason can explain the decision of a child to kill their parent and a sibling. But the further attack on others who apparently had no connection to the shooter is simply impossible to comprehend.

All party leaders rose to the occasion. Conservative Leader Poilievre parked his usual blame-laced crime vitriol, and replaced it with a sensitive observation that mirrored what every parent in Tumbler Ridge and across the country is feeling.

He spoke about love and concern for his own children, and the parental responsibility to protect.

The prime minister also spoke gently and thoughtfully, reinforcing the impression that, in a moment of national tragedy, he was the person best placed to guide us all through it.

Tears flowed freely in the House of Commons. They were real tears, not simply a reflection of a moment of drama.

The same unity was evident when the leaders of all political parties attended a commemoration in Tumbler Ridge.

It was a reflection of what politics could be if parties worked together on big issues.

The same unity was felt during the pandemic when the prime minister and premiers parked their differences and managed to work together to save Canadian lives, no matter what their political stripe.

Some have attacked the unified approach to masking, vaccines, and distancing. But to put it in perspective, Canada saved 40 per cent more lives on a per capita basis than the United States.

The U.S. had no mask mandate and most Republicans were vigorously opposed to any limitations on personal freedom that could save lives, including vaccines and distancing.

Americans lost 1.23 million people to COVID-19. In Canada, 60,871 people perished from the same virus.

Canada also has had a unified position in relation to the U.S.’s tariff attack and the renegotiation of the Canada-United States-Mexico trade agreement.

That unity was spoiled last week when Conservative MP Jamil Jivani went on a right-ring American media outlet to accuse Canada of suffering an “anti-American hissy fit.” Jivani told Breitbart News that “we are shooting ourselves in the foot” with our negative reaction to the tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Poilievre stepped in quickly to say that he did not agree with the member’s comments, stating “Jivani speaks for himself, and I speak for the party.”

Poilievre is right on that, but he does face an internal problem within the Conservatives.

While the vast majority of Canadians do not support the way that Trump has treated this country, those who do support him are largely aligned with the Conservative Party.

Two separate polls earlier this year show that 50 per cent of Conservatives support Trump. In the Ekos poll, the number of Liberals who support the American president is two per cent, while only three per cent of New Democrats support him.

The polls suggested a civil war in the Tory party on this issue. Such a war has not erupted yet, but given Jivani’s comments in the U.S., the Conservatives will definitely be seized with the issue.

The greatest support for Trump is in Alberta, and that aligns nicely with the support for Poilievre.

Jivani is already working to build a national list of supporters, which he could use to organize a future Conservative leadership.

Even though Poilievre has the support of the country, he may experience some opposition in his party.

His huge victory in the recent leadership review gives him comfort that the party supports his vision and direction.

But politics is a fickle business.

Right now, unity in the country and unity in the party work in Poilievre’s favour. His edges are softening and, if he can keep that up, it could help reshape his image.

But “hissy fit” claims launched by his own members won’t help.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s negative response to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Davos declaration has mobilized the majority of Canadians—including premiers—in unity.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on February 2, 2026.

OTTAWA—Prime Minister Mark Carney has a new moniker: Captain Canada.

At the meeting with premiers in Ottawa last week, leaders across the country seemed prepared to work together to grow inter-provincial trade.

The negative response of United States President Donald Trump to Carney’s Davos declaration has had the effect of mobilizing the majority of Canadians—including premiers—in unity.

British Columbia Premier David Eby was positively effusive in his praise for Carney’s Davos speech.

“It’s been a while since I have felt that much pride in being Canadian.”

Trump has started calling Carney “governor” again, and the White House was claiming that the prime minister walked back his Davos speech in a private conversation with the president.

Carney absolutely denied that claim, and the only Canadian party that gave any credence to the president was the federal Conservative Party.

In a statement released after Carney’s Davos speech, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre started with praise for prime minister’s “well-crafted and eloquently delivered” speech, but went on to characterize the approach with a chuckle. “If Liberal words and good intentions were tradeable commodities, Canada would already be the richest nation on Earth.”

Timing in politics is everything, and in this instance, Poilievre’s timing was off.

Carney had a great January, setting the stage with Chinese movement on canola and fish products, and a Davos speech positioning this country as a leader in creating a new world order.

