Randall Denley: Ford's tax cut ramblings won't make up for the damage Trump's tariffs will do

National Post

2 days ago

Article content
The Ford government even hopes that businesses would borrow government money to keep workers employed. Why would they, if there isn't a market for the products or services they produce?
Article content
The difficult truth that both Ford and Carney have to face is that Trump's tariffs are likely to cause long-term damage to some highly visible sectors of the Canadian economy.
Article content
It's easy to talk about diversifying trade to other countries, but harder to do. Without U.S. market access, Ontario's steel, automobile and aluminum industries will be, at best, much smaller. Trump's anti-EV approach also makes the federal and provincial 'investments' in EV battery plants look like a bad bet.
Article content
A politician's natural instinct is to 'protect' endangered jobs with the liberal application of public money as Ford is doing, but all that does is increase business's dependence on government help. That's unsustainable. It's worth noting that e-commerce company Shopify has become Canada's largest corporation by market capitalization without taking government money.
Article content
Article content
Ford also wants tax cuts, on someone else's dime, but broad-based tax cuts to enable more sneaker sales are an ineffective use of money. Right now, American tariffs are a big problem in three sectors. Giving everyone a little bit of money won't fix that. Ford should have learned that when he spent $3 billion to give almost everyone in Ontario $200.
Article content
In truth, both Ford and Carney lack the leverage to really stimulate the economy. Ontario has a $1.1 trillion gross domestic product. Canada's GDP is nearly $3 trillion. A billion dollars of stimulus here or there is like someone trying to speed up an ocean liner by using a handkerchief as a sail.
Article content