April 1st, 2025 | RYAN TYLER

Opening Canada's Economy To Americans Is The Only Way Forward

We need more American companies and services.

We are not going to win a trade war against the United States. Canadians have spent the past few months trying to further isolate their economy from the one country that could actually save it: the United States. Instead of embracing the economic superpower next door, Canada has chosen to protect archaic monopolies, restrict competition, and keep consumers trapped in a government-manipulated system that forces them to pay more for worse services. With the rise of Trump and the return of "America First" policies, Canada is at a crossroads. It can either keep retreating into a self-destructive economic shell, or do the only thing that makes sense: open up its economy.

More importantly, if Canadians want to keep their struggling public healthcare system intact, it's going to need more money. Where would that money come from? The economy. In the 1960s, Canada realized it no longer needed to fund a military, because the United States would offer the protection it needed. So, it funnelled the billions it would save into a pubic healthcare system—which today costs more than $400B annually. If Canadians really want to keep it, they'll need strong economic growth. That can only happen by opening up our economy, ending protectionism, and abandoning our false ideas about “Canadian identity”.

This is what needs to happen. As voters, we should be supporting political parties that promise to open Canada's economy and unleash prosperity in ways all previous governments have failed to do. It's time for Canadians to put the idea of beating Trump out of their heads. We can still keep our hockey, we can keep our customs, and we can keep our Canadianism alive while fully opening our economy to American companies and services.

Abolish the CRTC, Open The Telecom Industry

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is nothing more than a bureaucratic gatekeeper designed to keep Canadian telecoms fat, lazy, and protected from competition. As a result, Canadians pay some of the highest internet and cellphone rates in the world while receiving third-rate service. The solution? Abolish the CRTC and let American telecom giants build infrastructure and offer services in Canada.

The reality is simple: competition lowers prices and improves quality. If American companies like AT&T, Verizon, Comcast or T-Mobile were allowed full access to Canada, consumers would see immediate benefits. Right now, a handful of protected telecom monopolies dictate prices and offer outdated services because they know consumers have no other choice. By removing barriers and allowing American telecoms to compete, Canada could finally join the 21st century when it comes to digital infrastructure.

If companies like Rogers and Telus can't compete, so be it. We should be concerned with our needs as consumers, not with the Canadian roots of corporations that don't care about us.

Open Canada To American Banks

Canada's banking system is another example of government-backed collusion. The same few banks dominate the market, charging ridiculous fees, offering pathetic savings rates, and creating a mortgage system that keeps young people permanently locked out of home-ownership. Instead of treating American financial institutions like a threat, Canada should be inviting them in with open arms, without requiring them to follow our onerous regulations.

Don't believe the fact-checked lies by the CBC about how American banks do, in fact, have the right to operate in Canada. Where? Are you allowed to take a mortgage with Chase or Bank Of America? Didn't think so. American banks are purposely discouraged from offering retail banking services in Canada with steep regulations. Canada's current regulatory system requires American banks to start Canadian subsidiaries, which puts them under Canada's strict regulatory rules. These rules need to go, or at least be relaxed.

For those who want to cling to the narrative that “Canada's banking regulations saved us from the recession”, keep in mind that Canada has had the weakest GDP growth for more than ten years and skilled economists admit we have been teetering on the brink of recession for years. At the moment, our economy is being propped up by an over-inflated real estate market.

In reality, our tough banking regulations haven't saved us from anything.

If major American banks like JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo were allowed to operate freely in Canada, Canadians would have more options, better interest rates, and access to a financial system that actually values consumers. More competition in mortgage lending would break the stranglehold that Canadian banks have on the housing market, making it possible for more young Canadians to buy homes instead of watching Boomers and wealthy immigrants hoard real estate.

Open Up To American Miners And Energy Producers

Canada sits on a goldmine—literally. But instead of unlocking our full potential, we keep our resources under strict government control, bogging down energy and mining projects with environmental red tape and protectionist regulations. Meanwhile, Americans have some of the most efficient and powerful mining and energy companies in the world. Why are we stopping them from bringing capital, expertise, and jobs to Canada?

If American miners and energy producers were given full access to Canada's vast resources, we wouldn't just see an economic boom—we'd see entire regions revitalized. Energy jobs would return, mining towns would thrive, and Canada could finally stop kneecapping itself with policies that only benefit environmental extremists and bureaucrats. Letting American companies do what they do best—extracting resources efficiently and profitably—would bring prosperity to parts of the country that Ottawa has long ignored.

Eliminate Tariffs On American Dairy And Food Products

Canada's dairy and food supply is controlled by a cartel-style system known as "supply management". This protectionist scam artificially inflates prices, limits competition, and forces Canadians to pay more for basic groceries. It's a welfare program for dairy farmers in Quebec at the expense of millions of working Canadians. The obvious solution? Scrap all tariffs and allow American dairy and food producers full access to the Canadian market. In return, they would probably do the same.

In Canada, farmers are literally forced to dump excess milk supplies down the drain. The insanity goes even further by barring them from donating it to food banks or giving it away to the poor and hungry.

Americans produce food more efficiently and at a lower cost. Canadian consumers deserve access to cheaper milk, cheese, eggs, and other essentials. Instead of protecting a handful of politically connected farmers and dairy producers, Canada should be protecting the interests of millions of ordinary people struggling with skyrocketing grocery bills. Freeing the food market from government interference would put money back in the pockets of Canadians and drive down costs in a way that Trudeau's failed economic policies never could.

Retaliatory Tariffs Are Stupid

With Trump back in power, the knee-jerk reaction from Canadian politicians is predictable. This is not just foolish—it’s suicidal. The American economy is nearly ten times the size of Canada’s, and if we engage in a trade war, we will lose badly. Retaliatory tariffs do more damage to Canadian consumers than to America's economy. Believing otherwise is outright delusional.

Trump’s policies are coming whether Canada likes it or not. The only intelligent move is to embrace them and integrate more deeply with the American economy, instead of resisting out of petty nationalism. If Canada tries to fight Trump's tariffs with tariffs of its own, Canadian businesses and consumers will suffer even more. Higher costs, fewer jobs, and economic stagnation—this is what retaliatory tariffs will produce.

Canada should be making itself indispensable to the American economy. Open the doors to American investment, American companies, and American trade. Make Canada so valuable that the Americans see us as an extension of their own economy rather than as a weak rival. That is how Canada thrives in this new world order—by embracing reality rather than fighting it.

The Bottom Line

Canadians have two choices: cling to outdated protectionist policies and slowly wither away, or open the economy and thrive. The answer should be obvious. Let American telecoms break the Canadian monopoly. Let American banks and mortgage lenders force Canadian financial institutions to compete. Let American miners and energy producers extract our wealth and employ millions. Let American food producers bring down grocery prices and break the dairy cartel.

If Canada does this, it will see lower prices, better services, more jobs, and real economic growth. If it doesn’t, it will continue on its current path of higher costs, more government, and economic decline. If Canadians are serious about keeping their healthcare system, the economy will need to thrive more than it has been. Right now, job losses and significant decreases in tax revenues threaten to collapse our struggling system. Opening our economy to the Americans could save the things we cherish most.

When that's done, why should we stop there? We could open our economy in the same way to European banks and corporations.