On Day 1 of Trump's trade war, Danielle Smith held back her fire
CBC
On the day Donald Trump dragged Canadians and Americans into a trade war, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it's a "very dumb" thing the U.S. president did.
In the words of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, Trump had "just stabbed America's best friend in the back" and slapped on a "new American gas tax" by tariffing Canadian oil.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford ripped up a $100-million internet service deal with Elon Musk's Starlink, said he's ready to throw a surtax on electricity exports and encouraged other energy-producing provinces to do the same.
"We need to make sure America feels the pain," Ford said.
Manitoba's Wab Kinew had a Mar-a-Lago-dance-floor-sized flag draped from the legislature in Winnipeg, and he pledged tax deferrals for the businesses harmed in the trade war.
Kentucky bourbons and California merlots were yanked off liquor store shelves from coast to coast, with the odd exception.
Alberta was one of those odd exceptions.
On a day marked by big reactions to a massive economic blow against Canada, Danielle Smith's message was comparably small and quiet.
She set herself apart from her peers by not addressing Albertans or the Alberta media on the day a 25 per cent U.S. tariff hit all Canadian exports, except for oil and gas shipments taxed at 10 per cent.
Smith was interviewed by U.S. business channel CNBC at the same time that Trudeau was fielding questions after his speech in Ottawa.
After the interview aired the premier's office posted her written statement criticizing the U.S. tariffs and promising some sort of provincial retaliation or supportive response the next day.
She told American TV the tariffs were "so disappointing." If anyone in her Canadian audience found that an understatement, she went farther in the printed statement, calling Trump's action "both foolish and a failure in every regard."
Not quite the headline-grabbing "dumb" remark that Trudeau ripped from a Wall Street Journal editorial, but nor was it concessionary from the premier who had long emphasized diplomacy.
The premier has taken heat for not always sticking on Team Canada as this war simmered, but now that it's boiling she struck a note of solidarity: "Alberta fully supports the federal response announced today by the prime minister," she said, in reference to Ottawa's initial $30 billion worth of counter-tariffs on U.S. products that took effect Tuesday.
Ontario legislation that mandated air conditioning in all resident rooms in long-term care (LTC) homes has saved dozens of lives, according to a new study.
Gusty winds, rapid fall in temperature prompt special weather statement for Waterloo region and area
The mid-week warmup in Waterloo region, Guelph and area will abruptly come to an end on Friday, Environment and Climate Change Canada warns.
Water in two more schools in the N.W.T. show lead levels above Health Canada's guidelines for drinking water, according to the territorial government.
Ontario's ethics watchdog says it will investigate whether the province's labour minister contravened any laws in his handling of a controversial training fund.
Mitchell Rose, the 32-year-old man charged with three counts of attempted murder in St. John’s, will spend the next month on the forensic unit of a psychiatric hospital.
Nearly eight years after Halifax sold the historic Khyber building in the hopes it could be revived, the municipality says the site has become a “threat to safety” — and is taking it back.
The New Brunswick government has a strategy for reducing chronic homelessness in the province by 40 per cent over the next three years, Housing Minister David Hickey said Thursday.
Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé is stepping down.
A Winnipeg mother whose kids attend Winnipeg School Division schools says officials waited too long to let parents know classes would be cancelled on Thursday amid a winter blizzard that created dangerous road conditions across the city.
After one day of calm, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) says a second Alberta clipper storm will begin to hit western Saskatchewan early Friday morning.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government is increasing how much it costs to apply for a citizen-initiated referendum by 5,000 per cent, saying it's about making sure applicants are serious.
A special unit established to solve cold cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people has solved the murder of a B.C. man in Washington State nearly a decade ago.
A judge ruled Thursday to remove an injunction in place since the summer against Alberta's law prohibiting doctors from providing gender-affirming care to youth.