Carney makes the right moves on steel in light of American threats...

The policy Canada's Pm announced on Wednesday meets the moment in terms of issues like steel production.

The newsletter is late today.

I woke up this morning not sure what to write about, this is how you know you are getting my real thoughts. The news is slow this time of year, and I’d had plenty to say on Tuesday.

What I’ve learned over the years is, if you don’t know what to write, walk way, take a stroll. Which is what I did down to Toronto’s waterfront, looked at the lake, watched planes take off and land and thought about the day.

You’ll see videos from that in a moment, but I want my thoughts in this newsletter to give you insight, not formulated talking points, so sometimes, it will be late as I ponder the day or wait for events to unfold.

Carney was impressive on Wednesday…

Mark Carney walked into my hometown on Wednesday and made a good and solid announcement. I’m not being sarcastic or facetious or whatever term you want to use, it was a good announcement for the steel industry.

If I had my way, he never would have had to make this announcement and I’m sure he’d like a more free trade approach as well, but this is the moment we are living in.

Carney’s announcement on steel meets the moment and the changing trade dynamic that is happening due to decisions being made in Washington and Beijing. We had to chose a side and Carney smartly chose not to cozy up to Beijing despite some recent pieces in the Globe and Mail that would have us be a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chinese Communist Party.

In the face of tariffs from the United States, which Carney now admits we will likely not escape in a new trade deal, the PM announced a series of measures to support Canada’s steel industry.

The two main trade related changes were:

First, Canada will tighten the tariff rate quota levels for steel products from non-FTA countries from 100% to 50% of 2024 volumes. Above those levels, a 50% tariff will apply.

Second, for non-U.S. partners with which we have an FTA, Canada will introduce a tariff rate quota level for steel products at 100% of 2024 volumes and apply a 50% tariff on steel imports above those levels.

There was another measure aimed specifically at China that was also good.

“Canada will also implement additional tariffs of 25% on steel imports from all non-U.S. countries containing steel melted and poured in China before the end of July.”

This will deal with the issue of transshipment which has been a real issue for the Americans for years.

If you aren’t familiar with the term, transshipment is when a country sends their product to another country, say China to Canada, there is very little about the product that is changed and then it is moved to the United States tariff free due to our trade agreement. In 2017, the Americans under the first Trump administration asked us to deal with this as it related to China and Trudeau refused. That resulted in more than a year of tariffs on all Canadian steel starting in 2018.

That Carney is dealing with this is a good thing.

As much as I am a free trader, steel is one of those industries that never seems to make it. Countries protect their industries, they subsidize them, they encourage dumping of product below market price.

As a kid from Hamilton, I heard about steel dumping from an early age at the dinner table.

What Carney did on Wednesday was the right thing, and it’s important to say so given that I opposed him in the election.

You can watch the pertinent portion of his statement here.

On Canadians and fentanyl...

When Donald Trump first raised the idea that Canada was a factor at all in the American fentanyl ecosystem, Canadians laughed. Despite evidence to the contrary, they said Canada had nothing to do with fentanyl entering the United States.

We were never the big problem that the Americans were seeing south of the border, but to claim that we weren’t a factor at all was ridiculous.

When Justin Trudeau was PM, he and ministers would take to the microphone and give lectures to the Americans on how wrong they were about Canada and drugs heading the United States. That seems really foolish now given the documents released in the U.S. over a Canadian arrested in Nevada last month on drug trafficking charges.

“Some of the alleged details described in the affidavit: Meth sourced from Montreal contacts was traded in Los Angeles for shipment to Australia; requests for bulk cocaine purchases in Los Angles for distribution in Vancouver; promises of substantial shipments of fentanyl precursor chemicals from China into the Port of Vancouver and then shipped to Los Angeles via a Canadian trucking company.”

Among the promises made, according to the DEA affidavit, was that 100 kilos of fentanyl precursor chemicals – what you need to make fentanyl – could be shipped from Vancouver to Los Angeles every month using a Canadian trucking company. Other Canadian contacts named in the affidavit also offered to find way to ship fentanyl chemicals to the United States either directly from China or through Canada.

If you read my column, or the affidavit, you will wonder why Canadians complain so loudly when Trump mentions Canada and fentanyl in the same sentence.

Minister Gary still can’t do his job...

It was a month ago that there were stories about how Carney’s Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree had announced that he would recuse himself from any issues related to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) or the World Tamil Movement (WTM). That’s like me being appointed Public Safety Minister and announcing I won’t have anything to say about the Irish Republican Army or other Republican groups.

The Tamil Tigers and WTM have both been named terrorist groups and it makes it incredibly difficult for Anandasangaree to do his job.

Now comes a report from Global News that in 2016 and 2023, Anandasangaree wrote letters in support of a man who was deemed to b a member of a terrorist group.

“Before he was appointed to the federal cabinet two years ago, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree wrote letters urging Canadian officials to approve the immigration application of a man they had determined was a member of a terrorist organization.”

This is even more problematic for the minister, and it really isn’t clear how he can go on.

Carney was asked about his, in a poorly worded question and gave a boilerplate answer.

I’ll be gentle on the journalist, who I don’t recognize. If you haven’t done it, asking a PM – whoever it is – can be nerve wracking. What started out as a good question ended on what the politician wants to answer on, “do you have confidence in your minister.”

Whether it is a PM or premier, the answer is always going to be yes up until the moment the minister is fired, which is never when the politician is in front of journalists. The reporter should have just asked for Carney’s response to letters supporting a member of a terror group.

If you give politicians options, they will answer the question they prefer. Don’t give them options.

Jenni, like the beat, goes on...

Lots of people have been calling for Jenni Byrne to be fired since the Conservatives lost the election. Some of the loudest voices have no clue how campaigns work, some do, but many don’t.

Byrne can be blamed for some part of the loss, Poilievre for others, but scapegoating her is wrong and shouldn't happen. She will take her knocks, as she should, and move on.

The main thing is, will they learn and adjust for next time which is what good teams who lose but eventually succeed do.

Below are my thoughts on the matter while I was enjoying the view on the Toronto waterfront this morning.

Should I be a food critic...

I shot another video, just for fun, about a new breakfast sandwich on the Toronto waterfront. It is the Golden Standard bacon and egg sandwich which comes with aioli, pickle and hot sauce, plus the usual egg, bacon and cheese.

One person noted that I didn’t give it a rating out of 10, so here we go….

An 8.7.

I referenced Portnoy but didn’t give it a rating out of 10, but you can rate me and my eating.