Midland’s mayor has joined the fight against U.S. tariffs by removing all American flags from municipal facilities. Mayor Bill Gordon posted a video message, where he addressed U.S. President Donald Trump directly, saying Canada is the United States “former closest ally and trading partner for the last 158 years.”
Trump imposed a sweeping 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods, with a lower 10 per cent charge on Canadian energy on Tuesday. The president then announced a temporary pause on some Canadian products, bringing little comfort to the trade war.
“I stand in solidarity with 40 million Canadians who are united against your attacks to our democracy, our sovereignty and our economy,” Midland’s mayor stated. “We will resist and repel your efforts to bend Canada to your will and we will never be your 51st state.”
“Today, we pulled down your flag, that had hung beside ours in our hockey arena for decades,” Gordon said in the Tuesday post. “You have proven untrustworthy and violate your own trade agreements. Our municipality will join the rest of our province in shunning American products and services.”
The Midland mayor said Trump’s actions had united Canadians against a threat “we never saw coming.”
“We will always be neighbours and perhaps one day we will once again be friends but today is not that day,” Gordon continued. “Canada is and always will be the true north strong and free.”
In the video on the mayor’s website, a worker is shown removing the U.S. flag positioned next to Canada’s flag in an arena before being folded and tossed into a drawer, which is then closed.
On Tuesday, the City of Barrie’s mayor also ordered all American flags be removed from municipal buildings. The following day, Mayor Alex Nuttall took his fight one step further by directing city staff to focus on working almost exclusively with Canadian vendors, blacklisting U.S. vendors.
