This isn’t the major issue it’s being portrayed as.

Under Canada’s free trade agreements—including those with the WTO, CPTPP, and the European Union—Canada is obligated to allow foreign companies from these partner regions to compete for large government procurement contracts (typically valued at ~$230,000 CAD or more). These agreements ensure fair access without protectionist barriers and, in return, give Canadian companies access to similar opportunities in those markets.

Given this context, it’s not surprising that a significant portion of federal procurement contracts go to companies headquartered in the world’s largest free market economy, the United States. The fact that nearly 25% of federal government suppliers by total contract value being U.S.-based is not unexpected under these trade arrangements.

Consider the cost of inaction. A decade of lost economic growth, fewer jobs, and diminished competitiveness – all because we lacked the leverage to counter these blatantly unfair tariffs. Can we afford that?

Either those tariffs come down quick because we fight back, we massively expand our trading relationships with countries we don’t get along with (China, Russia, India) Erdogan-style, or we experience what could amount to a Great Depression once Trump escalates further again knowing we’re an easy target.

If you’re okay with older homelab-esque equipment, the ERA, also on eBay as Calgary Computer Wholesale, often has really cheap rack mount stuff. This being said, the ERA is a pretty sketchy organization overall (it’s closer to a small e-waste recycling business that takes advantage of its status to reduce liable taxes (with variable employee salaries equivalent to dividends) and take advantage of free volunteer labour, than an actual non-profit organization). Sometimes, provincial government surplus auction sites have rack mount equipment as well.

This is entirely a large factor. The NDP is now viable in former Liberal ridings such as Toronto—St. Paul’s, LaSalle–Émard–Verdun, and Ottawa-Centre. Why would the NDP keep propping the Liberals up in power when a Conservative majority is essentially guaranteed (and that’s not going to change in 10 months), and they have a chance to exploit Liberal weaknesses? People that want to stall the inevitable are deluding themselves if they think things will massively turn around in the span of half a year when so many Canadians have lost confidence in the governing party.