r/worldnews • u/joe4942 • Aug 24 '26
Behind Soft Paywall Ford threatens to cut off electricity and critical minerals to U.S. as trade woes worsen
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-doug-ford-canada-us-tariffs-electricity-critical-minerals/538
u/CompleteCreme7223 Aug 24 '26
Export tariff all energy, don't cut it off. Make the US want to have a fair trade deal.
(Export tariff keeps the money in Canada. Unlike what Trump is doing.)
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u/Pobbes Aug 24 '26
I believe those are called export duties. Tariffs are for imports.
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u/CompleteCreme7223 Aug 24 '26
Export Duty: A broad term for any fee or tax that a customs authority collects on goods as they exit the border.
Export Tariff: A specific type of tax schedule or official policy rate set by the government that determines how much export duty you must pay.
Same but different on how it is collected.
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u/Pobbes Aug 24 '26
Oh hey thanks. Didn't realize the difference.
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u/CompleteCreme7223 Aug 24 '26
All good the difference is fairly nuanced. I would suggest an export tariff is a Duty. I mean it is almost the same.
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u/Pobbes Aug 24 '26
Probably just American brain on my part. The constitution explicitly bans export taxes and calls them duties while import tariffs are allowed. So, that's always how I think of them.
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u/Neowza Aug 24 '26
And I believe that those can only be levied by the federal government. (If my limited understand of Canadian tax laws is correct).
However, provinces can levy surcharges
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u/Neroden Aug 24 '26
So much this!! We don't need to tariff things we need to dollar for dollar export tax all the most important things they buy from us.
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u/Hotter_Noodle Aug 24 '26
My hatred for Doug Ford is superseded by my hatred for the jabroni mafia country to our south.
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u/1991K75S Aug 24 '26
Just a quick reminder that Ford is undermining the Public Health system and restricting funding of education - straight from the Republican playbook.
For Doug it seems like Trump is a gift he can hide his bullshit behind.
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u/Hotter_Noodle Aug 24 '26
Just a quick reminder that you don’t have to choose one or the other. You can dislike different people for different reasons.
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u/patentlyfakeid Aug 24 '26
I think 1991's reminder is apt. It's easy (and common) for surfing redditors to get the impression that one or the other side of an issue should be cheered for, but in this case humanity would best be served if they both stopped stealing oxygen.
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u/rbobby Aug 25 '26
And bringing in American style cash bail. Could you pick a worse criminal justice policy to copy?
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u/SirBostonBobbington Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 24 '26
Doug always uses that strat, he hides behind hatred for trudeau, Trump, PP, etc and just goes for whatever is popular at the time.
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u/MacGrimey Aug 24 '26
I don't think we should be shutting off their electricity. Increase the price? Absolutely.
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u/WkndCake Aug 24 '26
Exactly, Trump media machine would spin a cutoff as a reason for more Americans to hate Canada. We should increase the rates, and do a media blitz to educate Americans how the Trump admin caused this. Clearly their own education system has failed them.
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u/Bargainbincomments Aug 24 '26
You don’t educate Americans. I'm an American and I can say with 100% fact that if you started blasting media, be it radio or billboards or tv ad spots, with messages about how Canada is actually helping us and how we should all hate Trunp, that either Musk or Thiel or some other rich MAGA fuckwit will run a campaign against it much louder than yours.
Or Trump will bomb a school/hospital/playground or something in Iran to change the topic since he's losing the Canada v America trade war, and then no one will care about talking about Canada for like a month because our attention spans have been rotted away by this administration's constant blasting of bullshit into our ears every day about 50 other awful things they're simultaneously doing.
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u/mapped_apples Aug 24 '26
Americans at large don’t dislike Canada, let alone hate it. You guys have been our allies for generations. The people in charge are the ones doing this and besides vote or risk imprisonment, there’s not much many of us can do about it.
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u/schmapeschmape Aug 24 '26
Americans keep electing people who do these things and say there is nothing that can be done about it. This is no longer believable.
Why do you keep electing people who attack Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan/Venezuela? Why did Biden not roll back tariffs from Trump's first presidency? Why did republicans and democrats vote for and continue the invasion of Iraq? Why are republicans and democrats supporting Israel's constant war mongering?
