Will Carney get a deal with Trump? Chow chases jobs and Toronto embarrasses itself again...

Chatter about a trade deal with the Americans is heating up.

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Will there be a trade deal with Trump in the coming days? That was the talk at The Empire Club on Tuesday as Ambassador Pete Hoekstra addressed a major business crowd, maybe 1,000 people, over lunch.

It wasn’t Ambassador Pete saying this; it was audience members I was speaking to as I worked the room.

As I detail in my column in the Toronto Sun, this was confirmed by speaking to people in government in Ottawa and at Queen’s Park throughout the afternoon. It’s not certain, but there is hope that a deal can be reached on the broadstrokes before the G7 meetings begin in Kananaskis, Alberta on June 15.

It might seem odd that this news comes as the Trump administration is doubling tariffs on steel and aluminum to 50%, but we should all realize that Trump is not a normal politician and acts in his own erratic ways.

On the subject of steel tariffs, The Globe and Mail has a fascinating piece today where the Canadian steel industry, and billionaire steel tycoon Barry Zekelman, are calling on the Carney government to stop the dumping of steel into Canada.

He maintains that since the federal government is allowing a huge influx of cheap dumped foreign steel to flood the Canadian market, domestic producers are being forced to aggressively compete in the U.S. instead, and that is exacerbating the pain for the American steel sector – all of which is inflaming Mr. Trump.

“What he’s trying to do is force Canada’s hand,” said Mr. Zekelman, CEO of Zekelman Industries, in an interview. “He’s trying to say, ‘Look, guys, you haven’t fucking woken up. So, now I’m going to force you to wake up.’”

Zekelman isn’t alone in saying the Canadian government needs to deal with cheap steel dumped into Canada from India, China, Turkey, South Korea and elsewhere. Dumping isn’t a new issue in the steel industry, but it is one the Canadian industry says isn’t being dealt with by the Carney government.

Chasing away jobs...

Is Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow chasing away jobs from her own city?

On Monday, during a flag raising ceremony for Pride month, Chow told people not to shop at Home Depot. It was pretty clear that she meant it but her office now claims she was just joking.

Well, Home Depot not only employs thousands of Toronto residents at their stores, they have their Canadian head office here as well. Right now, the company is looking for a new location for their head office and their preference is Toronto.

Between Chow’s comments and the cold shoulder the company feels they are getting from city hall, she could chase all those jobs to Calgary. Read the details here.

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Toronto gets headlines for all the wrong reasons...

Dave Portnoy from Barstool Sports isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I like him, both his online schtick and to be honest, he seemed like a genuine guy when I met him in passing a couple of years ago. He’s been nothing but good to Toronto when he’s been here on business and has done his famous pizza reviews for local shops.

So, there he is doing a review at a place on Harbord Street when a car goes by and someone yells at him, “Fuck the Jews!”

The people behind him laughed and Portnoy rightly called them out.

It’s sad because Canada, and Toronto in particular, are becoming known as hotbeds of antisemitism. This isn’t the city I’ve known my whole life and it’s not the city, or country we should be.

Jews make up about 1% of Canada’s total population, talk about a minority group. Still, Toronto has Canada’s largest Jewish population and Canada is home to the fourth largest Jewish population on earth after Israel, the United States and France.

Since October 7, 2023, we have let antisemitism fester.

Yes, part of it is changing demographics due to immigration, but that is just part of it. We also have rampant antisemitism on campuses fueled by radical left-wing ideology. We need to push back as I discussed with Brendan O’Neil in a recent episode of the Full Comment podcast.

What to read...

The imminent removal of the wooden box concealing the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald should be the start of the conversation and not the end, writes Greg Piasetzki at National Post. He’s calling for greater historical literacy coming out of this episode, that’s something I can get behind.

The Carney government has been talking about making Canada an energy superpower, they are even talking about building pipelines. Should we believe them? Tristin Hopper looks to the past statements of several key government leaders to see what the future might bring.

On the issue of Alberta separatism, Rick Bell is writing that it’s up to the PM to deal with the issue. He's right, the fuel for that fire is coming from Ottawa, so it is only the PM who can, and should, deal with it.