This is a time where the leader of the official opposition should merely be offering praise and support.

When premiers are characterizing Carney as Captain Canada, any comments to the contrary run the risk of putting Conservatives offside with most Canadians.

The last time we saw this kind of federal-provincial harmony was at the height of the pandemic when no party nor political structure had any idea about the path forward to save lives.

During COVID, premiers and the prime minister all sang from the same hymnbook.

This time, they are harmonizing on trade, which can be a lot more politically troublesome than deciding on a medical vaccinations and securing protective medical supplies for hospitals and nursing homes.

Even Eby and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith stated publicly that they were willing to try and work together on issues with the prime minister and other premiers.

The separatist movement in Alberta is still working hard. It was reported last week that the American state department had been in touch with separatist leaders to exchange information.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed publicly that Albertans are very independent people, and the U.S is a natural partner. ”People want sovereignty. They want what the U.S. has got.”

On Jan. 28, Bessent upped the rhetoric warning the prime minister that picking a fight with the president could put the trilateral trade negotiations at risk.

Most global observers don’t believe that Canada has been the one picking international fights.

But Conservatives were quick to follow Bessent’s line of thinking. In an opinion piece written for the American-owned National Post, Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner characterized Canada as a “vulnerable, sclerotic, decadent nation from which talent, intellectual property and financial capital continue to flee.”

The more Bessent and Trump attack Carney, the more Canadians from coast to coast to coast will unite.

The most recent Ipsos poll said the number of Albertans and Quebecers wishing to enter a separation discussion with Canada was 29 and 31 per cent, respectively.

But when the same poll respondents were queried on the real-world consequences, support in both provinces was cut in half. Possible downsides include standard of living declines, pension, or trade renegotiations.

The reality of an October election in Quebec is not lost on anyone. With the Parti Québécois leading in the polls, the possibility of a total Team Canada is definitely at risk.

But, in the meantime, it appears as though the disrespect continually shown by Trump and his officials for our country is driving Canadians into the government’s arms.

Meanwhile, reports surfaced last week that the MP who resigned his seat to Poilievre will get the Tory nomination. Damien Kurek has been approved to return as the candidate in Battle-River-Crowfoot, Alta., while the party has no news on where Poilievre would run in the next election.

Maybe the Conservatives are thinking that Poilievre won’t be around to lead the party into the election.

With Trump’s help, that is becoming increasingly likely.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

If you parse Marco Rubio’s statement from last weekend, anyone who is even a competitor of the U.S. in our hemisphere is a potential target of American foreign policy attention. No wonder Prime Minister Mark Carney has muted his comments on the Nicolás Maduro takedown. We could be next.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on January 12, 2026.

OTTAWA—The American military move to arrest Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has put the world on edge.

By invading Ukraine, Russia was the only state actor to ignore international law, but not anymore. The People’s Republic of China can point to the move by United States President Donald Trump as a template to take out the Taiwanese leadership.

Trump has not ruled out sending in the U.S. military to Venezuela, but insists that he wants to work with the president who was sworn in as soon as Maduro was spirited out of the country.

In his hour-long press conference extolling the Maduro capture, Trump left the distinct impression that he had a deal with the new president, Delcy Rodriguez. Meanwhile, she was on Venezuelan state television decrying the move and saying that never again would Venezuelans be enslaved by others.

As the world waits for what comes next, countries in the Americas are girding for more moves by Trump to establish his dream country.

Colombia has summoned thousands of its military force to prevent any spillover on its 2,219-kilometre shared border with Venezuela.

Mexico and Canada are breathing hard because Trump will not stop until he is stopped. Even in Washington, the Democrats are confused in their political response. Some have accused Trump of breaking the law while others point to the fact that Maduro has had a warrant out for his arrest since 2020.

Canada’s response has been equally confusing. While the prime minister lauded the fact that Maduro is out of the picture, he did little to dissuade the president from exercising future takeover powers on Canadian soil.

