Canada's emotional hissy fit over Trump isn't good for this country...

We are letting emotions cloud our judgment.

Running a country and it’s policies based purely on emotion is a bad idea. Right now, too many Canadians are basing their political views on their very heightened emotions.

I’ve been saying this for some time now but the poll results released by Politico this week really hammer this home.

The Politico poll was conducted by Public First of London, England from Feb. 6 to 9, and surveyed 10,289 adults online in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the United States with 2,000 people from each country. In Canada, they found that most adults believed that it was better to align with China than the United States and a near majority believe that the U.S. is a bigger threat to global peace than China or Russia.

Need I point out that Russia is involved in an ongoing war in Ukraine where 55,000 Ukrainians have been killed and more than 160,000 Russians according to the BBC?

Unlike in Canada, our European friends are wise enough to acknowledge that Russia is the bigger threat to peace. That’s a view based in reality, the predominant view in the United States is based on anger and emotion.

It’s the same with the 57% who believe it’s better to depend on China.

China is a country that has interfered in our elections, harasses and intimidates Canadian citizens - especially those of Chinese descent, is engaged in political and industrial espionage, was involved in spying at the Winnipeg bio lab, and of course has kidnapped our citizens. They don’t engage in free and fair trade and if you think the United States is a bully on the trade front, wait until you see what China is like.

Enjoy Europe like royalty.

Make it make sense…

None of this makes any sense to me as I try and look at this from a rational perspective as I was saying to Adrienne Batra and Lorrie Goldstein the other day.

When Conservative MP Jamil Jivani said that Canadians need to stop having a hissy fit about the United States our country’s Laurentian elite commentariat had a hissy fit. Yet, look at these poll numbers and tell me the country isn’t having a hissy fit in their reaction to Donald Trump.

Be upset by him, but base your view in reality, not your emotions.

Your beach vacation awaits you.

Canadians are willing to cut off their noses to spite their faces…

David Coletto of Abacus Data was posting the other day that only about half of Canadians want to keep CUSMA, meaning plenty of Canadians believe in committing economic suicide because they don’t like Donald Trump.

For the last year I’ve been advocating policies to boost Canada’s economy, to unleash it if you will, including expanding trade to other countries and regions of the world. At the same time, I’ve advocated for getting a deal with the United States and acting from a position of strength.

Let me tell you, to a great many Canadians those positions amount to treason because in their view, the only thing that matters is how much you hate Donald Trump and the Americans.

That’s not my style.

Book your tropical getaway now.

The reality of our exports…

I posted this graphic the other day and it was printed with my column on Wednesday, but it is worth bringing back. When many Canadians advocate moving our trade away from the United States, they don’t realize the monumental task that would be.

The graphic below shows the US dollar value of our exports to our five largest trading partners. Add the four countries that follow the United States - China, Britain, Japan and Mexico together and it amounts to about six weeks of exports to the United States.

We need leaders and policies based in reality but as long as Canadians are basing their views on anger and emotion, our politicians will pander to them.

It helps their polling numbers.

Say yes to adventure.