MP lays out how Conservatives want to respond to U.S. tariffs threat

Photo: Contributed

Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola MP Dan Albas

The House of Commons remains prorogued until March 24.

Unless there is an earlier recall or some other unexpected scenario, the House will convene under the next Liberal Party leader, who will serve as prime minister—albeit potentially briefly—until an election is called.

The next Liberal Party leader remains unknown. Earlier this week, rumours circulated in Ottawa that the Trudeau government is preparing a major tariff response plan—similar in scale to pandemic measures—should the United States follow through on its threat to impose 25% tariffs on Canadian exports.

While speculation about hypothetical responses based on rumours serves little purpose, the concern about these potential tariffs is very real.

The question of how best to respond weighs heavily on many. While the official Opposition has a duty to question the government's political program as part of its challenge function, given the circumstances of where a snap election is conceivable, we have a responsibility to also offer solutions for Canadians to consider. I want to share several key objectives that our Conservative opposition believes deserve careful consideration.

To be clear, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre supports retaliating against U.S. tariffs, if necessary. However, the Conservative position is also clear, we have to be pinpointed and surgical in our response. As Poilievre stated, “We’re both going to lose, as Americans and Canadians, if we get in a trade war,” adding; “We can buy elsewhere to maximize the impact on Americans and minimize the impact on Canadians.”

Poilievre also made it clear a Conservative plan would target American products and services Canada doesn’t need or can make “in-house,” which is an important consideration to mitigate the impact on Canadians.

The Conservative tariff response plan would also include an emergency “bring-it-home” tax cut to stimulate economic growth in Canada, increased efforts to reduce and eliminate inter-provincial trade barriers, as well as to approve and expedite resource and energy projects as quickly as possible, including a plan to repeal the Liberal government’s Bill C-69.

Diversifying trade, particularly in our resource sector not only provides more economic opportunities it also means that by having a lesser dependence on large trading partners we can be less affected by tariff situations in the future.

From my own perspective, I believe the next seven to 10 days will be pivotal in gaining a better understanding of what potential tariffs against Canada might look like. I also believe we should not lose sight of the fact that in many sectors, Canadians can, and do, compete against some of the very best in the world.

To be at our very best, we need a competitive regulatory environment that encourages investment and innovation and at the risk of sounding political, I believe over the Trudeau government era we have lost much of that by imposing many politically based regulatory burdens on ourselves that none of our major trading partners follow.

This week, I have one question:

How concerned are you about the potential impact of 25% tariffs on Canadian goods exported to the United States—and the resulting retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports to Canada?

I can be reached at [email protected] or call toll-free 1-800-665-8711.

Dan Albas is the Conservative MP for Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.