It appears the Trudeau Liberals are playing chicken with the NAFTA talks and your job, or that of your neighbour, could be the real life collateral damage.

The United States has a deadline of Oct. 1 to get the text of any trade deal to Congress so legislators in Washington can study the deal. They want it passed so it can be signed before Dec. 1.

Distroscale

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Why then?

That’s the day Mexico’s new president takes over. Andrés Manuel López Obrador wants to be able to blame any unpopular parts of the deal on the current president. If the deal is signed before he takes over, Obrador won’t nix it but if the deal isn’t signed he may push for changes or scrap it.

So with two weeks left to go what is Canada doing?

Ragging the puck.

Citing “a senior source” CBC is reporting Trudeau and company are willing to let the deadline pass.

They quote the source as saying the political pressure to get a deal done “is not a good enough reason.”

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Well what about the hundreds of thousands of jobs, perhaps millions of jobs at risk if we lose prefered access to the American market?

We still send about 76% of our exports to the United States while they send us just 18%. Let’s face it, Canada needs the American market more than they need the Canadian market.

What are the hang ups?

The dispute resolution system, which is a real concern. Then there are two issues that Trudeau has so far not given ground on to placate mostly Quebec interests.

Cultural exemptions and supply management.

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Outside of Quebec these issues resonate with some but inside that province they carry an inflated importance.

Do Canadians, who watch more of CNN than any homegrown news channel, really care about ownership requirements?

And do we really want to face losing 125,000 production jobs in autos and auto parts so that we can keep a system that forces Canadian families to pay more for milk, butter and eggs?

In Ottawa right now, where our esteemed politicians live, a 4 litre bag of milk will cost you $4.27, a pound of butter is $3.99 and eggs sit at $2.29 a dozen.

An hour south of Ottawa in Ogdensburg, New York, milk costs $2.32 (CAD) a gallon, butter is $3.08 and eggs just $1.28.

Why do Canadians pay so much more?

The supply management system that Trudeau is protecting.

It was started years ago to stabilize farm income but only for milk, poultry and eggs. No other farm products are protected like these, no other farm products face a virtual block on outside competition.

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In other sectors, Canadian farmers compete and win both at home and on the world stage.

For dairy, poultry and eggs we have a cartel like system built on farmers paying huge bucks to buy the quota they need to get into the system. That quota can cost millions today even though it was given out for free when the system started.

This is why you are paying more.

And this is what Trudeau is trying to protect, even if it means losing in every other industry.

There are ways to open up the Canadian market and give the Americans the access they want and still see Canadian farmers compensated and thrive.

But Trudeau is playing chicken.

He thinks he can win by “Taking on the Tyrant.” Either by outsmarting Trump at the negotiating table or running against Trump in the next fall’s election.

The chances of Trudeau, who wanted gender and environmental chapters to be added to the deal, of outsmarting Trump in talks is laughable.

The chance of his running against Trump in the next election and pointing to NAFTA while doing it? Quite high.

Last Monday on a break from the NAFTA talks foreign affairs minister Chrystia Freeland actually took part in a panel talk in Toronto that was called “Taking on the Tyrant.”

The sessions opened with a video warning against despicable leaders like Russia’s Putin, Turkey’s Erdogan and Syria’s Assad.

And of course, America’s Donald Trump.

She sat there smiling, taking in the applause, likely from people that don’t have to worry about losing their jobs because the government is playing chicken with NAFTA.

It’s time for Trudeau and his crew to show they care more about the jobs of regular Canadians than they do about the jobs held by Liberal MPs.