By George Lee | The Macleod Gazette
Elbows up has earned its place as a catchphrase of the moment for a Trump-and-tariffs Canada where patriotism suddenly got cool again. But perhaps also worth considering is the not-so-sexy cliché nose to the grindstone, as provinces like Alberta reorient their economies to become less reliant on the U.S.
Both ideas rose from the floor of Alberta’s legislature this week, as Donald Trump’s pronouncements, commentary and policies continued to sow economic havoc and news cycle confusion and unpredictability.
Part of the Trump effect is an impassioned Canadian reaction, symbolic and otherwise.
Glenn van Dijken, the UCP member for Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock, said it’s time for a close look at the farming and agricultural processing sector, given Alberta’s economic reliance on U.S trade.
“There is an opportunity to expand domestic production, strengthen our manufacturing sector, and create jobs right here in our province,” van Dijken said.
R.J. Sigurdson, the minister of agriculture and irrigation, responded that the government and his ministry are all over that. He highlighted a pilot removing agricultural trade barriers between Alberta and Saskatchewan in Lloydminster, a city split by the border between the two provinces.
“One area where we can ensure growth and enhance food security is to work together as provinces to remove trade barriers within our own country,” said Sigurdson, the UCP member for the riding immediately south of Calgary, Highwood. “This government has been leading the country on removal of our own trade barriers and working to improve interprovincial collaboration.”
His ministry’s 2023-2024 annual report said the province is working towards permanently exempting Lloydminster from some regulations.
The annual report says the Lloydminster experiment has “given rise to consideration of additional meat trade pilots. Work continues with industry and through federal-provincial-territorial initiatives to use existing, dependable food safety standards, trade networks and distribution infrastructure in other border communities.”
Sigurdson said: “There’s no better time than now for our provinces and our country to come together and support each other through more domestic trade.”
Meanwhile, from the NDP side, Deputy Leader Rakhi Pancholi had strong words for Canada’s largest trading partner, longtime ally and perennial snowbird destination.
“The ridiculous will-they-or-won’t-they tariffs are making a mockery of the economic security of both Canada and the United States,” said Pancholi. “Let’s make no mistake. These tariffs will wreak havoc on our jobs, our industries and our way of life. They will threaten the prosperity we share and limit the opportunity for everyone to thrive in Alberta.”
Pancholi mentioned getting a Maple Leaf tattoo when she was 19 before moving to England for a year. “Being proud of my country is not just permanently on my skin,” she said. “It’s also in my heart and in my DNA.”
The member for Edmonton-Whitemud ended her statement with the hockey term elbows up, which — thanks to some already infamous messaging from comedian Mike Myers — earned overnight currency as a reaction to tariffs and Donald Trump’s ongoing musings about taking over Canada.
Among many published statements Trump has made about his desire to annex Canada is this recent post on Truth Social, his own platform: “The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State. This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear.”
Trump has also said his country’s trade deficit with Canada amounts to his northern neighbours-with-a-U “ripping off” the States. Most economists call that a misinterpretation of what a trade deficit is, especially in a marketplace entwined with a friendly, resource-rich and far less-populated neighbour.
The U.S. Census Bureau placed the country’s goods-and-services trade deficit with Canada at roughly US$45 billion in 2024, a measure of how much its imports exceed exports. The total export figure to Canada was about US$350 billion, other sources say.
Alberta Treasury Branch published a story last year noting that the province’s agri-food exports to the U.S. in 2023 were worth $8.8 billion, or six per cent of Alberta’s total exports to our neighbours and the second biggest category behind oil and gas. As Canada’s largest oil and natural gas producer, that sector accounted for 82 per cent or $127 billion of Alberta’s exports to the U.S.
By 2024, the agriculture number had increased to $9.3 billion, the government’s alberta.ca website says, or more than half of Alberta’s $17.5 billion in worldwide agricultural exports of primary commodities and value-added products.
Statistics Canada, meanwhile, pegs agricultural imports from the U.S. at $32 billion in 2022 to all of Canada.
Sigurdson said the Alberta government “works hard to expand and build programs that help drive more local production right here in Alberta.” He pointed to made-in-Alberta labelling and a Leduc agri-processing hub and bioprocessing facility.
“We have been working with Alberta-born companies for decades to assist them to span the gap to commercialization for their products,” he said.
Sigurdson shone a light on Alberta’s agri-processing investment tax credit program, which has “made Alberta a beacon” for companies.
“Agriculture and food processing contributes billions to our economy, so we are continually working to build ways to strengthen the sector,” he said.
Pancholi called on Canadians to keep those elbows where they need to be.
“Canada will never be the 51st state,” she said, then referenced Canada’s beginnings. “As a country built on the foundation of treaty relationships with the Indigenous people who have been here since time immemorial, this is our home on native land. Canada is not for sale.
“Donald Trump and his administration are threatening our sovereignty. They’re doing it openly, and every single Canadian must take this seriously.”
Pancholi added: “Remember that it’s not just that I am Canadian; it’s that we are Canadian. Canada is worth fighting for, and anyone who thinks otherwise has another thing coming. Elbows up, Canada.”
It’s clear in the legislature that the government and Opposition both oppose Trump’s approach to trade. But that doesn’t mean they agree on the mechanics.
And it also doesn’t mean they’ve given up on changing the Trump tariff trajectory by trying to get the U.S. to return to a more traditional trade relationship.
House Leader Christina Gray of the NDP criticized the premier’s plans to “share a stage” with right-wing American commentator Ben Shapiro. “The premier has been going back and forth to the United States of America a lot lately, despite that country’s recent and repeated threats to our economy and sovereignty,” she said.
Premier Danielle Smith responded in the legislature Thursday that Shapiro is an outspoken critic of the president’s tariffs approach to Canada.
The Wall Street Journal is also strong in its criticism, Smith said. “They call it the dumbest trade war ever and it really is,” said the Premier.
She defended taking Alberta’s arguments to American soil. “We’ve got to get back to having our advocates in the U.S. who have influence on the U.S. president so we can get back to having a tariff-free relationship,” said Smith, the member for Brooks-Medicine Hat.
Pancholi also went on the attack, saying other Albertans are buying Canadian, cancelling trips and preparing at home for the effects of tariffs. “Why does the premier care more about her popularity with extreme Americans than standing with Canadians?”
But Government House Leader Joseph Schow said there’s good reason for the premier to meet directly with Americans, including lawmakers and secretaries, given the instability that’s unfolding before Albertans.
Said Schow, the member for Cardston-Siksika in southern Alberta: “Our premier has demonstrated true leadership by going right to the source, the United States, to make sure that Alberta’s case for excellence is made.”