Trump is exercising a power he claims derives from the Monroe Doctrine. He has renamed it the “Donroe Doctrine,” citing the authority of the United States to exercise influence throughout the Western Hemisphere based on an 1823 declaration. According to Donroe, the U.S. has the right to do pretty much anything it wants if it feels under threat in the region. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio repeated the “Donroe Doctrine” last weekend, stating “This is the Western Hemisphere. This is where we live—and we’re not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries, competitors and rivals of the United States.”

If anything, the Maduro capture will embolden Trump when it comes to his plans for Greenland and Canada.

Realistically, if he thought he could get away with annexing both, he would.

The president has already made statements about how the United States needs Greenland for security reasons.

In this instance, we are witnessing the reality of life imitating art.

Trump has been slumping badly domestically because of challenging economic times and rising costs.

One of Canada’s greatest comedic actors, John Candy, participated in a film, Canadian Bacon, where the U.S. president convinced blue-collar workers to invade Canada.

The war strategy was designed to take attention away from woes at home. Released in 1995, the film was Candy’s last and was directed by Michael Moore, a well-known documentary filmmaker. The plot of Canadian Bacon is that the invasion led to a series of crazy encounters with polite Canadian Mounted Police and much ado about maple syrup and moose. In the case of Candy, the invasion was a comedic success.

Trump could be imitating art in this case. A successful Maduro seizure could embolden him to reach out to other areas that he would like to annex, including Greenland and Canada.

In the case of Greenland, it is getting elbows up with Denmark in an effort to protect its sovereignty while Trump is claiming that the U.S. needs to own it because of the strategic location in the North Atlantic.

As for Canada, we all know that the president has already said he would like to weaken us economically, and he is doing everything in his power to do so. He has ruled out an invasion, but if you parse Rubio’s weekend television statement, anyone who is even a competitor of the U.S. in our hemisphere is a potential target of American foreign policy attention.

Where does that put our country if the Canada-U.S.-Mexico is not renewed and we become competitors in many former areas of free trade?

No wonder Prime Minister Mark Carney has muted his comments on the Maduro takedown. We could be next.

And the only way to prevent that is to make sure that Trump’s sights are focused elsewhere and not on his neighbour to the North.

Canadian Bacon was funny. This is not.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

Mark Carney needs something to show that Liberals don’t just care about mega-projects. No tax on food could be a good place to start.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on October 6, 2025.

OTTAWA—Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is good at retail politics. Other parties may decry his slogans and three-word mantras, but a note of caution needs to be sounded.

KISS is the basic mantra of any successful politician. It may sound a little condescending because in long form, it reads ‘keep it simple, stupid’. For marketing reasons, the last ‘s’ needs to be replaced because voters are definitely not stupid.

But a simple message is one that resonates. When Poilievre coined the phrase “Axe the Tax” in relation to carbon pricing, it mattered little that the fiscal instrument was supposed to be a price on pollution.

He marketed it as an unfair tax, and in the absence of any reply from the previous Liberal government, it was the first thing that Prime Minister Mark Carney did axe.

That move was politically necessary because in order for Carney’s “elbows up” message to be heard, he didn’t need an unpopular carbon pricing system to muddy the waters.

It went, and he won.

Poilievre was unable to pivot in the federal election, and with the help of United States President Donald Trump, Carney convinced Canadians that he was best positioned to offer a path forward by forging new international allegiances without the support of the U.S.

The prime minister is still reaching out internationally, with some success. In the meantime, the leader of the official opposition is sharpening his message on another matter: the cost of food.

Last week, Poilievre launched an attack on the government based on the increasing cost of groceries for Canadians.

A Conservative motion in the House of Commons tabled on Oct. 1 identified four factors involved in taxing food including deficits, the ban on single-use plastics, the carbon tax application to agriculture, and the federal clean-fuel standard.

It is fairly difficult to claim that dirtier fuel would reduce the price of food, and there were plenty of critics ready to attack the Conservative motion.

But the fact remains, any attack on the cost of groceries resonates with Canadians who are suffering the effects of increased prices for most food basics.

While some say the government has little influence on supply-chain issues or international instability affecting food prices, the bottom line is that Poilievre’s message resonates.

“Elbows up” has also resonated with Canadians, which is why the prime minister still has enough public support to withstand the Poilievre attacks at this point. But he shouldn’t assume it will always be this way.

When the November budget is tabled, the finance minister needs to include some deliverables for ordinary Canadians.

