By Pepper Parr
February 9th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
UPDATED February 10th
Among the Directions the Mayor issued to staff on the matter of possible tariffs the Mayor included:
Staff to undertake research and provide advice to the head of Council on potential responses to the tariff threats, including attendance at Mayor’s Tariff Task Force meetings as required in a research and advisory capacity.
No mention is made of just who is on this Task Force and what its immediate objectives are.
It looks like tariffs are real again.
The tariffs that President Trump had put on hold for 30 days – that didn’t last. Before heading off to the Super Bowl Game in New Orleans Trump announced that he would announce 25% steel and aluminum tariffs Monday; with more import duties coming.
This President has made monkeys out of the American media. He keeps flooding the media with announcement- which they take and run with. While media is chasing announcements the President gets on with what matters to him.
He needs his Cabinet in place and it appears he will do everything he can take get them there.
This is a completely different President – the rules do not matter to him. David Frum, a respected news analyst, has described Donald Trump as a predator who uses every tool and new outlet to get his message out.
He has taken away the security clearance former President Biden had; he has removed senior people from the FBI; he has removed Inspectors, the people who are in place to ensure a federal agency is doing the job it is supposed to do to protect the public interest. The President is required to advise Congress if he wants to do this. Trump doesn’t pay attention to rules.
Time to look for better customers
All the while confusing everyone as to just what he plans to do.
This is the guy Doug Ford wanted to vote for – 1000% said Ford. Remember that 18 days from now when you cast your ballot for member of the provincial Legislature.
Canada has a lot of very strong options. Cut off the power they buy from Canada that keeps the lights on in New York City; stop selling them the oil they need.
Wear velvet gloves but make sure the Americans know that they need us as much as we need them. The threat of doing things like this is all that is needed – time to see the Canadian government showing that they have options – and in the meantime look for better customers.
The Mayor has yet to announce who the members of the Task Force will be.
MMW forming a ‘task force’ to deal with tariffs is about as useful as a neighborhood watch group trying to regulate Wall Street. This isn’t about protecting the city—it’s about keeping her name in the headlines while ignoring real local issues like lowering taxes, fixing infrastructure, and addressing the ballooning size of the City bureaucracy. Instead of focusing on things she actually has control over, she’s wasting time and taxpayer money on a problem that belongs to national policymakers. If she put half as much effort into running the City as she does into political grandstanding, we might actually see some real improvements.
How can our mayor and council support local business? Simple, cut red tape and bureaucratic involvement and reduce taxes. Unfortunately, my guess is they are considering hiring a consultant to help with this or adding a staff position. These are all costs to a business that get margined up, add to price and reduce competitiveness.
There is an old adage that it is “frequently better to be lucky than good”. And it is arguably a concept to which Meed Ward would subscribe except that she would probably never concede to being merely “good” and not “the best”.
Her second term in office has been plagued by controversy and criticism – her adoption of the provincial carrot of Strong Mayor powers (really, the devil made me do it), two Strong Mayor budgets with their unprecedented tax increases, her apparent commitment to very discretionary (i.e. vanity) projects, her lack of personal accountability (have you ever heard her admit that she has erred?), her shocking treatment of colleagues (the whole Stolte affair) and her observed lack of transparency around governance decisions have all served to tarnish “the brand”. All, I believe, have combined to reduce her popularity and raise serious questions concerning her leadership.
But into this sorry tableau, we project the threat of American tariffs and imperialism; an existential threat to the Canadian economy and identity. To quote Charles Dickens “It [is] the best of times, it [is] the worst of times …” For Meed Ward, it has provided another set of grave issues around which she can construct her populist window dressings and crusading persona. Born an American citizen and holding dual citizenship, she will now become the classic Janey Canuck leading her Tiny Tariff Task Force (borrowing from Dickens again) in defence of the Burlington taxpayer and the Canadian way. It is perhaps the best example yet of what I term the “Meed Ward Dickensian Deflection” – ‘the worst of times for most of us but, perhaps, the best of times for her and her look-at-me, see me roar, all eyes to my social media role play.
Editor’s note: A Tiny Tariff Task Force – has a nice ring to it. Will it get some legs and actually go anywhere?
Oh Brother. Once again MMW feels the need to play Governor of Burlington and put on the charade that this sleepy country of Burlington is equipped to deal with this issue let alone the staff that have zero insight. They are best left to municipal maneuvering.
Exactly. As a friend likes to say “stay in your lane.” Seems like it was only last month she was running around declaring herself the homelessness saviour – even got a T-shirt for the photo ops. Guess the attention from that endeavour died down? Wait for the all-red ensemble and Canada t-shirt next.
What is happening between the U.S and Canada with regard to tariffs is unprecedented. However, we are dealing with a very different President who feels he is above the law and can do whatever he pleases.
As I mentioned in previous comments we have to be careful when boycotting American products. Our industries are intertwined. It could be an American Company where the workforce is Canadian. It will be Canadian workers who lose their jobs.
Canada needs to develop relationships with other countries and not be so dependent on the United States.
What is happening now is a huge wakeup call. Let’s hope that Canada does what it needs to do and not fall back to the way of doing business should these tariffs not materialize.
Directive? Weren’t the strong mayor powers introduced to get more housing built?
Editor’s note: Welcome Aboard John
Supposedly … I’ll always hold the opinion that anyone who took and uses these powers doesn’t value democracy, no matter the spin they put out in trying to defend them. And when you have a mayor who loves power, oh it just sounds so good to say “I made a Mayor’s Directive.” Why do we have councillors again?