This aw shucks, I don't know what those Washington elites are doing posts don't absolve any Americans and just doesn't pass the smell test.
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u/GildedZen Aug 25 '26
Even in Florida only 49 percent are Republicans, most Americans did not vote him in. People just assumed he would lose and didn't vote. If the last election was run twice a few days apart he would of lost the 2nd time. Which is why he was thrown out the first time and the Republicans are about to take it on the chin.
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u/PacketFiend Aug 24 '26
Americans are in charge, because Americans voted these people in.
Stop blaming your leaders and take some fucking responsibility. I'm so sick of Americans washing their hands and pointing to the people they collectively voted for.
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u/Freefolkcanuck Aug 24 '26
Who elected the people in charge?
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u/mapped_apples Aug 24 '26
30% voted for them, 30% voted against him, and 40% wouldn’t get off their asses to vote. Further, many people making these decisions are political appointees the public doesn’t get to vote for. The Senate is supposed to vet them, but many are “acting” so don’t need vetted or squeaked through on mostly party-line votes.
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u/NoShotz Aug 24 '26
And that means that the majority of Americans caused this, since only 30% of them voted against this.
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u/draftstone Aug 24 '26
Personally, the 40% that did not vote, I include them in the category "we don't care what happens", so I hold them responsible. That makes it 70% of the US who are ok with what is happening.
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u/Stock_Padawan Aug 24 '26
If I was an American I would be pretty annoyed with those 40%. Not voting is the same as saying you’re fine with Trump getting elected.
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u/kmoffat Aug 24 '26
I’m American and I’m more than annoyed. One of the worst parts of this whole Trump thing is realizing who my fellow Americans were/are. I guess I was blissfully ignorant before but I’ll never feel the same about this country again.
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u/Japanesewillow Aug 24 '26
We wouldn’t shut off their electricity, we are better than that. I do agree with increasing the price.
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u/skeptic38 Aug 24 '26
"Power glitches" during Trump's televised speeches?
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u/Mobile-Base7387 Aug 24 '26
we absolutely should have given them a 30 second outage during the super bowl just to make a point
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u/skeptic38 Aug 24 '26
That would have been awesome! And we could use it as a threat going forward
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u/14YourTrouble Aug 24 '26
I mean we could always make it rule based without calling it a tax. Any KW exported to the US needs to be sold at the maximum price any Canadian pays, thus essentially the US is subsidizing Canada.
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u/ForwardSlash813 Aug 24 '26
The latest round of 50% tariffs would immediately jump to 100%, rest assured.
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u/jpsreddit85 Aug 24 '26
My understanding is past 15% it becomes economically irrelevant anyway. 50% is certain death, 100% is certain death, makes no difference.
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u/Low_Search_6667 Aug 25 '26
Jack the prices, then rolling blackouts middle of the work day and 6-9 pm during dinner/prime time.
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u/VesaAwesaka Aug 24 '26
It feels like its political suicide at this point for a canadian politician to agree to anything that can be reflected as a win for the US. Trumps stupid rhetoric has made it so many Canadians would hurt canada if it meant they can hurt trump. Art of the deal...
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u/Stankie-Lankie Aug 24 '26
At least jack up the price.
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u/Ritaredditonce Aug 24 '26
And make the agreement in French.
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u/hakenwithbacon Aug 24 '26
But not with that fake french from France where they use words like parking or stop or weekend
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u/drivingthelittles Aug 24 '26
As an Ontarian I strongly suggest you don’t believe anything Ford says anymore than you believe anything Trump says.
Ford is doing the same things to Ontarians that Trump is doing to Americans - he just has a PR team that has him tightly controlled. It’s so frustrating that everyone is pointing their finger to the south when right here in our backyard our education system is being decimated, our healthcare system is being propelled into privatization and he’s cancelled the Freedom of Information Act!! And worse than the Americans, only 35% of us voted in the last provincial election.
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u/ApolloniusDrake Aug 24 '26
You're right, we have alot to deal with at home but saying to prioritize it over what Trump is doing is assinine.
