Canada Must Build Its Way to Economic Independence

by Maj (ret’d) CORNELIU, CHISU, CD, PMSC FEC, CET, P.Eng. Former Member of Parliament Pickering-Scarborough East The Canada–United States tariff war is no longer a temporary commercial dispute that can be managed through patient diplomacy and selective retaliation. It represents a fundamental change in the relationship between two countries whose economies have been closely integrated for generations. Canada did not choose this confrontation. Nor should Canadians mistake opposition to American tariffs for hostility toward the American people. The United States will remain our neighbour, ally and largest trading partner. But friendship cannot substitute for national preparedness. When access to another country’s market can be restricted by presidential order, Canada must possess the infrastructure required to trade, produce, defend and prosper independently. The lesson is unmistakable: economic sovereignty cannot exist without physical infrastructure. For decades, Canada constructed an economy that overwhelmingly moves north to south. Our highways, railways, pipelines, electrical connections and supply chains were designed principally to serve the American market. That arrangement generated prosperity while relations were stable. It has now become a strategic vulnerability. Although approximately 85 per cent of Canada–U.S. trade remained tariff-free under CUSMA when the federal government presented Budget 2025, tariffs and repeated threats affecting steel, aluminum, automobiles, lumber and other strategic sectors demonstrated that even a formal trade agreement cannot eliminate political risk. Canada must respond with more than counter-tariffs, subsidies and emergency assistance to affected industries. These may be necessary defensive measures, but they do not change the structure of our economy. Canada must undertake the greatest program of nation-building infrastructure since the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. First, Canada needs genuine east-west trade corridors. Producers in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba must be able to move energy, minerals, agricultural products and manufactured goods efficiently to ports on the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic coasts. Ontario and Quebec manufacturers need reliable access to Canadian ports without depending excessively upon American transportation networks. Rail capacity must be expanded, highways modernized and ports enlarged. Bottlenecks at Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Montreal, Halifax and Saint John must be treated as national economic-security concerns. The federal government has already begun examining proposals to strengthen trade corridors and modernize port governance. That work must now move rapidly from consultation to construction. Second, Canada must build the energy infrastructure necessary to serve both Canadians and international customers. It is extraordinary that a country possessing some of the world’s largest oil and natural-gas reserves still lacks sufficient capacity to deliver its energy to multiple global markets. Canada needs additional pipelines, liquefied-natural-gas facilities, expanded electricity grids and transmission lines connecting provinces. It also needs new nuclear generation, including proven large reactors and emerging small modular reactors. Energy security is not an ideological question. It is the foundation of industrial strength, affordability and national independence. Projects must meet serious environmental standards and respect Indigenous rights. But consultation cannot become permanent paralysis. Predictable approval deadlines, clear responsibilities and early Indigenous participation would produce better decisions than today’s overlapping and uncertain processes. Third, Canada must establish a complete critical-minerals supply chain. Possessing deposits of lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, graphite, uranium and rare-earth elements is not enough. If minerals must leave Canada for processing and return as finished components, we remain dependent upon foreign industrial capacity. Mines must be connected to roads, railways, electricity and ports. Canada must build refining and processing plants and manufacture batteries, electrical equipment, defence systems and advanced technologies domestically. Indigenous communities in northern and remote regions should become equity partners, workers and long-term beneficiaries—not observers whose territories are approached only after decisions have effectively been made. Fourth, infrastructure policy must include defence. The Arctic is becoming more accessible, more commercially important and more strategically contested. Canada cannot credibly claim sovereignty over the North without ports, airfields, radar, telecommunications, icebreakers and permanent transportation links. Dual-purpose infrastructure would serve northern communities while supporting the Canadian Armed Forces. A deep-water port can accommodate commercial shipping and naval vessels. An expanded runway can support civilian transportation, emergency response and military aircraft. Reliable broadband and energy systems can strengthen communities while improving surveillance and security. Fifth, Canada must eliminate its internal economic barriers. It makes little sense to demand access to international markets while allowing provincial regulations to obstruct trade within our own country. Labour qualifications, trucking requirements, procurement rules and product standards should be mutually recognized wherever legitimate health and safety considerations permit. Canada should become one effective national market of more than 40 million people. Removing internal barriers is among the fastest and least expensive ways to increase productivity and strengthen Canadian businesses. Financing this transformation will require discipline and imagination. Public money should be concentrated on infrastructure that increases productive capacity rather than scattered among politically convenient announcements. Pension funds, Indigenous investment corporations and private capital can participate where projects have clear rules and credible revenue models. The Canada Infrastructure Bank can contribute, but governments must remain accountable for selecting projects according to national importance. Strategic procurement should favour Canadian steel, aluminum, lumber, engineering and technology when consistent with our international obligations. If taxpayers finance a bridge, railway, power plant or defence installation, the project should help develop Canadian industrial capacity and skilled employment. The danger is that governments will respond to the tariff crisis with slogans, retaliatory gestures and a collection of disconnected projects. Canada needs something more ambitious: a national infrastructure strategy supported across party lines and extending over several decades. The Canadian Pacific Railway was once considered financially reckless and physically impossible. Yet it united the country and gave political Confederation an economic foundation. The St. Lawrence Seaway, the Trans-Canada Highway, hydroelectric developments and nuclear power stations similarly transformed Canada’s possibilities. Our generation faces another nation-building moment. Canada should continue negotiating firmly with Washington and defending the rules of continental trade. However, we must never again assume that unrestricted American market access is guaranteed. We need the ability to reach Europe, Asia and other markets through Canadian territory and Canadian ports. Tariffs are intended to make Canadians feel vulnerable and compel concessions. Our answer must be neither panic nor empty nationalism. It must be construction. Build the ports. Build the railways. Build the pipelines and power plants. Build the northern roads, defence installations and digital networks. Connect our provinces, develop our resources and manufacture more of what Canada needs. National independence is not preserved by declarations alone. It is secured by the tools, institutions and infrastructure that allow a country to make its own choices. Canada must now build those tools—urgently, confidently and together.