October 21, 2025 • 8 mins
Despite pressing border concerns like fentanyl, guns, & human trafficking, Canada is investigating Chinese paper plates. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is investigating whether China is "dumping" subsidized products—"thermofolded molded fiber tableware"—into Canada in hopes to protect jobs and a domestic industry valued at approximately $150 million annually.
Jon Liedtke joined The Gene Valaitis Show on Niagara's 610 CKTB to discuss this real issues affecting Canadian jobs and industry.
Jon Liedtke joined The Gene Valaitis Show on Niagara's 610 CKTB to discuss this real issues affecting Canadian jobs and industry.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining US regular contributor John Lidkey is here. Good morning,
Good Morninging. You know when you told me about the story,
I sort of had to laugh because you sort of
gave me a question, and you said, you know, what's
the most pressing issue at the border, And I said, well,
fent and al stopping illegal guns coming in from the
(00:21):
United States into our country. I thought about illegal immigration.
I thought about a lot of different issues. But as
you pointed out, and I thought you were joking, as
you pointed out, turns out its paper plates. And Ottawa
is about to spend a lot of money investigating paper
(00:43):
plates coming across our border. Oh, John, please explain.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Oh it is paper plates from China. Jane, what are
we going to do about it? It's like a throwback
to a nineteen fifties pulp section. Click quite frankly, you
catch that reference there with pulp. Yeah. No, this is
an investigation CBSA has launched into thermo folded molded fiber
table where aka cheap, crappy paper plates and bowls and
(01:12):
platters and stuff. It sounds very silly on its face value.
We're dealing with an erratic president across the border who
has told us to tighten up our border to stop
the flow of fence and all from coming across. And
we can debate the merits of that either way, which
you know, I don't think it's as big a deal
as he puts it, not to minimize but instead, CBSA
(01:34):
put out a tweet saying that we are launching a
probe into the subsidization and dumping of paper plates by China,
and I just I looked at this one and I went, really,
is this what we're doing here? This is what we're
doing right now? I get you got to do it,
you guys. I mean, it's the law, but like, maybe
don't promote it or publicize it. It's just it's I
(01:55):
think bad optics.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Well I would agree with you, but you know, only
government would come up with this term thermo formed molded
fiber table, where I mean either paper plates or beat sakes.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I love it, it's so great, it's so incredibly technical.
But how do we employ bureaucrats if we're not going
to go and say five words when one word could
have worked?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yeah? Well, you know what did surprise me? Actually, the
Canadian market for thermo form. Oh, attack, the Canadian market
for paper plates it is estimated at approximately one hundred
and fifty million dollars annually. So kidding aside, if I
own a little factory here in the Niagara region and
I'm making Thermo for if I'm making paper plates, I
(02:42):
might be a little upset that China is dumping its
paper plates on my paper plate market.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Well, absolutely, and you know we can we can set
the jokes aside them. This is ripe with them, quite frankly.
But this is about protecting Canadian jobs, ensuring a fair
marketplace competition. We want to make sure that goods that
are coming in aren't unfairly priced that can cause as
you were talking about, you know, you don't want to
see job losses. You don't want to see plant may
(03:09):
fifty million dollars a year is nothing to scott that,
quite frankly. And again though, when it comes to Trump,
I think that there's some ways that this could be
framed if he does, you know, catch wind of this,
which you know, knock on wood. I hope that he
doesn't see this whatsoever. But we could explain that this
is just routinely legal, that we're all on the same
page here. It's protecting North American workers North American jobs,
(03:33):
and we could also just say, look, this is not
us the government. These are the trade lawyers. We're able
to walk and chew gum in this country at the
same time, we can even chop down some trees and
convert them too.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Yeah, you know, I thought it was interesting. Last weekend,
the Chinese ambassador to Canada was on the CTV show
with Vaschi Capellos, and he said, look, you drop your mandates.
You dropped the tariff breather on Chinese EV's coming into Canada.
We will drop the tariffs on canola. Now the canola
(04:05):
market in Western Canada is really really hurting because of this.
You know, people really aren't buying evs. You know, the
stats are the stats are out there. And he also said,
you drop these tariffs on Johnny's made EV's and not
only will they buy the canola again, he said, but
we want to buy your crude oil. We want to
buy your liquid natural gas. Do you think Autawa is
(04:28):
going to say you know what, yeah and not make
the mistake that Trudeau said that there was no business
model for selling our crude and liquid natural gas to
other countries.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I don't think that we should be horse trading one
industry for another. Here, if the Canola industry is hurting
and the auto industry is hurting, I don't think we
have to make a choice of one or the other,
even though there is only so many dollars and bandwidth possible.
What I would be suggesting here is, as you were
talking about, you know, let's exports and crude that we
do have, let's take a look at the very real
(05:01):
impacts that are going on here. I just saw coming
across my desk out of Ingersoll. GM just announced that
they've killed the break Drop electric delivery van and that's
three hundred jobs in Ingersoll. That just happened about fifteen
minutes ago. So we're dealing with this increased tension here
in Ontario with the auto sector, and I don't think
(05:22):
anybody wants to see the entire auto sector go. There's
also national security concerns from Chinese Eden. They are essentially
drivable spy machines. Not to say that we can't get
that dealt with, but what we need to have is
grow active strategies to deal with this. We need to
act like adults at the table, and I think that
that means having conversations with the medias that are honest
(05:44):
about where we're at in the world, what our capacity is,
what are we actually able to bat at right now?