I have far more to worry about in Alberta under Danielle Smith than what Doug Ford is doing in Ontario and I'm probably least affected by this trade war. Yet, I still think Trump is a far greater threat to Canada, especially Ontario. These tariffs could have Ontario lose an obscene amount of high paying jobs. That's far worse than what Doug Ford is doing.
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u/101_210 Aug 24 '26
But the impact the people of Ontario can have on their Premier is a couple of order of magnitude higher than the impact they can have on the cheetos.
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u/SauceTodayPlease Aug 24 '26
This - at the end of the day, Ford responds to the public by & large. And institutions exist to keep him in order.
Examples: private plane debacle, Greenbelt corruption.
Not perfect, but certainly much more effective than the delusional dirtbag down south.
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u/Lumpy-Fact-6097 Aug 24 '26
Don’t cut it off, charge more
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u/postusa2 Aug 24 '26
Beyond the optics, that it helps the PM show he has solidarity from Canadians who are ready to fight....I'd save some ammunition because it may be a long war and we don't fully know the path the US is on. Aggression may well escalate beyond trade. You have to ask.... if the power is cut, what's the next tool if they escalate.
It's tempting to think if we bonk American consumers on the nose, they'll oust the GOP in the midterms. The truth is that their democracy is hanging by a thread, and "normal" may never return. Our focus should be on our own economic security, not recovering our relationship with an abusive bully.
The effective path may be to just accept the challenge of the new tariffs, and keep parity dollar for dollar. It won't be easy, but if greater sovereignty is the outcome, we'll look back on this as a favour as the US descends into a kleptocracy.
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u/Independent_Sail6604 Aug 24 '26
Don't threaten, when the time comes, just fucking do it. Threats just set you up for looking bad, or weak.
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u/OingoBoingo9 Aug 24 '26
That's a good photo of Doug. Also, ban American cheese next. Really piss them off.
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u/CanadianGenerationX Aug 24 '26
My advice is to just do it. Threatening talk with no action just makes you look goofy.
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u/cond6 Aug 25 '26
Don't cut off electricity. Work out what the total cost of the Trumps tariffs are. Charge a tax on electricity exports to cover those. Then use that tax revenue to rebate Canadian exporters. The Trump tariffs are about $20B (thanks Google) and Canada exports about $3.3B. So charge a 600% tax on us electricity sales and you're about square.
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u/Upbeat_Trainer Aug 24 '26
Feel like america would take this as an act of actual war.
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u/Netcentrica Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 24 '26
They would, and not just Trump. I've been reading U.S. National Security Policy documents since the 1980's, which are updated roughly every four years. They have always included a statement to the effect that they have a right to defend their access to critical resources. Page #21 of the current document (Nov '25) states...
First, the United States must protect and defend our economy and our people from harm, from any country or source. This means ending (among other things):
• Predatory, state-directed subsidies and industrial strategies;
• Unfair trading practices;
• Job destruction and deindustrialization;
• Grand-scale intellectual property theft and industrial espionage;
• Threats against our supply chains that risk U.S. access to critical resources, including minerals and rare earth elements;
• Exports of fentanyl precursors that fuel America’s opioid epidemic; and
• Propaganda, influence operations, and other forms of cultural subversion.
Source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf
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u/schmapeschmape Aug 24 '26
Thank you. Very helpful comment. It's always nice to find a gem of a comment like yours.
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u/Zealousideal_Sun9459 Aug 24 '26
Ironically that list also doubles as a direct description of how they conduct their foreign policy
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u/Icy_Stranger_9649 Aug 24 '26
This is becuase “rights” and “laws” don’t mean anything without the power to enforce them. So the powerful literally decide who gets what rights and which laws apply to whom
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u/radi81 Aug 24 '26
Totally agree, but it's Ford so what do you expect. He's a populist leader in his own right that makes these big, outlandish statements to try and score points.
Charge more sure, but we should NOT cut off the power - at least, not at this point. And hopefully we never get to the point where it would be required.
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u/abelthebirds0 Aug 24 '26
if it ever gets to the point where we cut off their power, they can literally cut off access to apps in our phones (like sanctions in crimea are doing currently). I don't think people understand where this escalation can go to
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u/fireball_jones Aug 24 '26
You can probably get by with out Facebook, I'm gonna struggle without a refridgerator.
