Buy-Canadian movement holding strong in Ottawa amid Trump's ‘nasty' comments
Canadians avoiding travel to the United States and bans on American alcohol are among the reasons U.S. President Donald Trump called Canada 'mean and nasty' to deal with this week, but that rhetoric seems to be strengthening the buy Canadian movement.
'We're up still double last year this past week, so even after Canada Day, the push to buy Canadian is sustaining,' said Gareth Davies, owner and founder of Maker House on Wellington Street.
The store is made up of all-Canadian products from more than 250 makers across the country.
Trump's views were made public by U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra at a conference in Washington State this week.
Pete Hoekstra told the conference that such steps 'don't send positive signals' about Canada treating the United States well.
Ontario is among the provinces that banned the sale of U.S. alcohol from government-run stores after Trump slapped tariffs on goods from Canada.
'I feel if he's calling us nasty, it's projection,' said Keith Williams. 'That seems to be a bit of his playbook, constantly throwing names and calling names and whatnot, and accusing people of the very things that he himself does.'
Williams and his wife are visiting Ottawa from Cambridge, Ont. and have decided to travel within Canada this summer.
'We usually like taking trips to the States because there was so much to do, so much to see. But now, we've been finding that coming to places around Canada it's a lot better,' explains Jackie Mahoney.
'We just really like supporting Canada right now and so we've been avoiding the States for the moment.'
New data shows there were about 26,000 fewer cross-border trips from eastern Ontario into New York State in June — the fifth straight month seeing a decline.
'We have to respect our country, to respect ourselves. And there's no way that we're going to spend money in the United States for probably many years to come,' said Suzanne Verville.
B.C. Premier David Eby says it appears the efforts of Canadians to stand up to Trump's tariffs are having an impact.
'I think Trump is Trump,' said Teresa von Teichman. 'What he says go through one ear and out the other.'
With files from The Canadian Press
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
39 minutes ago
- CBC
'What took so long?' P.E.I. senator says Ottawa's bridge toll cut came a decade too late
Social Sharing Prime Minster Mark Carney's decision to cut tolls on the Confederation Bridge satisfied a Prince Edward Island senator's long-standing quest for equality — but it didn't come without a question. "What took so long?" said Percy Downe during an interview with CBC's Island Morning. Downe, who served as chief of staff to former prime minister Jean Chrétien before his appointment to the Senate in 2003, had long called the bridge tolls unfair to Islanders. His complaints began about a decade ago, when the previous Liberal government announced it was fully funding and removing tolls on Montreal's Champlain Bridge. Both that bridge and Confederation are assets owned by the federal government. "That was grossly unfair. It was unfair to Islanders," Downe said. "It was a problem that should have been addressed by prime minister [Justin] Trudeau. It was never addressed. I'm thankful Prime Minister Carney fixed the problem." Carney's announcement Monday saw the price of tolls on the Confederation Bridge, which connects P.E.I. with New Brunswick, fall to $20 from $50.25. Prices for transport trucks fell to a flat rate of $20. And there was no change in the cost to cyclists, pedestrians, shuttles or motorcycles. Those changes kicked in Friday. Downe said he's OK with the $20 toll, saying that money can go toward the bridge's maintenance. But it took a decade for Ottawa to right a wrong, he said, and Islanders paid the price during that time. "In those 10 years... Islanders spent hundreds of millions of dollars in tolls," he said. More than 990,000 vehicles crossed the Confederation Bridge in 2024, many of them paying at least $50.25 to pass. Also in Carney's announcement, news that fares for passengers, cars and commercial traffic on ferry services in Eastern Canada that are federally supported would go down by 50 per cent. The ferry service between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland also got a boost from Ottawa. Ticket prices were cut in half, though rates for commercial freight did not see a decrease. To make it all happen, it's estimated government will spend about $100 million of public money annually to offset the reduction of the bridge toll and ferry fares. An economic and social boost Despite the spending, the prime minister said the move will pump millions back into the Canadian economy. "If we are going to build a stronger, more united economy, and we are doing that, we are going to need to make it more affordable to travel around this country, for people and for businesses," Carney said during the announcement. That need is something Downe has seen first-hand "Just prior to the pandemic, I heard from an agricultural producer who spent $66,000 in bridge tolls that year — money that his competitor in Cap-Pelé, N.B., did not have to spend," Downe said. WATCH | Islanders and tourists excited about reduced price to leave P.E.I.: Islanders and tourists excited about reduced price to leave P.E.I. 4 days ago In seven years, full ownership of the bridge will transfer back to the federal government from it's current operator, Strait Crossing Bridge Ltd. Downe said he is "not worried at all" about whether tolls will remain low after that deadline. But advocacy for equitable, reliable travel can't end, he said, especially as the ferry service between P.E.I. and Nova Scotia continues to face delays and disruptions this season. "It has to be addressed," he said. "I won't be in the Sentate for another 10 years."
