Gavin Dew is the MLA for Kelowna-Mission and the BC Conservative Critic for Jobs, Economic Development, and Innovation.
Canadians have a choice to make.
We can either let the tariff crisis be what breaks us, or we can use it as a wake-up call — an opportunity to unlock the full potential of our country: our resources, our geography, and our people.
President Donald Trump's threat of crippling tariffs on Canada should come as no surprise to anyone paying attention. Yet too many of our political leaders have spent years ignoring the fundamentals of economic security — choosing to chase shiny objects and political talking points rather than ensuring Canada is strong, resilient, and independent.
Despite clear warning signs of economic stagnation and geopolitical instability, Canada has failed to do the hard work of de-risking our economy, securing our trade independence, and making ourselves more resilient to US political volatility.
Instead, Liberal and NDP politicians have treated industry as a problem to be managed rather than a pillar of prosperity. They've focused on slogans over solutions, regulation over results, and bureaucracy over building. With a trade war looming, their only response is to throw taxpayer money at the problem — relying on corporate welfare and COVID-style spending rather than fixing the broken system that makes investing in Canada slow, risky, and unattractive.
The real solution isn't government handouts — it's getting sh*t done again. If we want to protect Canadian jobs, secure our economy, and prevent future economic shocks, we need to enter a new era of nation-building - one that focuses on unlocking major infrastructure projects, clearing the way for private investment, and making Canada a country where things actually get built.
A nation that can't build can't prosper. Infrastructure isn't just roads, bridges, and ports. It's the concrete and steel backbone of a strong economy. If we want to increase trade, lower the cost of living, and create good-paying jobs, we need to build the pipelines, rail networks, power grids, and digital infrastructure that will sustain our future.
But right now, we are a country where it takes longer to get approval for a major project than it does to build one.
Take the Trans Mountain Pipeline, a crucial piece of infrastructure to access global markets for Canadian oil. The same pipeline that was built in 18 months for $93M in the 1950s took a decade, a government takeover, countless political squabbles, and $34B to expand.
While our competitors are pushing ahead, Canada is mired in endless studies, useless committees, legal challenges, and regulatory uncertainty. Investors see Canada as the land of the slow maybe — a place where capital goes to die in bureaucratic limbo. And when businesses hesitate to invest because the risks are too high, governments look for politically-correct ribbons to cut and dole out corporate welfare to compensate for the broken system.
Instead of using subsidies and taxpayer handouts to bribe companies into navigating our over-regulated environment, we should be de-risking investment in the first place. That means cutting red tape, reducing approval timelines, and ensuring that once a project is approved, it actually gets built.
If Canada was a predictable, fast-moving, and lower-risk jurisdiction to invest, we wouldn’t need to throw billions in corporate handouts in a desperate bid to convince them to set up shop here. They'd come naturally, because Canada would be a place where things get built, business can thrive, and returns are reliable.
One of the greatest threats to Canada's long-term prosperity is our over-reliance on a single trade partner.
Over 75% of our exports go to the United States. This isn't just an economic vulnerability — it's a threat to our sovereignty. When the White House changes hands, Canadian industries brace for impact, whether it’s tariffs on steel and aluminum, "Buy American" provisions, or threats to block energy projects.
If we want real economic security, we need to build the infrastructure that allows us to diversify our trade relationships. That means expanding and modernizing our ports, building energy corridors that allow us to export to global markets, and ensuring that our transportation networks are resilient enough to handle shifts in supply chains.
Other countries are already doing this.
The US is investing $1.2 trillion on transportation and infrastructure to strengthen its economy and pushing back in geopolitical friction points like the Panama Canal. China is using its Belt and Road Initiative — spanning 50+ countries — to create new trade corridors. Meanwhile, Canada struggles to approve a single mega project and get shovels in the ground.
The Canadian crisis of indecision isn't just frustrating — it's killing our ability to compete. Whether it's a pipeline, a housing development, a transportation corridor, or a manufacturing plant, Canada's inability to say "yes" or "no" in a timely manner is one of our biggest economic liabilities.
The best Canadian response to MAGA tariffs isn't to get sucked into the chaos of American politics. The best response shouldn't be to panic, it should be to plan; plan to build, a plan to invest, and a plan to unlock our full potential.
On Monday, Conservative Leader John Rustad wrote a letter to Premier Eby outlining 10 key steps BC must take to shake its dependence and start building the kind of BC that looks to the future with excitement and pride.
It's a plan rooted in what is possible for BC, one that can make our province and our country stronger.
Instead of relying on government handouts to cover for an unworkable business environment, we need to make Canada a country where businesses want to take risks — because they know our system works, our approvals are timely, and our projects get done.
It shouldn't take a trade war to remind our leaders that a strong and diversified economy matters. It's time to move beyond the slow maybe and get sh*t done again.
Gavin Dew is the MLA for Kelowna-Mission and the BC Conservative Critic for Jobs, Economic Development, and Innovation.