Bell: Trudeau no hero — Danielle Smith's diplomacy helped win the day on tariffs

Reality is cruel, especially when you are in a sunny ways cocoon.

On Monday with the clock clicking down to Tariff Day, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is finally forced to confront reality and do what many reasonable people were telling him to do and Canada escapes tariffs for at least a month.

What were people saying, those who led with diplomacy and not hysterics?

People like Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, for example, the one called a traitor by the usual mindless mouthpieces.

This is what the so-called traitors were saying.

Take U.S. President Donald Trump seriously.

Show Trump in concrete terms what you are doing on the border.

Don’t keep telling Trump he’s wrong to think the border is?a big issue.

Don’t keep telling Trump when he wants action from Canada on the flow of fentanyl that he’s got his facts all wrong and we’re not as bad as Mexico.

And tone down the hysterics.

Then the news.

The smart money bet all their chips on a 30-day reprieve and so I posted the news three times on X while the TV networks were still talking breathlessly about Trump tariffs hitting Canada within hours and provinces pulling American booze off store shelves.

Trump gives the same one-month break from tariffs as Mexico got after that country agreed to put 10,000 troops on their border with the U.S. to stop the flow of fentanyl and illegal migrants.

Monday afternoon, after Trump talks a second time in the day to Trudeau, the prime minister releases a statement.

Canada will appoint a fentanyl czar.

You all know Premier Smith has been pushing the idea of a border czar hard.

But, then again, Smith has been pushing Trudeau to lay out his border security plans and put them into action from the get-go.

The idea was simple but somehow could not penetrate minds who thought leading with diplomacy instead of just ranting about retaliation was a pretty stupid idea because Trump was a very, very bad man.

Anyway, Trudeau, with the fervour of a man who wants to appear he has found religion, will list cartels as terrorists, ensure 24/7 eyes on the border, launch a Canada-U.S. Joint Strike Force to combat organized crime and money laundering and … FENTANYL.

Sounds good. Real good.

Sounds familiar to those of us who a few days ago were called traitors and sellouts willing to kiss Trump’s butt.

Continue, Mr. Prime Minister.

Trudeau also signs a new intelligence directive on organized crime and FENTANYL.

You know the fentanyl problem that was a figment of Trump’s imagination according to almost everyone in Canada’s self-styled smart set.

By the way, Trudeau will spend $200 million in this directive on organized crime and … you got it … fentanyl.

Trudeau is not done.

The prime minister tells us there will be new choppers at the border, new technology at the border, more working together with the Americans.

Nearly 10,000 front-line folks will be on the border.

And, for Trudeau, this is happening because Canada wants to … you got it … “stop the flow of fentanyl.”

It is a good news day when we see some common sense even if it did require twisting a few arms.

The usual suspects will do their own twisting and turning.

They will say there is nothing new in this 30-day deal.

They will say Trudeau won and Trump lost and the Canadians they called traitors are still traitors.

Oh, there were certain Canadians who lit their hair on fire because Trump talked about wanting Canada to be the 51st state of the United States.

We know he doesn’t like Trudeau. We know he thinks the U.S. has been treated badly by Canada.

But the president mostly talked about a drug war. One member of his team came out Monday and reminded Canadians Trump wanted big-time action on the file … or else.

During the day there were politicians wanting Trudeau to do more. Now.

Besides Smith, there was Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe.

Then there was federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre who said Trudeau and his government had lost control of the border.

There were real problems.

Drugs, guns, organized crime rings, fentanyl, a government who has lost count of how many illegals are in the country.

A government who has been horrible on law and order and public safety.

The Conservative leader offered many more ideas the Canadian government should actually take seriously during this 30 days without tariffs.

Of course, those who were wrong will now spin they were right.

Those who were right will still be treated as if they were wrong.

The story isn’t over but hopefully the hysteria and blowhard politics will get a rest.

One thing Poilievre said Monday really?struck home.

“It should not take a foreign leader to get our government to reverse its deadly policies.”

rbell@postmedia.com