CBC
44 minutes ago
- CBC
P.E.I. hits record housing starts, but experts say more needed to restore affordability
Social Sharing Housing starts on Prince Edward Island reached a record high last year, but a recent report says even more construction is needed to make homes affordable. In 2024, there were 1,684 housing starts, a 48.7 per cent increase from the previous year and the highest total since the 1970s. That brings the province close to the goal laid out in its housing strategy, released last year, which identifies the need for an average of 2,000 new homes per year between now and 2030. But the latest supply gaps estimate report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says that, based on projected demand, Canada needs to essentially double its current pace of home construction to return to pre-pandemic levels of housing affordability. For P.E.I., that means increasing the projected average of about 1,300 annual housing starts between 2025 and 2035 to nearly 2,200 per year — surpassing even the province's all-time record of 2,122 starts set in 1973. That remains the only year since 1948, the earliest data from CHMC is available, when housing starts on the Island exceeded 2,000. Construction industry at capacity Sam Sanderson, executive director of the Construction Association of P.E.I., said reaching 2,200 housing starts may prove difficult. He said the province's construction sector, which employs more than 8,500 people year-round, is already operating at full capacity. "To say it's not achievable, I'd be lying," Sanderson told CBC News. "But there needs to be some changes, there needs to be some additions, and there needs to be some investment into construction to even look at those numbers." Sanderson said innovations in the industry are helping, including pre-manufactured wall systems and modular construction that allow for faster, more affordable builds. But labour remains a major constraint. The industry is facing a shortage of skilled workers across multiple trades, he said, and productivity has dropped as experienced workers retire. "We're saying right now, it takes pretty near 2.2 new people to do the same amount of work one person did... 20 years ago or 10 years ago," Sanderson said. "We need to find ways to increase productivity." The association has been trying to bring more workers into the industry through training programs and outreach. Last year alone it made more than 50 visits to schools across the Island. But Sanderson said more investment is needed — not just into housing projects, but into people. That includes recruitment, training and skilled trades support, especially as P.E.I. competes with other provinces. He pointed to Nova Scotia's commitment, announced in 2023, to invest $100 million over three years in recruiting skilled tradespeople as the type of investment P.E.I. needs to match. "We need to see some large-scale investments like that into our industry here in P.E.I. to be able to increase our capacity to build," Sanderson said. He added that governments must also prioritize targeted immigration strategies to attract skilled workers for the construction industry. 'The momentum has continued' Staff with Fusion Charlottetown — a non-profit based in P.E.I.'s capital that advocates for youth and young adults on issues such as housing affordability — the record-breaking year was a welcome development. The pace has continued. In the first two quarters of 2025, there have already been 751 housing starts — the most for that time period since 1973. "We're definitely pleased to see it over the past year," said Fusion Charlottetown's vice-president, Matt Pelletier. "What we're pleased to see is that the momentum has continued." Pelletier acknowledged that the 2,200 target is ambitious, but said it can be within reach. "With the right mechanisms, the right fiscal tools and the right alignment with land use, it's possible to do that again," he said. "It's going to require all orders of government coming together to make that happen." Incentives and policy changes needed Before the province tabled its 2025-26 operating budget, Fusion Charlottetown submitted a list of policy recommendations aimed at boosting the housing supply. These included encouraging apartment construction in urban areas and funding "housing-enabling infrastructure" such as roads and sewer systems, which are essential for making new housing developments possible. Fusion Charlottetown is also calling for the extension of rental construction sales tax rebates to affordable housing projects. In the fall of 2023, the federal government brought in legislation to remove the GST on new rental developments. Shortly after, the P.E.I. government followed suit by eliminating the provincial portion of the HST for new rental builds in hopes of spurring construction. Fusion Charlottetown wants to see those rebates expanded to include different forms of affordable housing, such as co-operative housing and affordable home ownership initiatives like Habitat for Humanity projects. "Creating a sales tax mechanism to allow for those sorts of units to be built would be favourable when it comes to creating affordable housing options," Pelletier said. Prince Edward Island is managing the housing crisis just about as well as anyone in the country. — Mike Moffatt, Missing Middle Initiative The organization is pushing for municipal policy changes too, like harmonizing building codes, and it's also advocating for Charlottetown to have a fast-track approval system for affordable housing projects. "In a lot of cases, the delays relating to those can contribute to the input costs of affordable housing projects, effectively undermining the affordability that they're trying to create," Pelletier said. Is 2,200 the right number? Housing policy expert Steve Pomeroy said it's important to look critically at the 2,200 figure and consider whether that many homes are really needed on P.E.I. Pomeroy, an industry professor at McMaster University and member of the Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative, said the CMHC's projections are a theoretical exercise focused only on supply. But he said the real challenge is ensuring affordability — and that won't