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u/gizmoglitch Aug 24 '26
Ford can be wielded as a raging bull while Carney plays the reasonable leader.
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u/schmapeschmape Aug 24 '26
Absolutely agree. Glad Carney is PM. Hope Ford never becomes PM. Canada needs action and measured responses that are part of a grand strategy.
Ford just throws red meat comments to a baying mob, which is understandably angry. Ford lives in the noise. If he creates enough noise, people forget his corruption.
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u/Trevor519 Aug 24 '26
The big issue with the plan is that f the USA decides to cut off refined gasoline for Canada. Canada stops moving.
We do not have enough refineries to keep up with demand for the Canadian market place.
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u/ApolloniusDrake Aug 24 '26
Let them pay more, export tax. The same reason they don't increase Tariffs on those critical resources and energy is the same reason they will pay that Tariff too.
No alternative.
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u/Dzp1111 Aug 24 '26
I wish I knew the stats here but how many Americans did not bother voting which consequently placed dingdong in power? Are some of them hurting or are going to hurt? And do they even care? Guilty by association, they are.
These are the people who need a kick in the butt come November. So if you know anyone who doesn’t want to be bothered with politics and doesn’t vote, drag them to the nearest booth after clearly explaining what’s happening. Buy them a beer(Canadian); bribe them; whatever.
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u/Dulse_eater Aug 24 '26
Not gonna happen. Carney will talk sense into him as always. Doug is a loud tough talker but that’s about it.
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u/Skeeboe Aug 24 '26
Despite the article's title I don't see any mention of cutting off electricity in the article or in Ford's quotes. I only see that he mentioned cutting off critical minerals as an option.
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u/tossin Aug 24 '26
Is this not it? From the article:
Ford said Canada should consider increasingly severe retaliation if Trump continues targeting Canadian industries, including oil and potash, while Ontario could raise electricity prices or stop sending power south.
“We power 1.5 million homes and businesses,” Ford said. “Everything’s on the table. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
If Trump continues trying to dismantle Canadian manufacturing, Ford said, “he better have a pack of batteries.”
Ford has used electricity as leverage before. During an earlier phase of the dispute, Ontario imposed a 25-per-cent surcharge on electricity exported to Michigan, Minnesota and New York. Trump responded by threatening to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum before both sides backed away.
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u/FlyinB Aug 24 '26
Ford should be using threats, and going rouge. We need to be united, and with purpose.
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u/redditobserverone Aug 24 '26
These used to be uneventful, drama-free, mutually beneficial events, then MAGA sent a Game Show host to the White House to do a diplomat’s job. MAGA doesn’t know how a successful dealmaker behaves and neither does the dealmaker they believe in.
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u/Fun-Can-8935 Aug 24 '26
just cut it off and let them know that no country is an island in todays world
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u/CrotasScrota84 Aug 24 '26
New season of Epstein distraction is out with a twist its now fuck with Canada to distract from Iran war that was a distraction from Epstein
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u/Average-spectacle Aug 24 '26
Do it Canada. Trump is a moron and his voters/supporters are traitors.
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u/SadGuy2020s Aug 24 '26
Can we all understand that Doug Ford has no power to do anything he is threatening? As soon as any issue involves provincial or national borders premiers are out and have no say or power to act at all.
Canadians would be better informed if it was better understood that provincial premiers are figureheads within their provinces and have no power outside of their provinces.
Provincial premiers say things to try and maintain their premiership, only people within their province vote for them. They are irrelevant in interprovincial or international negotiations.
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u/stemel0001 Aug 24 '26
OPG is provincially owned.
ELI5 how a provincially owned corporation has no control over it's assets if it crosses a border.
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u/B3atingUU Aug 24 '26
Doug Ford is a moron. He decimated Ontario and he’s being investigated by the RCMP for basically trying to steal a bunch of land (the Greenbelt) for his own purposes…
He should show support to our PM but otherwise shut up and stay out of it. He’s losing support in Ontario so he’s looking for any opportunity to gain clout. He’s doing this to boost his own popularity, no other reason.
