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Are you ready for Canada to align its policies and governance with the European Union?
I’ve been warning you that this was the price of admission for us becoming an associate member of the EU. You don’t get the kind of access to the EU market that Mark Carney is looking for without surrendering to Brussels.
More on that in a moment, but if you are wondering where we are on the associate member term, it is apparently back on.
Sure, Germany, France, Greece and other EU member states disagreed, Germany even called the idea a red line, but in their opening remarks both Mark Carney and Ursula von der Leyen used the term.
Then, von der Leyen let slip the price of admission.
“We are exploring the idea of an associate member. But this means for example aligning our policies, our programs, our governance and many topics that we can develop,” she said.
You can see it in the video here.
Which side is going to win…
Now, the EU is 452 million people, Canada is 41 million.
Which side is going to win out as we seek to align our policies, programs and governance?
As I have been pointing out for months now, Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein all have something akin to associate membership. They make up the European Economic Area, a group of countries that are not full members of the EU but who have extensive trade access.
Do you know the price they had to pay to get that?
Accepting EU policies, programs and governance. All of these are decided in Brussels without a single vote from any of those three countries.
Some might call that surrendering sovereignty and they’d be right. Don’t tell me the US is threatening our sovereignty by asking for alignment on steel tariff policy and then turn around and accept this.
Speaking of steel, the EU is in the process of ramping up carbon tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum and cement. Once fully implemented these tariffs would be equivalent to the 25% Section 232 tariffs that the United States imposed on us.
Are we ready to declare a trade war with Europe over these unjustified tariffs?
Probably not, but we should.
Batra’s Burning Questions with Alex Pierson…
Once upon a time, I worked at a TV station called Sun News Network where I hosted a nightly show. I worked with lots of great people including Adrienne Batra and Alex Pierson, who both also hosted their own shows.
In a way, we are getting the band back together.
On Monday the three of us did the Toronto election night livestream along with Lorrie Goldstein - who also used to come on Sun News, and Justin Holmes who covers city hall for us.
Well this morning, before Carney and von der Leyen gave their remarks, we recorded an episode of Batra’s Burning Questions talking about the EU kiss off that was revealed yesterday. I still think the member states are pushing back on this and von der Leyen is out over her skis on this.
As for Carney, as many of you like to tell me, he has no mandate for this and never asked the public.
Enjoy.
Mark Carney spent and now Canadians are paying…
That’s how Pierre Poilievre characterized the Bank of Canada decision to raise interest rates by 25 basis points to 2.5%. Immediately major banks such as RBC, TD and BMO boosted their prime rate to 4.7% meaning anyone with a variable rate mortgage or line of credit saw their costs go up.
The move was questionable at best.
I was texting with Professor Eric Kam about the decision. He’s not a fan and said Tiff Macklem was fixing a supply problem with a demand solution.
He wasn’t alone in calling this the wrong move.
Here’s what James Thorpe, Chief Market Strategist at Wellington Altus was posting online just after the rate hike.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford was also sounding off.
I think Ford, Kam and Thorpe are right on this and Macklem is wrong. Starting in 2022 when inflation started to get out of control, Macklem dropped the ball, though a guy named Pierre Poilievre got it right, so now Macklem is trying to show he’s on top of things, even if it is the wrong move.
And finally, Stelco…
On Monday, Melanie Joly was going on again about how Stelco and its owner Cleveland-Cliffs had to live up to their commitments. She’s been saying the same thing for weeks while making public threats against the company and sending them letter after letter.
Stelco and Cleveland-Cliffs say they are in compliance with their agreement with the government.
So the Conservatives asked Joly to release the letter so the world could see. Now, to be clear, the Conservatives have been supporting the government on this, they’ve even said enough with the letters, take the company to court.
Joly said she would release the letter but hasn’t.
Then on Wednesday, she had this reaction to some basic questions and after watching it, I don’t think the agreement is as iron clad as she claims, in fact, I’m thinking the company might be telling the truth.
Watch for your self, she lashes out, makes false claims about the Conservatives, but won’t answer the questions - she’s hiding something.
Canada joining the EU needs to have input from Canadians. There should be a vote .
When Canadastan gets a pipeline out East, then we should consider EU Associate Membership. Until then, Canadastan needs to grow up.