It is wonderful to work on interprovincial trade barriers and big projects. But at the end of the day, people vote based on their own personal interests. And if their pocketbooks are being strained by the cost of food, they will be asking whose elbows are up for them.

There is a solution for Carney to blunt this issue immediately.

While food purchased in grocery stores is not generally taxed, the reality is that the meals eaten by Canadians outside the home are all subject to tax.

Restaurants Canada CEO Kelly Higginson was in Ottawa last week lobbying finance officials to announce an end to the tax on all food in the Nov. 4 budget.

Their slogan is “Food is food. Stop taxing what we eat.” It is a simple message, and one that is very similar to that of the opposition leader.

Last year, the previous Liberal government offered a pre-Christmas tax holiday on a number of items, including restaurant eating.

Restaurants Canada is asking the government to make that exemption permanent. In a survey for the group, 84 per cent of Canadians said food should not be taxed, no matter where it is purchased.

A food tax exemption would also serve to buttress youth employment. The restaurant industry employs more than half a million young people, representing one in five jobs for that demographic. It is also the number one source of employment for young people.

The move to cut all food tax would be a big hit for the government. It currently collects $5.4-billion in taxes on non-grocery food. But Restaurants Canada says an end to the tax would result in the creation of 64,500 new service jobs, with 2,680 new restaurants opening and 15,686 spinoff jobs also being created.

Poilievre is getting traction with his focus on food prices. Carney needs something to show that Liberals don’t just care about mega-projects. No tax on food could be a good place to start.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

The prime minister is playing defence, by making sure that tariff-affected industries have cushions in place to protect Canadian jobs. Various ministers are travelling the world to reinforce relationships that may prove crucial in the trade war with Trump. But time is also on our side.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on August 11, 2025.

OTTAWA—The dog days of summer are upon us. That means barbecues and beaches, as Canadians make every effort to soak up some of those soon-to-be-forgotten rays of sunshine.

This summer, it is a little harder to see some of those rays, as the smoke plumes from multiple wildfires blanketing most of the country, reminding us that Mother Nature holds the upper hand in all things.

Some political leaders may not care about global warming, but they have to pay attention when the results require Canadians to stay inside in order to breathe clean air.

But even with the climate challenges, summer is a chance to reconnect with the things that can really bring us together. One of those things is sport.

When ‘elbows up’ became a political rallying cry against unfair tariffication by American President Donald Trump, every Canadian knew exactly what that meant.

Hockey is part of our winter DNA. Even those who don’t play understand what it means to play defence and offence in the sporting world.

And those same analogies can be very useful in politics. Much is being written these days about why Canada has been one of the few countries unable to achieve a trade deal with the United States.

Questions have also been posed about why Prime Minister Mark Carney has not spoken recently to Trump in an effort to secure such a deal.

Instead, the prime minister is playing defence, setting the stage for an increase in tariffs by making sure that affected industries have cushions in place to protect the Canadians whose jobs are at stake.

A good sportsperson knows that while playing defence, you need to keep offence in mind, as well.

So various ministers are travelling the world to reinforce relationships that may prove crucial in the trade war that Trump seems intent on launching.

Canada and Mexico have reinforced their intention to build trade routes that can bypass the U.S. if necessary. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne flew to the Mexican capital last week to solidify that relationship, and to repair some damage caused in the early days of the Trump administration when Canadians pointed the fentanyl finger at Mexico in an effort to avoid sanctions.

There is a significant amount of anxiety in this country because of the uncertainty in Trump’s trade machinations. But that is not going to end anytime soon, so the approach taken by the federal government means having elbows in motion, but not necessarily always up.

Trump’s trade agenda is likely going to be most affected by politics at home. The American courts have not been supportive of a number of his measures, including the decision to deport American permanent residents without any due process.

The U.S. Court of International Trade ruled in May that Trump does not have the authority to implement tariffs via the invocation the 1977 International Economic Emergency Powers Act.

Although Trump seems unfazed by court rulings, he is starting to feel the political pain at home. Hikes in price for beer and automobiles, and loss in profits for their companies, are hitting Americans in their pocketbooks. Coupled with the cuts to social security and Medicare, the results of Trump’s policies are starting to hurt him domestically.

