Trump's court loss and why it doesn't matter for Canada, beer taxes and unions, and floor crossing...
A busy week in politics comes to an end.
The fact that I’ve been hearing from so many Canadians for months now that the U.S. Supreme Court would strike down Trump’s tariffs should be troubling. It’s not that they were wrong, in a 6-3 decision the court did that on Friday.
The problem is, so many Canadians were convinced this would be the end of our trade problems with the United States under Donald Trump.
As I explained in my Toronto Sun column on Friday, this court ruling doesn’t touch the tariffs on steel, aluminum, autos or lumber. The court struck down Trump’s tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act as unconstitutional.
The 25% tariff on assembled autos, the 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum and part of the 45% tariff on softwood lumber are imposed under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. Those tariffs weren’t challenged because Congress was clear when they passed that law in 1962 that they were granting the president the ability to impose tariffs on national security grounds.
Whatever you think of Trump, of his tariffs or the national security argument, the law is clear he has the power. It’s why those challenging his tariffs didn’t challenge these charges.
We need a negotiated agreement to get rid of these, and unlike the Mexican government of Claudia Sheinbaum, Mark Carney’s government in Ottawa isn’t making that push.
Oh, and I wrote about the Mexico thing yesterday. Check it out.
Beer workers offer Mark Carney an easy win…
The Teamsters Union is the latest labour group to ask the Liberal government in Ottawa to lay off beer tax hikes. Last week a number of unions representing beer workers signed a letter calling on the Carney government to end the annual beer tax hike.
They wrote an open letter to Carney asking him to cancel the annual tax hike that is set to take effect on April 1. The letter was signed by representatives for UNIFOR, SEIU, UFCW and other unions.
On Friday, the Teamsters joined in the campaign and wrote their own letter to Carney.
You were elected on a promise to champion Canadian working families. You said you wanted to protect our jobs and our purchasing power. Today we are asking you to keep that promise.
Our industry is struggling. Sales are down. Production costs are skyrocketing. Inflation is hurting everyone. Yet your government is preparing to raise the federal excise tax on beer once again on April 1, 2026.
Since 2017, the federal excise tax on beer has increased automatically every year. These increases happen without a vote or debate in Parliament. It is a tax ratchet, and it is hurting our industry.
While our American neighbours are lowering taxes to support their breweries and their workers, Canada is moving in the opposite direction. The consequences are serious. Our plants are increasingly at a disadvantage, and the jobs of our members are at risk.
As I’ve been writing since this tax was first introduced in 2017, it’s unfair, it’s bad for business, bad for jobs and bad for democracy - see the no vote to hike taxes part.
The truth is, beer isn’t as popular as it once was. Treating it like a cash cow could cost jobs.
Carney and the Liberals can take an easy win here. They don’t need to cut taxes on beer and other alcohol, though that would be welcome, they just need to stop increasing the tax every single year.
Floor crossings, the story that doesn’t seem to end…
I’m getting more angry emails and messages about Matt Jeneroux and floor crossings. Some are from people understandably upset that Jeneroux has fled the Conservatives to join the Liberals.
Others are upset that I suggested this floor crossing might make it tougher for Poilievre to survive as CPC leader.
To be clear, I wasn’t suggesting that he should go, only that some ambitious politician might decide to use this latest floor crossing as a reason to challenge Poilievre. Clearly, with 87.4% support at the party convention just weeks ago, the party base supports Poilievre.
Ambitious politicians though are another matter. Who knows what will push them to act.
A poll released by Leger last month showed most Canadians would prefer if MPs who wanted to change parties had to face a by-election or sit as an independent before changing teams. That is unlikely to happen since both the Conservatives and Liberals have benefitted from floor crossing in the past and as the saying goes, turkeys don’t vote for Thanksgiving.
Spoke with Adrienne Batra and Lorrie Goldstein about this topic on this week’s Batra’s Burning Questions.
Until carney is thrown out of office Canadas downward spiral accelerates. The rest is noise.
Thank you Brian for being a sane voice in the chaos. But as you note here, pure facts & truth are not things that Liberal voting Canadians are seeking, I don’t believe for one moment that they are curious or want to learn more. They are stuck on the TDS treadmill and the CBC keeps them fed with anti-USA rhetoric.