Are we the blue Jays right now as Canada metaphorically,
you know, at a really good place, or are we
trying to still pull ourselves up the ladder. I would
argue that we are more of the ladder in this
case here, because you know, we're not as strong a
(06:07):
power as we would like to be. It's not to
say that we're pushed aside entirely, but we need to
actually sit down and have a conversation about where we're
at and how we want to respond as a country,
because I don't think we've had that opportunity through the
past couple elections. To be honest, we've had superficial issues.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Now, could you just repeat that story about Ingersoll because
we've got a lot of car I don't say automakers,
It doesn't make sense to me. We have a lot
of people in the car making industry here in the
Niagara region, you know. And Sti Lattice screwed everything up
in Brampton last week. What's happening in Ingersoll again?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
So I guess saw coming across my desk from BNN Bloomberg.
General Motors says it is ending production of the bright
Drop electric delivery van in Ingersoll. They say this decision
was related to low demand for the product and it
won't be moved elsewhere. But they also paused these jobs
back in April, and that was right when Trump started
(07:02):
to actually, you know, get serious about the tariffs and whatnot.
So is this directly linked to tariffs? Hard to say.
I would say that it has to come into play
a little bit. Maybe it has to do more with
the demand for electric vehicles. But again it just it
goes to say, we lost Brampton, now we've lost this
product in Ingersoll. There's concern down here in Windsor about
(07:23):
what the future of the auto sector is, and we
need to have a serious conversation about diversification. We've been
hammering that drum here in Windsor without actually making any
moves on it for the past decade, I think, quite frankly,
since software and I'm glad I'm not an elected official,
don't come to me with the actual answers. I'm just
going to complain and plant out the problems.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
How many do you hear? How many jobs in ingersol.
Is that again, John?
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Three hundred jobs is what I saw.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Wow. So now we're up to three thousand and three
hundred in one week in the Canadian industry. Wow, this
is well. You know what. I'm talking to Dan mctigue
coming up next, so I'll talk to him about that
as well. Great having you back on the show this Tuesday,
And thank you for the investigative reporting the great Chinese
paper plate conspiracy.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Thank you for your time, Jean, I'd love to be here.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
All right, There he goes John Lickey. We'll talk to
him again next Tuesday. I wonder how much money the
government is spending on this investigation paper plate dumping. Who
would have thought paper plates? It's one hundred and fifty
million dollars annually a market in Canada. Stop those Chinese
paper plates. Don't worry about Fentonol, don't worry about guns.
(08:37):
It's the paper plates that's the threat.
Joining US regular contributor John Lidkey is here. Good morning,
Good Morninging. You know when you told me about the story,
I sort of had to laugh because you sort of
gave me a question, and you said, you know, what's
the most pressing issue at the border, And I said, well,
fent and al stopping illegal guns coming in from the
(00:21):
United States into our country. I thought about illegal immigration.
I thought about a lot of different issues. But as
you pointed out, and I thought you were joking, as
you pointed out, turns out its paper plates. And Ottawa
is about to spend a lot of money investigating paper
(00:43):
plates coming across our border. Oh, John, please explain.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Oh it is paper plates from China. Jane, what are
we going to do about it? It's like a throwback
to a nineteen fifties pulp section. Click quite frankly, you
catch that reference there with pulp. Yeah. No, this is
an investigation CBSA has launched into thermo folded molded fiber
table where aka cheap, crappy paper plates and bowls and
(01:12):
platters and stuff. It sounds very silly on its face value.
We're dealing with an erratic president across the border who
has told us to tighten up our border to stop
the flow of fence and all from coming across. And
we can debate the merits of that either way, which
you know, I don't think it's as big a deal
as he puts it, not to minimize but instead, CBSA
(01:34):
put out a tweet saying that we are launching a
probe into the subsidization and dumping of paper plates by China,
and I just I looked at this one and I went, really,
is this what we're doing here? This is what we're
doing right now? I get you got to do it,
you guys. I mean, it's the law, but like, maybe
don't promote it or publicize it. It's just it's I
(01:55):
think bad optics.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Well I would agree with you, but you know, only
government would come up with this term thermo formed molded
fiber table, where I mean either paper plates or beat sakes.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I love it, it's so great, it's so incredibly technical.
But how do we employ bureaucrats if we're not going
to go and say five words when one word could
have worked?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yeah? Well, you know what did surprise me? Actually, the
Canadian market for thermo form. Oh, attack, the Canadian market
for paper plates it is estimated at approximately one hundred
and fifty million dollars annually. So kidding aside, if I
own a little factory here in the Niagara region and
I'm making Thermo for if I'm making paper plates, I
(02:42):
might be a little upset that China is dumping its
paper plates on my paper plate market.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Well, absolutely, and you know we can we can set
the jokes aside them. This is ripe with them, quite frankly.
