PLUS Director Adam Pankratz writes for National Post:
Despite the initial feel-good moment of telling the United States to take a hike after trade negotiations broke off on Friday, Canada now finds itself staring into an uncomfortable reality. For however good it may feel to tell U.S. President Donald Trump to stuff it, it doesn’t change the fact that around 70 per cent of our exports go to the U.S. and that isn’t going to change overnight, no matter what we do. Exactly what Canada’s response should be is a matter of debate, but we must avoid our tendency to kneecap and maim ourselves at a time of maximum urgency.
The most recent example of this is the depressing case of Seabridge Gold’s Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell (KSM) Project in British Columbia. Seabridge was granted both provincial and federal environmental permits back in 2014, a full 12 years ago. Yet the mine remains unbuilt, despite the approximately $1.2 billion that Seabridge has spent developing it. After years of wrangling, the most recent news is that the hereditary chiefs of the Gitxsan Huwilp government have withdrawn their initial support for the project.
Read the full article at National Post: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/if-canada-is-to-diversify-trade-we-must-get-rid-of-undrip