Canada’s Pacific Front Door — Part One The Tariff Wake-Up Call: British Columbia Already Has the Doorway — Now Canada Has to Use It

 

Canada’s Pacific Front Door — Part One

The Tariff Wake-Up Call: British Columbia Already Has the Doorway  Now Canada Has to Use It

Canada woke up on August 22, 2026, to another lesson about depending too heavily on one customer.

The latest United States tariffs impose an additional 50% duty on roughly $28 billion worth of Canadian goods. The affected products reach well beyond a few large industrial sectors and include everything from clothing and hockey equipment to cement and beverages. Canada has announced that it will respond with matching tariffs.

We have already written extensively about tariffs and about the economic and environmental consequences of constantly shipping raw resources away while buying finished products back.

We are not going to spend another three articles arguing about Washington.

Because there is a much bigger question.

Why can one foreign government still disrupt such a large portion of Canada's economy almost overnight?

The Tankers Are Already Here: What Are We Breathing?

 

The Tankers Are Already Here — Part 2  

If Canada Wants B.C.’s Coast, It Should Pay the Full Price

Canada is talking again about moving more oil to the Pacific.

Before British Columbians are asked to accept another pipeline, larger tankers or another major expansion of oil exports, we should finish the accounting on the system we already have.

The tankers are already here. The pollution is already measurable. The health science already exists. And perhaps most surprisingly, other jurisdictions have already shown that a government does not have to give away access to its land and coast for pennies on the barrel.

There is an old lesson from business that applies here: being the cheapest is not necessarily good business. In business, if what you provide is valuable, difficult to replace and comes with risk, you charge accordingly. You do not apologize for your price. You do not undercut yourself simply because the customer promises more volume. You charge enough to provide the service properly, protect yourself when things go wrong and put something aside for the future.

British Columbia should treat access to its Pacific coast exactly the same way.

Canada needs B.C. if it wants to move large volumes of Alberta oil to overseas markets. The pipeline crosses our province. The export terminal is in Burnaby. The tankers enter Burrard Inlet. Tugs assist them. Ships may wait at anchor. They travel through the Salish Sea and along our coast.

Bad News, Good News: B.C. Is Losing Homes to Wildfire — But We Already Have the People Who Can Help Rebuild Them

 

Missions and Service

The Missions and Service ministry provides leadership and ideas for teams that partner with our community and the world around us.

Bad News, Good News: 

B.C. Is Losing Homes to Wildfire — But We Already Have the People Who Can Help Rebuild Them

The next step in disaster recovery may not be another government program. It may be government making it easier for Canadians to help Canadians.

August 16, 2026

There is bad news coming out of British Columbia again this summer.

Homes have burned. Families have been evacuated. Entire communities are facing months and years of rebuilding.

But there is also good news.

Across Canada and the United States, there are already churches, charities, veterans, tradespeople, retired workers, cooks, truck drivers, equipment operators and ordinary volunteers who have shown that communities can do much more than wait for government.

The equipment exists.

The skilled people exist.

The volunteer organizations exist.

Factory-built housing exists.

And thousands of people are willing to help.

What appears to be missing is the infrastructure that connects all of those pieces before the disaster happens.

Government has an important role. But that role does not have to mean government doing everything.

Sometimes government's most useful job is to clear the road so communities can get to work.

BAD NEWS: The Housing Recovery Gap Is Real