February 1st, 2025 | Grant Johnson

Canadians Should Prepare For Pain, No Matter What

Tariffs of any size, now or later, will make life worse for Canadians.

Trump is getting ready for 25% tariffs, and it doesn’t look like he’s going to back down. The last time Canada faced 25% tariffs against the United States was during the Great Depression. All this talk and bluster from our political “leaders” about “fighting back” and whatnot, is completely impotent posturing. Canada is basically nothing without the United States and we’re about to find that out the hard way. 

The Canadian dollar is already well below 70 cents. It hasn’t been this bad in decades. Already, Stallantis is moving automobile production from Canada to the U.S., and this is before the official announcement has been made. This is just the beginning.

Even if the tariffs come later or amount to less than 25%, all this uncertainty causes much the same effect. If these tariffs actually follow through, even at a reduced rate, Canada will likely enter an instant recession. After ten years of Liberal mismanagement, we are positioned as a country with a housing bubble, a crushing amount of government debt, a dead zone for foreign investment, and a failing currency. From this platform, our ruling class is talking about “fighting back”. It’s extremely appalling. 

I’m loath to make predictions, not because I’m often wrong; I’m not, I’m usually right. But I am usually way too early. I can see things on the horizon years in advance, but real life moves incredibly slowly. I was predicting a made-in-Canada recession as early as 2017 due to Liberal retardation and I can hardly believe how resilient our nation truly is in the face of constant subversion and undermining. A big part of our resilience, however, is due to our comfortable proximity to the United States.

We’ve been free-loading off the United States since NAFTA was put into effect back in the early 90s. Everyone pretends like we’re not the junior partner sitting at the big boy’s table because it would be considered rude to point out the obvious. Donald Trump is not afraid to point out the obvious and this time around, he’s putting bite to his bark.

If he truly does so, I’m predicting this will be catastrophic for Canada to a degree that most Canadians are blissfully unaware of. I’m talking instant recession. GDP declining month over month for, possibly, years. Our dollar could fall into the 50-60 cent range. Unemployment could rise back into the double digits. No new investment or big business expansions. Spiraling debt and deficits. Rising homelessness and poverty. Rising crime. Declining healthcare. Real pain.

I’ve often suggested that Canada is on a path to becoming North America’s Argentina (at least before Melei took over) and that we would avoid the more dire predictions of Canada becoming North America’s Venezuela. I still think we’ll avoid people hunting pets and women prostituting themselves for groceries, but if Trump decides to go full blast on America First this time around, we’ll be looking at Canadian decline the likes of which most Canadians can’t imagine.

How can the average person protect themselves from what’s coming?

INVESTMENTS

Pay attention to macroeconomics. I’ve been successfully doing this for quite some time. When Rachel Notley won the election in Alberta in 2015, I sold everything Alberta-related in my portfolio. It wasn’t a mistake.

When Justin Trudeau won later that year, I stopped investing in anything Canadian. Over the years, this has proven to be a very good decision. I’ve made profits alone from owning U.S. and other stocks in U.S. currency and watching our Canadian dollar sink like a stone.

Stay clear of anything Canadian. Don’t overreact by selling everything and holding cash. Avoid fads. Stick to nuts and bolts investing. 

WORK

Think about your employment and the future of your job. If you’re an Ontario autoworker you should not be complacent. If you work in an industry where your company sells heavily to the United States, you’d better start asking questions. 

I’ve seen people (and heard too many stories about people) severely devoted to their jobs to their own detriment. If you are not proactive in your employment, then you are ceding your future to chance.

I often advise people to think about getting a job that people need and that can’t be replaced easily by A.I. or immigrants. This is going to be more difficult in the very near future. Now we’ve also got to factor in tariffs. 

Secure your job. Keep options open. Educate yourself. Get a side hustle. Work more while you can.

I’m not generally a “dedicate yourself to working and chasing cash” type of guy, but right now might be the time to buckle down and prioritize work rather than lament “the man” and “the grind”. 

GET OUT OF DEBT

I’m an advocate for getting out of debt in general, but now might be the time to prioritize a little more than normal. The big risk in the long term is inflation.

If our dollar keeps dropping and our retarded leaders insist on reciprocal tariffs, then the impact on the average citizen is going to be more and more expensive. 

If a recession is induced, then inflation may temporarily decline due to people not spending…this is probably where we are about right now. However, as the government keeps producing deficits in order to keep things running and the Bank of Canada continues to lower interest rates to stop the recession from getting worse…our dollar will keep declining making goods more expensive. 

It’s a vicious cycle that we are gearing up for.

Besides all this, we are about 50 years into a fiat currency system, and increasing inflation is a hallmark of these systems. Inflation is destined to get worse even without the current problems, so when you factor all this stuff together.

Get out of debt. If you can’t get out, then lock-in. Interest rates may go down temporarily, but if this trend persists, inflation will be back up big time and interest rates will be forced to follow. 

These three principles are good to hold even in the best of times, but when times get hard they are crucial. Be smart, stay flexible, and remain strong. 2025 is going to be a rough year.