A few years back, a work colleague was recalling that when he was a teenager, back in the 1960s, he had a brief and close encounter with Gordie Howe, a.k.a. Mr. Hockey. He had received an invitation to try out at the Detroit Red Wings training camp. While his chances of making the National Hockey League team were slim, he was thrilled to be able to rub shoulders with some of the best in the game.
During a “light” scrimmage, the prospect went into the corner to pick up a loose puck. Then everything went black. He awoke minutes later, stretched out on a bench in the dressing room. What had happened? The trainer had a one-word answer: “Gordie.” He had become just another victim of Mr. Elbows, wrongly assuming that Howe would take it easy on an innocent kid, in training camp. “He was a real gentleman off the ice; but he could be mean.” The young player eventually became a golf pro.
So what this anecdote have to do with the trade “war” we have been subjected to by Donald Trump?
Everything. “Elbows up” has become the latest slogan in our response to the tariffs imposed by the US President. The message became a thing after Mike Myers, appearing on Saturday Night Live, wore a “Canada Is Not For Sale” T-shirt and then said, “Elbows up.”
The phrase has quickly become a battle cry as we prepare to battle Donald Trump, or simply Donald, as the Prime Minister calls him.
In his address last week, widely considered to be one of his better ones, our soon to be former PM spoke directly to Donald.
He recalled that a Wall Street Journal editorial essentially asserted, “Donald, they point out that even though you are a very smart guy, this is a very dumb thing to do.”
Calling Trump merely Donald infuriates the highly sensitive Donald sycophants, who cannot understand why we are not grateful for Donald trying to crush our economy and agree to be annexed by Donald.
At the same time the trade “war” was officially launched a photographer captured a bald eagle attacking a Canada goose sitting on an icy bay in Burlington. Although the goose appeared to be ill, it held its ground; eventually the eagle flew away. Symbolic, or what?
Donald put on the taxes claiming Canada was not doing enough to control the flow of fentanyl and illegal immigrants into the States. Less than one per cent of fentanyl and illegal crossings into the United States come from Canada, yet the government launched a $1.3 billion border plan with new choppers, boots on the ground, more coordination, and increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl.
The federal government has stated, “The tariffs imposed by the U.S. administration are unjustified, and detrimental to both Americans and Canadians. Working with provincial, territorial and industry partners, our singular focus is to get them removed as quickly as possible. While we urge the U.S. administration to reconsider their decision to impose tariffs, Canada will remain firm in standing up for our jobs, our industries, and our workers.”
The first phase of Canada’s response to Donald’s tariffs is the levying of tariffs on $30 billion in goods imported from the U.S. Products include orange juice, peanut butter, wine, spirits, beer, coffee, appliances, apparel, footwear, motorcycles, cosmetics, and certain pulp and paper products.
Most Ontarians are cheering Premier Doug Ford as he removes American products from the LCBO, shreds a deal with Starlink and threatens to cut off hydro to three American states. “If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do everything – including cut off their energy, with a smile on my face,” Ford said.
Ironically, the Gordie Howe International Bridge between Windsor and Detroit was intended to improve the flow of goods between our two countries.
But now the gloves are off. Canadians will have to keep reminding Donald that we are nice, but, when push comes to shove, we will get our elbows up.
