Canada keeps losing ground while its leaders preach anti-Americanism
Laurentian politicians have long treated anti-Americanism as cheap electoral fuel, stoking resentment to win votes. But hatred is a poison Canada keeps swallowing, hoping somehow it will wound Washington. Instead, it drives away jobs and investment, leaving Canadians weaker while America prospers.
The news out of Amherstburg, Ontario, landed with a thud: Diageo, the global giant that owns Crown Royal, is set to close its bottling plant by February 2026. Two hundred workers will be laid off. U.S. bottling for Crown Royal will now be done in the United States. Canadian bottling will shift to Diageo’s Quebec facility in Valleyfield, Québec. Distilling, aging, and blending will remain in Canada, but the jobs on the Ontario bottling line — the visible, local work — will soon be gone.
That’s the straight news. Now, the “why.”
This Crown Royal decision rhymes with another headline you may remember: Brookfield Asset Management’s move to re-domicile a subsidiary in New York. Mark Carney was chair at the time, and though he later tried to distance himself from the decision, the logic was clear. Brookfield sought proximity to the world’s deepest pool of capital. It wanted to avoid being stuck in Canada’s shrinking pond. That’s the same tune Diageo is humming: put the jobs where the market is.
The lack of investment, lack of productivity, lack of housing, all play into it.
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