The Ben Mulroney Show - Ben says Pierre Poilievre hit all the right notes on this Tariff War

Episode Date: February 3, 2025

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so kids of all ages and health challenges can have the best opportunity to thrive. We're treating today's patients When we wake up tomorrow morning, the Donald Trump tariffs could very well be fact and omnipresent. 25% tariffs levied on every single good and service coming across the border, with the exception of oil. They have a special carve-out of 10% tariffs. And so we got to deal with this. That's the state of play. We have to deal with the reality as it is. We have heard from our prime minister. I believe he was lacking on a lot of points. I believe there's a certain aspects of what he was talking about,

or he doesn't have the leg to stand on, specifically as it relates to fentanyl, but it is what it is. He's the prime minister we've got until we don't anymore. The presumptive replacement of this man is Pierre Poliev, the leader of the Federal Conservative Party, and he gave a speech, and boy did he come out swinging. Here's what he had to say. He condemned Donald Trump's tariffs wholesale. and most important, neighbor. We share the longest undefended border.

We fought alongside the Americans in two world wars, Korea and Afghanistan, where we lost 158 of our brilliant young men and women to avenge the attacks of 9-11 on New York and Washington. There is no justification whatsoever for these tariffs or this treatment. Canada will never be the 51st state. We are an independent, proud, and strong nation. Look, he said some stuff there that I think a lot of Canadians want our leaders to say,

but there's also a political calculus here. He knows that in the next election, the liberals will try to tar and feather him as the Canadian version of Donald Trump. And if he, by coming out strong against Donald Trump, he is blunting those inevitable attacks. He is saying, I am perfectly well equipped to defend Canadian interests against Donald Trump. And just because we fall on similar parts of the political spectrum does not make me his ally. I am an ally of the Canadian people.

I am an ally of Canada, and I will defend it tooth and nail. So I think there's a political calculus there as well, but two things can be true at the same time. He continued talking about the trade war that he knows that we are currently in. Well, I believe we're already in a trade war, and I believe no one will win. I think both countries will lose. And that's my message to our American friends. Why? Why would you want both of our countries to lose a trade

war when we have the most successful trading, security, and geographical relationship that any two countries have ever had in the history of the world? Why would you want us to lose? Both of us? Because that's what's going to happen. This will make America poorer, weaker, and less safe. Will Canada lose? Of course, we're both going to lose. So let's stop losing on both sides of the border. Let's hammer out our differences and actually trade more. That would be a winning solution to all of

this and that is the message that I will bring as we put Canada first. And then at one point he spoke directly to Americans and here's what he had to say to them. I like to speak first to our American friends. You are our friends. You are our neighbours. We share the longest undefended border in the history of the world. You buy our products and we buy yours. You have a trade surplus with us when energy is excluded.

And when it is included, the deal is even better for you because you buy our oil and our gas at massive price discounts. Not because we're nice Canadians, but because here at home we've made really dumb decisions to prevent us from exporting our energy to any other countries. But either way, Americans are better off with this friendship. We share a continent, we share the same risks, and the same potential enemies from around the world. Those kinds of enemies can metastasize into real dangers and actual attacks as you saw suddenly and unexpectedly on 9-11. It's good to have friends when those sorts of things happen.

Yeah, I think that is a message that Americans can understand. And I think it pushes back on some of the false facts that Donald Trump is trying to leverage to keep this crisis going. And I think Americans, if they hear that, it'll make sense to them. This next piece of audio is interesting to me for some very personal reasons. Listen to this one. And let me ask my American friends this question, even if you believe in terrorists, how is it possible to put a 25%

tariff on Canada, and only a 10% tariff on China? In what strategic mindset does that make sense? If it's to do with fentanyl, the fentanyl is coming from China. It's killing our people, too. We both have to do more to stop it. But we can do more when we do it together. Now, I will point out again that Pierre Poliev was on the right side of history

when it came to fentanyl, when he a few months ago was, excuse me, in the House of Commons. And he took direct attack on the prime minister and his policy of legalizing every single drug, including fentanyl, and not outlying the underpinning ingredients that make fentanyl. And he rightly predicted that this foolhardy tactic

and policy was going to put our relationship with the United States at risk. That was said in the House of Commons months ago. You remember the House of Commons. That was a place where politicians used to hang out. And Justin Trudeau stood up and did what he always does. He deflected and didn't answer the question and then accused the leader of the opposition of playing petty politics and dividing us. But the reason I find that that that piece of audio interesting for personal reasons is on the eve of the NAFTA,

no, the free trade agreements, the free trade agreement collapsing. It was a last minute, last minute 11th hour reprieve that saved that deal. My dad spoke to the US leadership and said to them, how is it that the United States can do a nuclear non-proliferation deal with the Soviet Union, its greatest enemy, but you can't put a trade deal together with your greatest friend? And that juxtaposition was one of many ingredients that led to the deal finally getting done. The juxtaposition of China getting a 10% tariff and Canada getting a 25% tariff should make any

American ask themselves, what the hell is going on? In what reality is Canada two and a half times worse on anything than China. We don't spy on you. We don't steal your IP. We don't threaten your geopolitical position in any way. Explain. Make this make sense to me. Anyway, so I think I think that's a highly valuable piece of information there. And finally, Pierre Poliev looked inward, he looked to our domestic position and called on the Liberals to recall Parliament. My message to the Liberal government, put aside partisan interests and recall parliament. It is insane that in this great crisis, parliament is shut down to deal with a crisis and a power struggle within the Liberal Party. Let's put aside partisan political interests and recall parliament to pass into place a common sense Canada first plan.

Yeah, I find it really funny that he echoed the words used by Justin Trudeau who said, let's put our partisan swords down and work essentially with me. So that was a great speech. For the most important stories from around the world. We are here in Jerusalem. We just heard the siren. For many people, the worst days of this disaster are still to come. Told by the best journalists in the country.

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