Making lemonade out of Trump lemons

To hear the chattering classes tell it, the election of Donald Trump is the End of the World as We Have Known It and over the gate to the new world is inscribed Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here. What balderdash. Life goes on and the Trump presidency, by making marginal changes to America’s behaviour and policies, will create both problems and opportunities for Canada. We should look at both in a calm clear-eyed fashion. Thus my Globe column (in the Report on Business’s Economy Lab feature) in the Remembrance Day edition focuses on three opportunities the Trump presidency offers: 1) reorienting wasteful “infrastructure” spending to thoughtful defence spending; 2) getting Keystone XL built and buying time to get our own pipeline approval process right; and 3) giving Ottawa political cover for a rethink on how to make our business taxation regime a competitive advantage rather than a drag on investment.