If there is at least one Canadian who is likely to be happy with Donald Trump’s return to the White House, it is Pierre Poilievre: he risks benefitting greatly from it.
On the very day of the American election, Poilievre went in front of the cameras to proclaim that he was going to demand that the United States return the money they stole from us with their tariffs on softwood lumber.
He seemed disconnected, but perhaps deep down he was as cunning as a fox… He had obviously calculated his move, even if it was largely lost in the chaos of this American election day.
What was Poilievre playing? He was distancing himself from Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau is afraid, very afraid, of the return of Trump.
Poilievre tries to demonstrate that he is not afraid.
Trudeau in a weak position
The president-elect did end up speaking with Justin Trudeau the day after his victory, but only after speaking to a dozen other heads of government.
Biden spoke with Trudeau first, as is tradition.
Poilievre knows that the Liberals will try to convince Canadians that Trudeau can better stand up to Trump’s abusive and domineering behavior.
Poilievre is trying to position himself as a strong man who, moreover, is from the same neoconservative family as the American “bully”.
But there is one key issue where Poilievre’s claims will be put to the test and that is supply management.
Supply management in danger
“Supply management” is a system that protects thousands of local agricultural producers by guaranteeing them a fair price.
Here, it is families, not American conglomerates, who own our farms.
This system, which protects the price paid to our milk, egg and chicken producers, is the complete opposite of the ideal of a free market advocated by Trump.
Supply management will inevitably be on the table when Trump begins to renegotiate our free trade agreement with the United States and Mexico.
Two birds with one stone for the Bloc
The Bloc Québécois’ maneuver to force the adoption of a law protecting supply management comes at the right time.
On Tuesday, American Ambassador David Cohen was before the Senate in Ottawa and he advised Canadians not to decide in advance that supply management absolutely must be protected.
If Trudeau gives up on supply management, he is left behind in many agricultural regions, particularly in Quebec.
Poilievre, whose political base is in Western Canada, will not hesitate for a second to abandon supply management if its maintenance risks hurting beef producers.
This is where the Bloc’s maneuver finds its full meaning.
The Bloc will put the Conservatives at risk in regions where they hope to make inroads, while forcing Trudeau’s hand in negotiations that promise to be difficult.
Trudeau and Poilievre will be very badly hit if they vote against the Bloc’s bill once it leaves the Senate.
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