It’s a farce to call April 2, 2025, “Liberation Day”, retired Timmins—James Bay NDP MP Charlie Angus told a Sudbury crowd on Wednesday night.
The Liberation Day name was coined by U.S. President Donald Trump to mark various new tariffs on imports announced this afternoon which he said will economically liberate the country from other nations.
“We know in Canada this is not Liberation Day, this is just another day in the struggle, because we know what liberation means,” Angus told an enthusiastic crowd of supporters. “It is in our DNA.”
The Normandy landings, also known as D-Day, on June 6, 1944 deserves the moniker, he said, as it marked the beginning of the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi occupation.
As for calling April 2, 2025, Liberation Day because of new U.S. tariffs?
“This is the day that America becomes weaker, more isolated, more hated and more economically destitute just to satisfy that narcissist from Mar-a-Lago, that criminal,” Angus said in reference to Trump, who he also referred to as a “grifter, narcissist psychopath who’s also a convicted criminal and a sexual predator.”
“Are we going to give our country over to a guy like that? Never. Not now, not ever,” Angus said to cheers from a packed audience at St. Andrew’s Place in downtown Sudbury.
“This is a war, and we know in a war that people get hurt, but if we don’t be strong now we are going to suffer much worse down the road,” he said.
“If we don’t take a hard line against fascism we will be under the boot of fascism, and we won’t let that happen.”
Angus was in Sudbury as part of his anti-fascist Elbows Up! Resistance Tour, hosted by local NDP candidates Andréane Chénier (Sudbury East-Manitoulin-Nickel Belt) and Nadia Verrelli (Sudbury). The Timmins—James Bay MP was first elected in 2004 and isn’t seeking re-election in the April 28 federal election.
Although not explicitly billed as an NDP rally, the event featured the local NDP candidates, NDP MPPs, anti-Conservative and Liberal messaging and sign-in cards those in attendance were required to fill out which asked whether they’d be interested in receiving NDP signs for their yards.
Fighting back against U.S. tariffs and Trump’s ongoing threat to make Canada the 51st state was an easy sell for the evening’s audience, whose members also reacted positively to anti-Conservative comments surrounding Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre, who Angus referred to as “MAGA Maple.”
All major federal party leaders have pledged to push back against the tariffs, so what makes the NDP any different?
Following Wednesday’s rally, Chénier told Sudbury.com that her mind goes back to past Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney signing the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement in the 1988, which was later replaced by the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994 (which was also signed by Mulroney, in 1992 while still in office).
This, she said, engrained an interdependence with the United States.
“We continued with buying from the lowest bidder and allowing big corporations from the U.S. to encroach and edge out our local Canadian businesses,” she said. “We need to become more independent and more resilient in our economy.”
This, she said, is what the NDP has pledged to do by eliminating such things as the approximately $18-billion annual subsidization of fossil fuel industry under the Liberals and instead spending this money on infrastructure such as highways, hospitals and clean technology.
“Instead of watching our federal tax dollars march out of the borders, we will be strengthening our local economy and not strengthening theirs,” she said.
During her public remarks, Chénier also scoffed at the notion of Liberal Leader Mark Carney handling things.
“You know when things are really bad, and things are really dark, who ever said, ‘Thank God the banker is here,’” she said in a sarcastic reference to Carney’s career in banking.
“What we do know is that we need that people power, we need that NDP to keep the Liberals honest.”
As for the Conservatives, she said, “We know that we can’t trust the MAGA Maple at the helm.”
Verrelli narrowed in on the theme of the evening during her brief introductory remarks, urging people to put their “elbows up” and that Americans need to get their “hands off our country, hands off who we are.”
Local NDP MPPs Jamie West (Sudbury) and France Gélinas also spoke at Wednesday’s event.
“When the U.S. says that they are starting a trade war, that they are starting an economic war, it is a war,” Gélinas said. “Nothing good ever comes from a war except that it hurts a lot of people and nobody wins.”
Several members of Wednesday night’s crowd showed up with signs and pro-Canada gear, including friends Shirley Taylor, Carola Germa and Judy Niesing, who all sported “Elbows Up” shirts.
This is in reference to hockey icon Gordie Howe's signature move, which has become a rally cry in opposition to U.S. aggression.
“He’s leading the fight to keep Canada Canada,” Germa said of Angus.
Fellow audience member Ron Vaillancourt joined his wife, Sue, in attending Wednesday’s rally, and told Sudbury.com, “We’re here for Canada. Elbows up.”
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