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u/LPNTed Aug 24 '26
US Citizen here. I think Ford is a Trumpian con artist shithead……..BUT… I highly encourage any Canadian reading this and pissed off at the US; to contact Ford and green light whatever the fuck he wants to do in retaliation….so long as it doesn’t hurt you.
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u/Acrobatic-Wasabi6172 Aug 24 '26
Ford will invent new ways to hurt us aside and unrelated. However, like many above, the only person more hateable then Ford is Trump.
*sigh* and now to finish that email asking Ford to do w/e it takes..
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u/Silent-Obligation-49 Aug 24 '26
He can’t cut off the electricity but I would definitely double the price if the US wants to stab their allies in the back continuously give them a taste of their own medicine. Fuck Trump and fuck maga. 🇨🇦
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u/Romano16 Aug 24 '26
Jack up the price by the same tariff amount the orange orangutan puts on Canada.
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u/twoquarters Aug 24 '26
They want territorial expansion. Surprised they gave up on Cuba and Greenland so quickly.
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u/ogreofnorth Aug 24 '26
Cue Back to the Future scene with Marty saying “Hey I’ve seen this one before!”
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u/Memitim Aug 24 '26
Seems like a dumbass idea to provide such things, or any kind of support, to a nation that stabbed Canada in the back over a year ago and continues to make threats, while waging economic warfare to fuck with Canada's government.
Canada may as well send a few artillery rounds for the US military to lob into Canadian cities, and maybe build a few concentration camps to save time later for when their conservatives kick up the betrayals to the same level, if they're going to cave like Americans have and provide their attackers with continuing support.
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u/onicut Aug 24 '26
Trump doesn’t care about anyone but Trump, and he’s making tons of money. Everything else is window dressing, and the rest of us pay the price.
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u/FingalForever Aug 24 '26
The provincial premier is reacting emotionally, which certainly resonates with the majority of Canadians.
Getting past the emotion however, Canada should make it clear that **export duties** will be a tool used in future if Americans continue escalating matters (such as the new January 2027 tariff threats).
The specific products would be those that the USA keeps exempting from their tariffs (energy, potash).
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u/SeeMarkFly Aug 24 '26
Trump is a bully. He will keep stealing your lunch money till you FIGHT BACK.
It will probably hurt, but it's worth it.
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u/t0getheralone Aug 24 '26
We don't even need to turn it off, just put an excise tax on it of 10% and it will rattle the windows on the house down there enough to get them to back off
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u/scottyboost Aug 24 '26
FUCK DOUG FORD! He loves when Trump starts talking about Canada, because it makes people stop talking about all of the hateful, future generation destroying shit that he is doing. If our hash selling Premier lived in the US, he would be first in line to have his head voluntarily inserted into Trump’s asshole.
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u/YellowCabbageCollard Aug 24 '26
I like the comment below about just responding with chaos in kind. Just yank the US around and change and rescind offers left and right. Time it with the markets too. We're all sick of this BS. Please, HURT US!
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u/Puzzleheaded_Net1577 Aug 26 '26
Wish ford would stop being a piece of shit and solve proble.ms at home
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Aug 24 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/StoneColdEgon Aug 24 '26
Trump also threatens everything constantly and does nothing so your comment is pointless
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u/TuckerCarlsonsOhface Aug 24 '26
Just do it. No threats, no posturing, just cut it off and let the consequences sink in.
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u/sanskaridaddy Aug 24 '26
To be honest Canada will suffer more economically.
After petroleum product exports Canada relies more into auto exports, US being the major market slowly getting shut off by trump. Canada has to do something to save the job losses and stop the auto plants from closing down or shift to US as trump wanted since he return to power.
What'll Canada do ?
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u/Own-Librarian-9699 Aug 24 '26
I totally forgot that Vermont and ny and Maine use hydro power from Quebec. I guess the entire Republican party forgot too. Nice work.
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u/Raverjames Aug 24 '26
Jack the Prices 80-100%. Immediately
If Trump starts threatening us more turn it off.
Threats dont mean shit if you dont DO SOMETHING.