One of the things that was important to us when we were making plans for what the Kamloops Chronicle would be was to try to focus as exclusively as possible on news and information for Kamloops. We wanted to be local first and foremost.

Which is why it is with a certain amount of embarassment that I sit down to write an editorial in this fourth issue that’s focused on the national political scene. This is something that, I swear, you will not find myself doing very often. But as a trade war may be on the cusp of breaking out between our country and our friends to the south, it seems like it would be foolish to write about anything else at the moment.

As of the moment I write this, U.S. President Donald Trump has temporarily paused the tariffs that were set to commence on Feb. 4. It’s a temporary reprieve of just 30 days. Who knows what’ll happen after.

I’ve spent some time on Facebook over the past few days and amongst all the advertising, the AI content, and propaganda disguised as memes, I saw a number of real people discussing the pending trade dispute. There was a lot of potentially good information being shared, particularly around the subject of trying to ensure people support Canadian brands following the tariffs.

Posts included lists of known Canadian brands, as well as advice to look for the words “Made in Canada” or “Product of Canada” on the labels.

Others were more light-hearted, making jokes about how we were probably polite even as we told Trump what he could do with his tariffs.

But then there were others that disappointed me, and then later kind of troubled me.

They were posts about how we shouldn’t be so worried about tariffs when there was a pending increase to the carbon tax, and look how stupid Trudeau is.

And then some — and these were the most surprising — seemed to be siding with Donald Trump, saying things like, “If only Trudeau had listened to him,” or, “Trump’ s press secretary said so-and-so.”

I get it. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau isn’t particularly popular right now. I suspect that’s probably why he resigned. But I really think that, for the present moment, we really need to do our best to put our political differences aside and focus on the one thing that unites us all.

We’re Canadian.

We’re friendly and we’re polite, but holy cow, do we not like it when our friends are jerks. And that’s exactly what is happening with the country south of us that we considered a friend.

And while we might say, “Sorry,” when we push back on those tariffs, we absolutely have to push back on them.  Whether you like him or not, the fact is that Trudeau is in charge still, and it’s in his hands to deal with the situation. Can we please just support him as he tries to navigate this pretty unprecedented turmoil bubbling away at the border?

At the moment I’m not convinced that the reprieve will be any more than temporary, and quite frankly a part of me is pretty sure Trump will renege on the deal before the 30 days are even up.

But maybe we’ll be lucky. Maybe this is a sign that he’s come to his senses and listened to some economic advisers and we can all get back to normal again.

But for at least the next 30 days, please, can we just stop fighting amongst ourselves and remember the thing that is most important? The fact that we’re all Canadian, and live in the greatest country on earth.

Besides, there’s an election later this year. There’s plenty of time for bipartisan battles still to come.