Sunday October 26, 2025 | VICTORIA, BC [Posted at 9:30 pm PT | Updated October 27 & 28, & November 3, 2025]
News analysis by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
UPDATE NOVEMBER 3, 2025: Premier Eby says these anti-American ads will *not* be running; instead there will be cooperation with the federal government on all strategies dealing with the US trade situation.
It appears that British Columbia’s provincial government is ready to launch an ad in social media to taunt Trump about how he’s handling duties and tariffs on the BC and Canadian forest sector.
That could be playing with fire. It will be seen around the world, including in Russia.
BC Forests Minister Ravi Parmar posted in social media over the weekend that “Trump’s tariffs are an immature approach to trade, to say the least. He’s turning his back on his closest ally, and looking instead to the Russian lumber market. Quite frankly, it’s absurd.”
Parmar also discussed the explanatory-style ad on national media on CBC this morning.
On Sunday, BC Premier David Eby had not yet made a public comment about this approach to dealing with the US administration’s trade war on Canada.
UPDATE: On October 27, Eby says that the issue of softwood lumber tariffs needs to be brought to the attention of the American people. And BC Minister of Jobs and Economic Growth, Ravi Kahlon, said in the BC Legislature today with regard to the social media ad campaign: “We will not apologize for raising our voice”.
Similar ad in Ontario:
A similar but much broader and more costly campaign by Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford on national TV during the Major League Baseball games this weekend got under Trump’s skin — as favourably noted in particular by Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew in the last few days.
UPDATE: Eby also supports Ontario’s ad about the US, as stated during his media availability in Victoria on October 27.
Trump this weekend threatening to add another 10% tariff on Canada (without any specifics) did show some of the president’s vulnerability to a factual approach to critiquing the trade war that he started
Trump’s reconsidered knee-jerk reaction (he sloughed it off earlier last week then became more targeted a few days later) could make negotiations even more difficult for Prime Minister Mark Carney and his team.
Carney and Canada-U.S. Trade, Intergovernmental Affairs and One Canadian Economy Minister Dominic LeBlanc still have a big job on their hands to steer Canada’s economy and sovereignty through rough waters.
It’s unclear how much political influence or control that Carney now has over provincial and territorial prime ministers going forward. The ‘Team Canada’ approach of earlier this year may be fraying.
Media aspect:
As a note about the delivery side of things — if BC does launch this ad it is apparently only going to appear in targeted social media channels.
This is one more example of how mainstream media is not being supported by governments who claim they respect and support the role of media (the business model that delivers reliable, factual journalism) in democracy.
Without ad revenue, all media outlets of any size do struggle when big ad dollars go to the big US-owned tech giants (Meta – Facebook and Instagram, X, Google and others).
Analysis:
On the surface it looks as though the upcoming BC ad and the Ontario ad last weekend are disruptive, but educating the American public about the impact of tariffs could be an effective strategy. Without speaking up about the trade war attack on Canada, this country is just falling in line with bullying by Trump.
Carney’s calm will still prevail.
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NEWS SECTIONS: TARIFFS & TRADE | USA-CANADA | CANADA-NATIONAL | FORESTRY