But this is about protecting Canadian jobs, ensuring a fair
marketplace competition. We want to make sure that goods that
are coming in aren't unfairly priced that can cause as
you were talking about, you know, you don't want to
see job losses. You don't want to see plant may
(03:09):
fifty million dollars a year is nothing to scott that,
quite frankly. And again though, when it comes to Trump,
I think that there's some ways that this could be
framed if he does, you know, catch wind of this,
which you know, knock on wood. I hope that he
doesn't see this whatsoever. But we could explain that this
is just routinely legal, that we're all on the same
page here. It's protecting North American workers North American jobs,
(03:33):
and we could also just say, look, this is not
us the government. These are the trade lawyers. We're able
to walk and chew gum in this country at the
same time, we can even chop down some trees and
convert them too.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Yeah, you know, I thought it was interesting. Last weekend,
the Chinese ambassador to Canada was on the CTV show
with Vaschi Capellos, and he said, look, you drop your mandates.
You dropped the tariff breather on Chinese EV's coming into Canada.
We will drop the tariffs on canola. Now the canola
(04:05):
market in Western Canada is really really hurting because of this.
You know, people really aren't buying evs. You know, the
stats are the stats are out there. And he also said,
you drop these tariffs on Johnny's made EV's and not
only will they buy the canola again, he said, but
we want to buy your crude oil. We want to
buy your liquid natural gas. Do you think Autawa is
(04:28):
going to say you know what, yeah and not make
the mistake that Trudeau said that there was no business
model for selling our crude and liquid natural gas to
other countries.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I don't think that we should be horse trading one
industry for another. Here, if the Canola industry is hurting
and the auto industry is hurting, I don't think we
have to make a choice of one or the other,
even though there is only so many dollars and bandwidth possible.
What I would be suggesting here is, as you were
talking about, you know, let's exports and crude that we
do have, let's take a look at the very real
(05:01):
impacts that are going on here. I just saw coming
across my desk out of Ingersoll. GM just announced that
they've killed the break Drop electric delivery van and that's
three hundred jobs in Ingersoll. That just happened about fifteen
minutes ago. So we're dealing with this increased tension here
in Ontario with the auto sector, and I don't think
(05:22):
anybody wants to see the entire auto sector go. There's
also national security concerns from Chinese Eden. They are essentially
drivable spy machines. Not to say that we can't get
that dealt with, but what we need to have is
grow active strategies to deal with this. We need to
act like adults at the table, and I think that
that means having conversations with the medias that are honest
(05:44):
about where we're at in the world, what our capacity is,
what are we actually able to bat at right now?
Are we the blue Jays right now as Canada metaphorically,
you know, at a really good place, or are we
trying to still pull ourselves up the ladder. I would
argue that we are more of the ladder in this
case here, because you know, we're not as strong a
(06:07):
power as we would like to be. It's not to
say that we're pushed aside entirely, but we need to
actually sit down and have a conversation about where we're
at and how we want to respond as a country,
because I don't think we've had that opportunity through the
past couple elections. To be honest, we've had superficial issues.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Now, could you just repeat that story about Ingersoll because
we've got a lot of car I don't say automakers,
It doesn't make sense to me. We have a lot
of people in the car making industry here in the
Niagara region, you know. And Sti Lattice screwed everything up
in Brampton last week. What's happening in Ingersoll again?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
So I guess saw coming across my desk from BNN Bloomberg.
General Motors says it is ending production of the bright
Drop electric delivery van in Ingersoll. They say this decision
was related to low demand for the product and it
won't be moved elsewhere. But they also paused these jobs
back in April, and that was right when Trump started
(07:02):
to actually, you know, get serious about the tariffs and whatnot.
So is this directly linked to tariffs? Hard to say.
I would say that it has to come into play
a little bit. Maybe it has to do more with
the demand for electric vehicles. But again it just it
goes to say, we lost Brampton, now we've lost this
product in Ingersoll. There's concern down here in Windsor about
(07:23):
what the future of the auto sector is, and we
need to have a serious conversation about diversification. We've been
hammering that drum here in Windsor without actually making any
moves on it for the past decade, I think, quite frankly,
since software and I'm glad I'm not an elected official,
don't come to me with the actual answers. I'm just
going to complain and plant out the problems.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
How many do you hear? How many jobs in ingersol.
Is that again, John?
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Three hundred jobs is what I saw.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Wow. So now we're up to three thousand and three
hundred in one week in the Canadian industry. Wow, this
is well. You know what. I'm talking to Dan mctigue
coming up next, so I'll talk to him about that
as well. Great having you back on the show this Tuesday,
And thank you for the investigative reporting the great Chinese
paper plate conspiracy.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Thank you for your time, Jean, I'd love to be here.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
All right, There he goes John Lickey. We'll talk to
him again next Tuesday. I wonder how much money the
government is spending on this investigation paper plate dumping. Who
would have thought paper plates? It's one hundred and fifty
million dollars annually a market in Canada. Stop those Chinese
paper plates. Don't worry about Fentonol, don't worry about guns.
(08:37):
It's the paper plates that's the threat.
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