Republican Senators are getting booed at their summer town hall gatherings and the news cycle is awash with stories about the president’s longstanding friendship with child predator Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump has backed off his promise for a full release of the Epstein files, and appears intent on trying to change the channel by accusing his predecessor of fabricating the Russian interference allegations that tainted recent elections.

As time goes on, Trump may have to face internal pressure to back off his unorthodox trading strategies.

For Canada, that means time could be on our side. And the more pressure the president faces from his own base, the more chance that his current tariff campaign of terror won’t work.

Better no deal at all than a deal that is going to be as one-sided as what the Europeans signed.

As many have pointed out, agreements that have been penned are largely framework accords, with the devil in the details. As for the Europeans, they may never actually conclude the details of the framework that was signed.

The French government is not very happy with what is in the framework, and has publicly said so.

We can tuck in our elbows for now. Time is Canada’s friend.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

Pete Hoeskstra says Donald Trump thinks Canadians are mean and nasty for boycotting American booze and travel. But for the first time in my lifetime, the federal and provincial leaders seem committed to work together in securing long-term solutions for Canada. If we can exert monetary influence simply by using our won purchasing power, there is nothing mean or nasty about that.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on July 28, 2025.

OTTAWA—Canadians are mean, nasty people, according to the new American ambassador to Canada.

Why does he say we are nasty? Because we insist on exercising what little personal power we have to send a message to the government of Donald Trump.

If we can exert monetary influence simply by using our won purchasing power, there is nothing mean or nasty about that.

The fact the American liquor purchases to Canada are down by 66 per cent is a result of individual decisions by Canadian consumers to purchase from countries that support us, not those that punish us.

According to a June report by Statistics Canada, Canadian travel to the United States was down in May by 38.1 per cent compared to a year earlier.

British Columbia Premier David Eby countered the ambassadorial attack last week, saying that the efforts made by individual Canadians are having an effect.

“If you’re a mean and nasty Canadian for standing up for our sovereignty and our jobs, well, I think most Canadians would be proud to be considered mean and nasty.”

American ambassador Pete Hoekstra was speaking to a group of Americans gathered at the Pacific Northwest Economic Summit. He told them President Trump shared the view of Canadians being nasty for not stocking American alcohol and refusing to travel to the states.

The ambassador then joked that he had no trouble getting personal alcohol into Canada as long as his car was not checked at the border.

Normally, an ambassador is supposed to be someone who smooths differences between his or her home country and his or her ambassadorial posting. The ambassador isn’t usually the one tossing insults about Canadians.

But these are not ordinary times and Hoeskstra is no ordinary ambassador.

As the country edges closer to a date on the imposition of more tariffs from the United States, we can certainly not count on the American ambassador to be promoting a reconciliation with Canadians. Instead, he is making things worse, and Canadians will continue to dig in with their own personal boycott of American goods and travel.

The prime minister and premiers are working together to soften the deadline and broaden the benefits of the outcome. Prime Minister Mark Carney has had to back down from his self-imposed aggressive time frame for completion of the tariff negotiations.

He is learning quickly that sometimes a political compromise is the only solution. Elbows up can be a good hockey metaphor. But in politics, elbows in may sometimes be required.

And given the mixed messages emanating from Washington, the Canadian government will have to count on the continued support of individual Canadians to put pressure on the United States.

We know the citizen boycott is working because multiple governors from American states are reaching out to try and convince us to change our minds.

Their argument is that they are not the enemy. And they are right. But in the absence of any logical negotiation by the Trump team, Canadians have no choice but to continue with our personal elbows up.

That means refusing to allow American alcohol to be sold in Canadian liquor outlets and continuing to travel anywhere in Canada or elsewhere in the world. But not America.

Carney’s decision to reach out to other jurisdictions, including Europe and Mexico, with agreements that may simply bypass the United States is definitely the way to go.

And businesses looking for opportunities to repurpose their supply chains or secure raw materials from new markets must continue doing so.

But if Canadian individual decisions to stop buying American piqued the ire of the White House, we know that now is not the time to stop.

Will we succeed in negotiating the tariff agreement with the United States that will meet our needs? Only time will tell.

