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To meet its Jan. 1, 2019 deadline, the Trudeau government will have to impose a carbon tax on the citizens of Ontario over the objections of its freshly elected government — nervy, with an election looming. Yes, it has also signalled it will compensate them in some fashion for the extra costs of the tax. Will that be enough? Maybe.

Third, there remains the problem of Trump. As it is, Trump is slowly sucking the life out of the Canadian economy, not only with the tariffs he has imposed but, even more, with the tariffs he might impose. Just his threatened 25 per cent tariff on imports of Canadian-built autos would likely be enough to pitch us into a recession. To say nothing of the impact of a collapse of the NAFTA talks.

It isn’t just the threat of a new tariff wall that is a lure to businesses to locate south of the border: so are Trump’s tax cuts. While the Trudeau government has been quick to respond to the first, it seems indifferent to the second, even in the face of a slowing economy and cratering investment intentions. Perhaps the Liberals would have more room to cut taxes had they not chosen to drive the budget into deficit. What the deficit might be in a recession one can only imagine.

There are more potential landmines out there: a renewed surge of asylum seekers at the border; the probable replacement of the Liberal government in Quebec with the rightish Coalition Avenir Québec in this fall’s election; whatever snafus may attend the implementation of legalized pot. But holy moly — any one of pipeline, carbon tax or Trump would be enough to throw most governments. And they have to nail all three. In an election year.

If you were in government, wouldn’t you prefer to get the election out of the way first? Again, I very much doubt they will. But wistful Liberals might one day wish they had.