With U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of 35 per cent tariffs looming August 1, many Canadians are pushing back and calling for a stronger reaction from our country. While nearly half of those surveyed in an Angus Reid Institute poll supported getting rid of the digital services tax, three in five surveyed say they support a hard approach to negotiating with Trump rather than a soft one, which was supported by just 37 percent. The survey, published Tuesday, also shows that seven in 10 oppose increasing U.S. access to Canadian water, including the Columbia River. Sixty-six percent of those surveyed say no to offering U.S. first rights to critical minerals. The poll also shows Canadians are nearly evenly split on whether Prime Minister Mark Carney is the right leader to reach a good deal with Trump. “There was a significant amount of division among Canadians in terms of their level of confidence in the Carney government to get a deal done,” said Shachi Kurl of the Angus Reid Institute. The data was released the same day that Carney held an emergency meeting with his inner circle of cabinet ministers, after telling reporters any trade deal with the U.S. will likely include tariffs on Canadian goods. “We need to recognize that the commercial landscape globally has changed – it’s changed in a fundamental manner, and we will continue to focus what we can most control, which is building a strong Canadian economy,” Carney said. In B.C., Ravi Kahlon, the minister responsible for the tariff file, says he wishes Ottawa hadn’t caved on the digital services tax and that he wants to see a tougher stance against Trump. “I feel that urgency to deal with the U.S. and President Trump in a more stronger way. I do feel that they’re taking our kindness as a weakness, when its not,” said Kahlon, Tuesday.
