A former president of the Liberal Party of Canada is lauding U.S. President Donald Trump for making Canada a better place in ways the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau never did before.
Stephen LeDrew, a Toronto lawyer and former party president from 1998 to 2003, made his comments Friday on his YouTube channel The LeDrew Three Minute Interview.
"Look at what Trump has done in a few weeks, as opposed to Trudeau in nine years. He's got our government saying we are going to get rid of interprovincial trade barriers, which stop the Canadian economy. This government's been there for nine years. They've never said it like that before. It should have been done the first nine days of their power, and Trump has got our government to do it," LeDrew said.
In 2019, the International Monetary Fund did a study that estimated that non-geographic internal trade barriers within Canada add up to a tariff equivalent of 21%. More recently, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business released a report that said removing interprovincial barriers could boost the economy by up to $200 billion annually.
"Trump has got our government to say, 'We're going to deal with the 4,000 fentanyl labs in Canada,' because he is saying, 'You have got to deal with it.' Trudeau never did anything about that before. He is doing that," LeDrew said.
Trudeau recently announced $1.3 billion to ramp up border security as well as $200 million more to gather intelligence on international crime.
LeDrew said Trump "may be a bully" with his tariff threats, but they are making Canada a more sound and cohesive nation.
"There are so many things that Trump has got Canada to do, to change. We are becoming more of a nation. We are becoming more together," LeDrew added.
LeDrew said columnists that complain "The sky is going to fall" as Trump redefines geopolitics abroad miss the fact this world needed changing.
"Trump is dealing with the Middle East. He's dealing with Ukraine, he's dealing with Canada, and Canada has been sitting just stultifying. It's just been sitting doing nothing for years. It's about time, as we're doing now, getting into the Arctic [for defence]."
Canada's last defence policy update announced an additional $8.1 billion in spending over the next 5 years and $73 billion over the next 20 years to support Canada's national defence and security in the Arctic.
Prior to the tariff announcement, Canada was not expected to reach NATO's 2% of GDP benchmark in spending until 2032, but has now set a new target of 2027.
"He has urged Canada, and he's going to tell Canada, you have to put some more money into defense, because it's a very bad world out there. We have to deal with the Arctic," LeDrew paraphrased.
"I don't like the Americans telling our sovereign Canadian government what to do, and when they say that, we should say, 'Stick it. We are sovereign and Canadian.' However, by dint of what he is pointing out, that the Canadian government has not done, he is making so many positive changes, so many credible changes in Canada that, for once, people should look and say, 'Well, we may not like him, but he's doing a good job for Canada.'" LeDrew said.
The podcaster concluded his show with a financial appeal to keep going, given the media control agenda of the Liberal government.
"Now more than ever, with the Online Harms Act, once that gets into law, it's been passed once by the House, there are going to be hundreds of bureaucrats censoring the news in Canada, censoring this show. We need to keep it on the air. Thanks for your support," LeDrew concluded.
