Are Tariffs Really the Whole Story—or Are We Being Sold a Bill of Goods?
I am getting tired of hearing the same story repeated by governments, corporations and the media:
The USA threatens Canada with tariffs, the economy is supposedly in crisis, prices must rise, government spending must be cut—and environmental organizations are once again expected to take the punishment.
I am not saying tariffs do no damage. They clearly hurt particular industries, workers and communities. Steel, aluminum, automobiles, lumber and other targeted sectors can face serious consequences.
But I am asking a different question:
Are tariffs really responsible for everything now being blamed on them?
Or are tariffs becoming a convenient excuse for corporations to increase prices and governments to cut programs they never properly supported in the first place?
The headline tariff is not the actual tariff on everything
The media regularly reports tariff announcements of 25%, 35% or 50% as though those rates apply to every Canadian product entering the United States.
They do not.
Many Canadian products continue to qualify for tariff-free treatment under CUSMA. Some industries are being hit extremely hard, but that is not the same as every Canadian export facing the headline tariff rate.
That distinction matters.
It is possible for one industry to be badly injured while another continues trading with little or no tariff. We should not use the damage to one sector as proof that every price increase across Canada is justified.
A 25% tariff does not automatically mean a 25% price increase
A company should not be able to say, “There is a 25% tariff, so we raised the price by 25%,” without showing the actual numbers.
We should be asking:
Was the product actually subject to the tariff?
Did the tariff apply to the whole product or only one component?
Was the inventory purchased before or after the tariff began?
Did the manufacturer, importer or retailer absorb part of the cost?
What exchange rate applied?
Did transportation or fuel costs also change?
Did the company’s profit margin increase after the price increase?
Putting the word “tariff” on a product or in a press release may make consumers more willing to accept a price increase without asking whether the increase matches the company’s actual added cost.
That does not automatically prove dishonesty.
But it certainly justifies asking for proof.
What about the Canadian dollar?
The lower Canadian dollar makes Canadian goods cheaper for American buyers.
That does not erase every tariff. It also makes imported equipment, machinery and components more expensive for Canadians. But the exchange rate must still be included in any honest calculation.
A Canadian product may remain competitive in the United States even after a tariff because it was already cheaper in U.S.-dollar terms.
Yet this is rarely explained in the daily news.
We hear the announced tariff rate. We hear predictions of disaster. We seldom see the complete calculation showing the exchange rate, exemptions, actual tariff paid, selling price, company margin and final effect on the consumer.
Prices are rising for more than one reason
Fuel, freight, insurance, interest rates, exchange rates, supply shortages, wars, market concentration and corporate pricing decisions can all affect prices.
Tariffs are part of the story.
They are not automatically the entire story.
Canadian corporations and retailers may also increase prices simply because the public has been told to expect higher prices. When every news report says tariffs will make everything more expensive, that creates an opportunity for companies to raise prices whether or not their own costs increased by the same amount.
That possibility must be investigated rather than dismissed.
Why environmental groups are always punished first
Every time governments announce an economic emergency, environmental restoration and community organizations are told there is no money.
Funding is frozen.
Programs disappear.
Workers are laid off.
Long-term restoration becomes another short-term make-work project.
Volunteer and nonprofit organizations are expected to continue protecting streams, shorelines, wildlife, fish habitat and public health without stable operating support.
Meanwhile, contamination continues entering the environment through stormwater systems. Abandoned vessels continue deteriorating. Polluted sediments remain in place. Habitat restoration is delayed, and the eventual cleanup becomes more expensive.
This happens repeatedly.
Governments and the media announce an economic crisis, and environmental protection is treated as an optional expense rather than essential community infrastructure.
The restored and maintained environment is the economy
Environmental groups are not standing outside the economy asking for charity.
Our work helps keep the economy functioning.
Healthy streams, shorelines, estuaries, forests and marine waters support:
commercial and recreational fisheries;
tourism and outdoor recreation;
boating and marine businesses;
waterfront industries;
agriculture;
forestry;
property values;
public health;
restaurants and hospitality;
Indigenous food, cultural and economic activities;
construction and infrastructure protected from flooding and erosion;
and communities that remain safe and attractive places to live and invest.
The work performed by environmental and community organizations helps keep these industries profitable.
When groups remove marine debris, restore eelgrass, repair shorelines, monitor pollution, identify contaminated stormwater, remove abandoned vessels and restore fish habitat, that work creates economic value.
It protects the natural systems on which many other industries depend.
A clean harbour supports tourism, marine trades, fisheries and waterfront businesses.
Healthy salmon-bearing streams support fish, wildlife, recreation and Indigenous communities.
Functional wetlands and natural shorelines reduce flooding, erosion and infrastructure damage.
Removing derelict vessels prevents fuel, oil, plastics, metals and other pollutants from creating larger and more expensive cleanup liabilities.
Restoring habitat also supports the food web—from forage fish such as sand lance, to Chinook salmon, to southern resident killer whales.
This is not separate from the economy.
This is the foundation of the economy.
These groups keep communities operating
Small environmental and community organizations often do the work that governments cannot, will not or have failed to do.
They provide local knowledge built over decades.
They identify problems before they become major liabilities.
They bring residents, businesses, First Nations, scientists and governments together.
They train workers and volunteers.
They clean up damage left by industry and government neglect.
They restore public places and keep communities connected to their watersheds and shorelines.
Much of this work is performed at a fraction of what the same work would cost if governments waited until contamination, erosion or habitat loss became an emergency.
Yet these organizations are expected to survive from one short-term grant to the next.
They cannot retain trained workers.
They cannot plan restoration over the decades required.
They cannot build permanent equipment, vessels, facilities or monitoring programs.
Then, when funding disappears, governments act as though nothing important has been lost.
What has been lost is community capacity, environmental knowledge, trained workers, local monitoring and years of trust.
Cutting environmental work does not save money
Environmental funding cuts do not make the underlying problems disappear.
Pollution continues moving through storm drains.
Contaminated sediments continue affecting marine life.
Abandoned vessels continue breaking apart.
Shorelines continue eroding.
Fish and wildlife habitat continues declining.
The cost is merely transferred to municipalities, future governments, property owners, taxpayers and the next generation.
A dollar withheld from prevention today can become many dollars spent on emergency response, infrastructure repair, legal action and contaminated-site cleanup later.
Governments need to stop treating environmental restoration as a temporary expense that can be cancelled whenever someone announces another economic crisis.
It should be treated as permanent economic infrastructure.
Show us the proof
I am putting this question to our readers, economists, journalists, businesses and governments:
Are we right or wrong?
Show us the evidence.
If tariffs are responsible for a price increase, provide:
the product and tariff classification;
the tariff rate actually paid;
the country of origin;
the value of tariffed content;
the exchange rate;
the wholesale cost before and after;
the retail cost before and after;
and the company’s profit margin.
If tariffs are responsible for environmental funding cuts, provide the government documents showing the connection.
If corporations are absorbing costs rather than increasing margins, provide the financial evidence.
But do not simply repeat that a 25% tariff announcement justifies a 25% price increase or another round of cuts to environmental work.
That is not evidence.
It is a talking point.
Tariffs are real. The damage to targeted industries can be real. But so is the possibility that Canadians are being sold a bill of goods—and that environmental organizations are once again being made to pay for decisions they did not create.
Environmental organizations are not a drain on the economy.
They protect the land, water and natural systems that keep communities functioning and multiple industries profitable.
We are asking for proof, one way or the other.
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