by Tod Maffin
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In the early 1970s, Canada had a big problem.
Over time, it realised how economically exposed it was to the U.S. About 70% of Canadian exports went south. American firms dominated key sectors. Washington was making unilateral trade and monetary decisions that hurt Canada, including in 1971, when the U.S. suddenly imposed a 10% import surcharge.
But, like today’s trade war, Canada didn’t respond with tantrums.
We responded with habits.
Prudence, not punishment
Pierre Trudeau’s government launched something it internally called the “Third Option,” a strategy to reduce dependence on the U.S. by deliberately shifting trade and investment away from the U.S. and toward Europe and Asia. Not replacing the U.S., just diluting it.
Canadian firms started looking elsewhere by default. International trade rose steadily through the 1970s.
The Third Option created institutions that still shape daily life here, like the Foreign Investment Review Agency, Petro-Canada, and cultural rules around Canadian content.
T O D B I T
Petro-Canada started as a federal Crown corporation in 1975. It sold its last remaining stake in 2004, and the company became fully private after a 2009 merger with Suncor Energy.
Je me souviens
It’s been almost a year now since the U.S. attacked Canada economically. And how’s Canada doing?
For the first time since this whole nonsense began, Canada just posted a trade surplus! $153 million dollars’ worth.
The Bank of Canada just held its key rate. That is not something a central bank does when an economy is wobbling.
Why? Because while we Canadians are polite, we’re also deeply petty.
We haven’t forgotten about what the U.S. is still actively trying to do — to annex us by economic force.
Watch people in a grocery store up here. They’re looking for the Canada flag on the shelf. If it’s not Canadian, we don’t buy it. We don’t eat at American chain restaurants. We never rebooked that trip to Vegas we cancelled. Our governments have cancelled contracts with American software companies.
Habits beat headlines
You know what else we stopped doing? Calling it a boycott. People don’t say boycott here anymore. They say “habits.” They say “choices.”
Six out of ten Canadians say they don’t trust the U.S. any more. Dropping the U.S. has become a permanent part of the Canadian identity. That’s something that will take generations for the U.S. to fix.
Unfortunately for the U.S., this is what happens when short-sighted people without even a basic understanding of global economics try to set trade policy.
One example: Trump started charging American companies a 50% tariff on Canadian aluminum. He thought it would hurt Canada. Instead, we just started selling that aluminum to other countries.
Exports to those countries surged 11 per cent.
Crude oil exports rose almost 6% in September. That was the fifth straight monthly increase.
Germany bought more Canadian oil than before.
Singapore became a top three trading partner.
When the leader of your nation spends his time flying to other countries and treating their leaders with respect, results happen. Doors open.
A reminder to keep going
The Third Option didn’t make headlines forever. It didn’t feel dramatic. It just stuck. A decade later, Canada wasn’t making a statement anymore. It was living inside a new set of defaults it had built for itself.
That’s the part people forget. Once Canadians change how they buy, trade, travel, and trust, we don’t go back to the old way just because the pressure eases.
So keep choosing each other. Keep building the country you want to live in, one ordinary decision at a time.
It’s not retaliation. It’s muscle memory.
Holiday Break Coming
I hope you enjoy today’s issue. I’ll be back with all new issues in two weeks (January 3).
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Trivia
Based on 2024 data, where does Canada rank among U.S. trading partners in terms of the size of America’s trade deficit?
The Weekly Poll
Has the trade war affected how you do your Christmas shopping?
Last Week:
What You Missed This Week
There’s Still Good News Out There 💗
Politics on ice: Skate Canada says it will no longer host events in Alberta, citing the province’s new law restricting transgender athletes’ participation in female-only sports and concerns about meeting its national standards for safe and inclusive competition.
Just in time for the holidays, Regina’s North Central Family Centre received a heartwarming donation of 12 Barbie dolls wearing handmade ribbon skirts, giving young Indigenous girls the chance to see dolls that reflect their culture and resilience.
Naughty or nice?: Thieves dressed as Santa and his elves stole $3K worth of groceries from a Montreal Metro store, and then handed it out to community fridges.
In Windsor, Ontario, a 14-year-old just set a Guinness World Record for the most bottle caps stacked in 30 seconds… using chopsticks.
A North Bay financial adviser is helping survivors of intimate partner violence regain financial independence and rebuild their lives through the LIFE program, providing free bank accounts, budgeting support, and confidential guidance.
Santa’s not ghosting this year: Canada Post says the millions of Canadians who mail letters to Santa will get a reply this year, after a pause last year due to a postal strike.
Northern Rankings 🥇
Canada made the top 10 safest travel destinations in the world for 2025, landing at number ten.
Canada ranks 12th globally on the 2025 Human Freedom Index, scoring especially high in personal freedoms like same-sex relationships, freedom of expression, and association.
Geese, however, still a threat: Canada ranks 10th on a 2025 global list of the safest countries for tourists, with Iceland taking the top spot.
Two Canadian cities made the list of the world’s most attractive for people and businesses: Toronto ranked 26th, while Vancouver ranked 36th for the second year.
Wild Things 🐻
Researchers in northern Canada have documented a rare case of a polar bear mother adopting a cub that isn’t her own, marking only the 13th recorded adoption among 4,600 bears studied over nearly 50 years.
Shell yeah: After nearly 50 years alone on a kitchen floor in Jersey surviving on cat food, Rockalina the turtle has finally met a member of her own species at a wildlife sanctuary, where she’s now thriving on worms, berries, and sunshine.
Trade Tea 🫖
Ottawa puts its money where its maple leaf is: The federal government’s Buy Canadian policy officially kicked in this week, meaning major projects worth $25 million or more will prioritize Canadian businesses, workers, and materials, including steel, aluminum, and wood.
Officials have spelled out their wishlist for what the U.S. wants from Canada on trade. Top demands include:
Open up Canadian dairy to U.S. farmers
Revise streaming and news laws
Bring U.S. liquor back to Canadian shelves
Fix Alberta-Montana electricity dispute
Across Canada 📍
Bye crayons, hello coding: Ontario is overhauling kindergarten with a new “back-to-basics” curriculum starting in September 2026, shifting from play-based learning to a focus on reading, math, science, and tech skills.
A new survey suggests Canadians may be looking everywhere but the U.S. for vacations, with nearly two-thirds of those planning to travel next year saying they are less likely to head south in 2026 than they were last year.
“Slop” has been named Merriam-Webster’s word of the year, but the meaning of 2025 slop has been redefined not as garbage… but as low-quality AI-generated content flooding the internet.
Olivia and Noah are once again the most popular baby names in Ontario, while Muhammad appears on the list for the first time in at least a decade, highlighting the province’s growing multiculturalism.
Ontario is launching a multibillion-dollar plan to boost Niagara tourism, with new attractions, service expansions, and potential projects like a theme park aimed at drawing 25 million visitors and adding $3 billion annually to the province’s GDP.
Canada’s Market This Week
Royal Bank | |
TD Bank | |
Enbridge | |
ScotiaBank | |
Bank of Montreal | |
CP Rail | |
Shopify | |
Canadian Tire | |
Loblaws | |
Tim Hortons (RBI) | |
Dollarama | |
Rogers |
Lift someone’s week… for a whole year!
If someone in your life could use less doom in their inbox, gift them an annual Premium subscription to From Far and Wide. It gives them a full year of hopeful Canadian stories in their inbox, twice a week. No clutter, just a small reset every week.
🎁 CLICK HERE, then select Gift at the top and Annual in The Tod Squad 💜 box.