The good news is that for the first time in my lifetime, the federal and provincial leaders seem committed to work together in securing long-term solutions.

The country is also working quickly to break down trade barriers between provinces, which will generate economic growth and more inter-provincial commerce.

We do not have the geopolitical heft of our neighbours to the south. But if we stick together, our efforts can shake things up in Washington.

In the past, Canada was always seen as the friendly neighbour to the North. The most prominent word in our vocabulary was sorry.

The attack on our country by President Trump has changed all that. If Trump thinks that we are mean and nasty now, he ain’t seen nothing yet.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

The Conservative leader is having trouble getting support, especially from women, partly because he is seen to be too much of an attack dog. If he is going to be successful, that approach must soften. 

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on July 21, 2025.

OTTAWA—Pierre Poilievre is riding the wrong horse.

The Conservative leader’s press conference last week attacking the prime minister for putting his holdings into a blind trust continued to personalize Poilievre’s political agenda.

He is now recommending that anyone who is elected to public office in Canada must sell off their holdings or they should not be allowed to remain in office.

Poilievre himself defended the notion of a blind trust when then-prime minister Stephen Harper hired Nigel Wright as his chief of staff.

Like Prime Minister Mark Carney, Wright had deep roots in the private sector. Other political notables like former prime minister Paul Martin faced a similar challenge while in office. Martin owned a major Canadian steamship company and, like Wright and Carney, placed his assets in a blind trust upon entering cabinet.

Poilievre knows full well that if divestiture were the only option for political office holders, many current and former politicians would never have sought the job.

He also knows that the screens being established for Carney’s trust, including oversight by the conflict of interest and ethics commissioner, and screening by the clerk of the privy council and his own chief of staff, make it impossible for the prime minister to influence decisions that would personally benefit him. The fact that Carney’s holdings are in a blind trust also means that the trustee could divest all his holdings without Carney’s consultation or approval. Given the nature of these assets that likely is not going to happen, but the notion that one should sell off everything they own to get into politics is unsustainable, and Poilievre knows it.

What is even more strange about the attacks is how personal they appear to be. There is no love lost between the two men but, if only for public consumption, Poilievre needs to appear more friendly.

The Conservative leader is having trouble getting support, especially from women, partly because he is seen to be too much of an attack dog. If he is going to be successful then that approach must soften.

There is only one way to do that. Poilievre should go hard on issues, but he must be softer on people. The personal nature of his animus doesn’t sit very well with the general public.

Most Canadians don’t know—or care—that much about the rules governing ministerial and prime ministerial financial holdings. They do know about the price of eggs, housing, and the cost of the American tariff war.

Those are the issues that Poilievre should be focusing on if he intends to become a reasoned and reasonable alternative to the current prime minister.

With the Liberals in a minority situation, it is quite possible that another election could be called within the next two years. In that time frame, Carney must prove that his leadership capacity extends beyond the private sector.

A key element in that proof is how Canada emerges from the tariff war imposed by American President Donald Trump.

Carney ran an aggressive election campaign, promising “elbows up” in any fight with the Americans.

Canadians are doing their part in this fight. Land crossings to the United States are down by almost a third, and American tourism destinations are pulling out all the stops in an attempt to lure them back. Yankee produce is rotting on store shelves in this country

Some U.S. destinations are aggressively wooing Canucks with advertising, while others have even renamed streets in honour of Canada. Governors have gone on Canadian airwaves to apologize for the president, and to ask for absolution and tourism.

But Trump continues to publicly threaten our nation at every step of the negotiation.

Carney will have to be very careful not to drop his elbows. He cannot afford to look as though he is playing second fiddle in these talks.

Carney has to come up with a win. Chances are any agreement will be tempered by some sacrifices that could be problematic.

That is where Poilievre should be focussing his attention.

If Carney is going to have to water down Canadian supply management, there will be a huge political opening for the Conservative leader in Quebec. A cogent, sustained support for dairy farmers would be a good place to start.

By continuing personal attacks, Poilievre appears unchastened by his party’s electoral loss and his riding defeat.

In an interview last week, Poilievre blamed his loss in Carleton, Ont., on his decision to publicly promise a public service cut.

In the circumstances, a little humility would serve him better than personal attacks.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.