be solved by supply alone. Developers are unlikely to build units that would lower their profits, leaving many new homes still out of reach for low-income residents, Pomeroy said. "So rather than just any kind of supply, we need to think about, how do we actually create supply of more affordably priced homes? Which means invoking the role of the non-market sector, non-profits and co-operatives who respond to different signals than the market does," he said. "Those are provided with subsidies from government… and they have a mission to address affordability." Pomeroy pointed to the broader need for more social housing across the country, citing a 2023 Scotiabank report that found just 3.5 per cent of Canada's total housing stock is social housing — half the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average of around seven per cent. P.E.I. stands out on social housing Despite Canada's lag in social housing, P.E.I. is making some progress. The province's housing strategy includes a $176-million investment over five years to establish 560 government-owned social housing units. In a statement to CBC News, the Department of Housing, Land and Communities said that by the end of the last fiscal year, 227 new social housing units were under design and/or construction. That's already 40 per cent of the five-year target. WATCH | P.E.I. government giving millions to let housing non-profits and co-ops buy and rent out 116 units P.E.I. government giving millions to let housing non-profits and co-ops buy and rent out 116 units 17 days ago The provincial government in P.E.I. is partnering with three non-profit groups to let them acquire existing affordable housing units and build new ones. So far, the project has led to 116 units in Charlottetown and Summerside moving out of the hands of private landlords, at a cost of about $7.5 million. CBC's Connor Lamont explains. The province said it made a "historic" capital investment of $63 million in the 2024-25 fiscal year to support new social housing, adding a record 149 units to the system: 37 through construction and 112 through acquisitions. That surpassed the previous record set in 2023-24, when 142 units were added. "Through these investments, the social housing registry was reduced to the smallest waitlist in well over a decade, with a low of 389 as of March 31, 2025," the statement read. A national report card, released by the Missing Middle Initiative at the University of Ottawa, recently evaluated provincial housing policies across Canada. P.E.I. received an A for construction of social housing, the highest grade in the country. "Prince Edward Island… came out with a plan to increase social housing that was particularly detailed — more detailed than we're seeing here in Ontario," said Missing Middle Initiative founding director Mike Moffatt.
CBC
44 minutes ago
- CBC
Members of environmental racism panel, N.S. government discuss meeting dates
Social Sharing Members of a provincial panel on environmental racism are discussing when they can schedule a meeting with Nova Scotia government cabinet ministers. The panel was commissioned via an NDP amendment to major environmental legislation the Progressive Conservative government passed in 2022. A report was delivered more than a year ago, but so far has not been shared with the public. Becky Druhan, the cabinet minister responsible for the Office of Equity and Anti-Racism, said in May that there were no plans to make the report and recommendations public, noting that was not part of the panel's mandate. At the time, Druhan would not say if she'd read the recommendations. Following pressure from opposition MLAs and Mi'kmaw chiefs, however, Druhan said last month that she'd asked department staff to arrange for a meeting with the panel. "Out of respect for the panel, we want to meet with members before sharing any further details publicly," she said in a statement at the time. On Tuesday, a government spokesperson said an invitation to meet had been extended to panel chair Augy Jones, who is also the executive director for African Nova Scotian Affairs for the province, and the hope was a meeting date could be set soon. "Given the busy summer season and the need to co-ordinate several schedules, it is likely the meeting will take place later this summer or early fall," Denise Corra said in an email. Tom Johnson, a member of the panel and the executive director of fisheries and wildlife for Eskasoni First Nation, confirmed in an email Tuesday that people are trying to line up schedules. Calls for the report's release Although Deputy Premier Barb Adams said earlier this year that the recommendations from the report are being used across government, some high-ranking civil servants and cabinet ministers have indicated in the last two months that they have either not seen the report or are only familiar with it at a high level. No one from the government has been willing to say whether reparations for communities affected by environmental racism is one of the panel's recommendations. Membertou First Nation Chief Terry Paul told CBC News last month that Mi'kmaw chiefs in the province have not seen the report, but they've talked about it and believe it should be made public. Louise Delisle feels the same way. Delisle lives in a historic Black community in the Town of Shelburne. She spoke to the panel during its consultation work and shared concerns about the effects a garbage dump situated for years beside her community had on the health of people living nearby. 'Where is it?' "I talked about the fact of the high rates of cancer and the fact that our water was polluted," she told CBC News. "We were not consulted when that dump was put in there. Nobody came into the community and asked anything because they felt they didn't need to do that. That's racism at its finest." Delisle said her expectation was recommendations from the panel would be shared with the communities consulted as part of the work. She's frustrated by the lack of answers. Communities are already dealing with the fallout from environmental racism, Delisle said, and to not share the report and its recommendations feels like another form of discrimination. "Where is it? Just make it public."
