Ottawa/CMEDIA: Canada’s premiers are reportedly split when it comes to country’s response to U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs.
As the premiers sat down with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday to figure out a response to Trump’s threat to impose devastating tariffs on Canada, Ontario Premier Doug Ford urged his colleagues to put the country first.
“Part of being Team Canada means recognizing and respecting each other’s provinces and territories,” Ford said. “But nothing is more important than the country.”
Opening the meeting in Ottawa, Trudeau pledged that Finance and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc will walk the premiers through the government’s “massive” border plan.
“It features three main issues: first of all, the joint fight against illegal drugs, particularly fentanyl,” Trudeau said, adding that this is one of the key issues for the incoming Trump administration.
Joint management of border security and “ensuring the continued integrity of our immigration system were the other two issues,” he said.
Ford, in his opening remarks, said he’s a strong believer in retaliatory tariffs.
“You can’t let someone hit you in the head with a sledgehammer without hitting them back twice as hard, in my opinion,” he said.
Canada should ensure the U.S. is aware of its critical reliance on Canadian energy and not pull back on those exports just yet, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey told reporters Wednesday morning,
Quebec Premier Francois Legault said Canada should have options prepared if Trump follows through on that threat, as most premiers expect he will.
The idea of any measures that would affect Canada’s energy exports to the United States were rejected both by Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith have
“When you look at the pipeline system, how oil is actually transported into the U.S. and back to Canada … Politically, it would be more divisive than anything this Liberal government enacted, in way of policies, in the last nine years.”Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew responded to the idea of cutting off or limiting energy exports to the U.S, by saying that he doesn’t want to see actions taken that undermine national unity.
Kinew said Canada should carefully craft its response to the tariff threat.
“The party that is in a rush to conclude their negotiations typically gives up their leverage in the process. So, I understand there’s a lot of economic uncertainty right now, but we need a steady hand,” he said.
As the top supplier of foreign oil to the U.S., Canada accounts for about one-fifth of its oil supply.
Currently the chair of the premiers’ association known as the Council of the Federation, Ford showed up to the meeting sporting a blue baseball hat bearing the message “Canada is not for sale”, a reference to Trump’s repeated claims of using “economic force” to annex Canada into the U.S.
Ford estimated that the tariffs could cost 500,000 jobs in Ontario alone.
Prince Edward Island Premier Dennis King recently concluded a tour of the northeastern United States to talk about exports from his province.
King said the threatened tariffs could cost his province 25 per cent of its GDP and upwards of 1,400 jobs.
“When you come from a place like Prince Edward Island, that’s catastrophic,” he said.
When asked about the prospect of Ottawa issuing bailouts to help provinces with the tariff threat, King said nothing can be ruled out.
“All options have to be on the table, and they are, but I do think that if there are countermeasures that they put in place, then all that money should be dispersed across the country to help provinces and help companies react,” King said.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and British Columbia Premier David Eby met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort over the weekend to attend the meeting Wednesday virtually.
Trump and his allies’ taunting Canada about making it the 51st state since Trudeau and LeBlanc made their own trip to Mar-a-Lago, were responded by Kinew who said Canada needs to pass the “locker room test” in these negotiations.
“Fifty-first state, you’ve got to chirp back. Where are our chirps? This is not just a trade war, this is also a meme war. And have we been showing that ability to chirp back? I don’t know,” he said.
