Canada column for
Sunday, June 17/18
THE CANADIAN REPORT
(c) By Jim Fox
Canadians are being
urged to stay cool as they react to punishing tariffs, threats and verbal
knocks from U.S. officials.
An online movement
urges a boycott of U.S. goods and vacations and buying T-shirts saying “Buy
Canadian Eh” (www.teespring.com/shop/buy-canadian-eh)
that is gaining momentum.
Economists suggest
that a trade war could only make matters worse.
Things heated up
after the G7 conference in Quebec last weekend when U.S. President Donald Trump
objected to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying that Canada wouldn’t be pushed
around by the U.S.
He tweeted that
Trudeau was “dishonest” and “weak” while White House trade advisor Peter
Navarro went further to comment that there is “a special place in hell” for
Trudeau.
Trump later said Trudeau’s
comments would cost Canadians “a lot of money.”
The Canadian
government plans strategic retaliatory tariffs on July 1 to counter the U.S.
fees on steel and aluminum and there are threats to expand that to the
automotive sector.
Social media hashtags
such as #BuyCanadian, #BoycottUSA and #BoycottUSProducts include #ThanksCanada
for Americans to show support for Canadians.
---
Weaker home sales
in British Columbia and Ontario have prompted the Canadian Real Estate
Association to lower its national home sales forecast by 11 percent.
Sales will drop to
459,900 units this year, it said, as that also takes into account higher home
prices, interest rate hikes, market uncertainty, supply shortages, government
policies and the new mortgage stress test to determine buyer affordability.
The national
average price for houses sold last month was $496,000 (Canadian), down 6.4
percent from a year ago.
---
News in brief:
- Conservative
Leader Andrew Scheer wants Liberal Prime Minister Trudeau take measures to stop
immigrants “jumping the line illegally” at unofficial border crossings with the
U.S. This is causing a “public safety crisis at our borders” while those who
follow the rules to seek asylum in Canada “now must wait longer” than the
line-jumpers, he said.
- A Conservative
filibuster that forced an all-night voting session stalled progress on the
government’s cannabis legalization bill and other work in the Commons. The
party forced the Liberal government to delay work to deal with more than 100
motions in a protest over not being told how much the carbon pricing plan will
cost Canadians. Finance critic Pierre Poilievre said the government obviously
“has got something to hide.”
---
Facts and figures:
Canada’s dollar has
fallen to a value of 75.8 cents U.S. while the U.S. dollar returns $1.319 in
Canadian funds (bank exchange fees extra).
The Bank of Canada’s key interest rate is steady
at 1.25 percent while the prime-lending rate is 3.45 percent.
Stock markets are mixed, with the Toronto
exchange index up at 16,321 points while the TSX Venture index is lower at 754 points.
The average price for gas in Canada is higher
at $1.329 a liter or $5.05 (Canadian) for a U.S. gallon.
Lotto 6/49: (June 13) 6, 22, 24, 31, 32 and 34; bonus 16.
(June 9) 19, 25, 31, 36, 46 and 47; bonus 26. Lotto Max: (June 8) 12, 25,
27, 29, 34, 44 and 45; bonus 7.
---
Regional briefs:
- Polls show
Coalition Avenir Quebec Leader François Legault, who co-founded Air Transat, in
first place for the Oct. 1 provincial election. Legault said he is best suited
to counter the U.S. tariff policies and their impact on Quebec as opposed to
current Liberal Premier Philippe Couillard, a former brain surgeon. Parti
Quebecois Leader Jean-Francois Lisee is in third spot.
- British Columbia
residents still believe it was “poo” that fell from the sky onto their cars
recently in Kelowna and Abbotsford. Transport Canada says, however, it was not
“human feces from an aircraft” referred technically as frozen lavatory waste or
“blue ice.” Susan Allan said the substance
that fell into her eyes through her car’s sunroof was foul-smelling and “had to
be excrement.”
-30-
Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com
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