Free Trade is a farce

"Say goodbye to most if not all tariffs", they said. "This will be beneficial for everyone", they claimed. Well, many years have gone by and I'm not sure who benefits from Free Trade between Canada and the US, but it sure isn't consumers.

Softwood lumber? That's just the beginning. I go to various stores looking for various goods that are imported. "Oh, we no longer find it feasable to import that anymore - duties and import fees are too high." This is why I can't buy a decent pair of Doc Marten's or Dansko shoes anywhere.

Just today, we got a poster in the mail from the US. It's worth $23. Thanks to agents of our beloved government, we owed $7 before we could possess the parcel. Duties? Nope. Excise? Nope. It was a $5 handling fee and about $2 GST. Handling fee. What they really mean is 'you didn't buy something that earns us duty, so we'll charge for the annoyance of opening the parcel for nothing fee'.