Now that we've gotten over the shock of a convicted criminal and corrupt businessman being elected by the supporters of law and order, a sex offender and sexist pig being elected by women, a racist and anti immigration champion being elected by blacks and hispanics, and a sacrilegious, spiteful, liar being elected by the Christians, we need to move on and recognize the world is rapidly changing. Rather than wringing our hands in despair Canadians need to embrace the opportunities this change offers us in spite of tariff threats and other sabre rattling. A slap across the face and a kick in the ass is a good way for us to finally wake up.
First on the chopping block should be the dairy and other marketing boards that serve no other purpose except to inflate the cost of milk and cheese while protecting the incomes of the farmers who have managed to secure a quota. The farmers claim that without a marketing board they will go broke. Years ago a similiar situation existed in New Zealand where farmers went from a highly protected market to a very competitive open market and soon became a major exporter of dairy products in the process, thanks to improved efficiency and productivity. We could do the same.
If the Trump administration wants to bring in tariffs on our highly integrated auto industry then its a good time to shut down our subsidized car factories and ask for our money back from those companies who received grants, tax relief, and loan guarantees. With the world Electric Vehicle (EV) market now increasingly dominated by China, which has also cornered the market in car batteries, especially with the recent bankruptcy of Northvolt, we can now cancel the multi-billion dollar subsidies we promised to Volkswagen, Stellantis and others to try and build a competitive battery business. Nobody is going to want or need these batteries and it will save us billions.
Instead of being hewers of wood and drawers of water we should be adding value to our mining, forestry, and petroleum products. Rather than selling cheap crude oil to the U.S. let's refine it ourselves and sell them more expensive gasolene and diesel. Instead of selling raw ore to the U.S. or anyone else let's smelt it and produce the copper, zinc, and steel like we used to in places like Sudbury and Hamilton. And instead of exporting logs and 2x4's why not open up a pre-fab factory and sell pre-made houses?
And with regards to our NATO spending commitments this is a perfect opportunity for us to open up the North with roads connecting some of the communities like the Mackenzie Valley Highway extension, upgrading northern airports with Instrument Landing System (ILS) electronics so they can function in all types of weather, and building deep water ports to service icebreakers and other naval patrol ships. Billions can also be added to the economy by building ships, planes and armoured vehicles in-house which we used to do a lot more of. Remember that at the end of WW2 Canada had the world's 4th largest airforce and navy in spite of our relatively small population.
Best of all we can stop dragging our feet on producing nuclear power. We already have a world leading technology with our CANDU reactors and we should be the leaders in Small Modular Reactors (SMR's) development to power our northern communities as well as providing electricity to mining and other operations in remote areas. Demand for clean electricity is increasing by the day and adding more nuclear power plants to the electrical grid will give us yet another valuable product to export.
For too long Canada has been much too dependant on the U.S. for its economic survival and been all too happy to operate with a branch plant mentality. It's time we shook off those shackles and took advantage of our natural resources wealth to develop the industries the world needs and is willing to pay full price for. If we are going to subsidize anything let it be our own organizations and factories not the subsidiaries of American, European, or Asian companies. It's time for us to pull up our bootstraps and make Canada great again.