REGINA – With Premier Scott Moe in Ontario at a Council of the Federation meeting, NDP Economy and Jobs Critic Aleana Young was demanding Moe come back with a plan to address agriculture concerns.
In particular Young pointed again to the need to address Chinese tariffs of 100 per cent on canola, canola meal, and peas.
“Now, we've seen the Premier speak out against this publicly on multiple occasions, but he has proposed no concrete solutions, and he's failed to get a plan on getting them lifted,” said Young.
“Talk is cheap and action is needed. So once again, we face an urgent crisis for our province, for our world-class agricultural sector, for our future, and Scott Moe is slow to act. Frankly, he's missing in action altogether.”
Young said Opposition Leader Carla Beck went to the Chinese government herself to advocate for tariffs to be lifted, and that their entire caucus supported calls from the Agricultural Producers of Saskatchewan to enhance the AgriStability program and advocate to increase compensation rates for agricultural producers. She also said they took those calls into Question Period in the spring and the Sask Party “didn't lift a finger.”
“So enough is enough,” Young said. “When Scott Moe returns home from the Council of Federation in three short days, he needs to come back with an actual plan to end these tariffs. He needs to come back and convey directly to our agricultural producers what he's going to do to have their backs.”
Young also took aim at recent comments from Premier Moe in which he said in an interview that he never thought an “elbows up” approach was the proper approach to negotiating with the Americans. Young characterized Moe’s remarks as supporting an “elbows down” approach.
“Premier Moe is looking for any opportunity to be elbows down, flapping his elbows in the wind every chance he gets, chicken dancing for Donald Trump. And he accuses us of wanting to react. And he's right. We do want action. We're interested in standing up for Saskatchewan.”
The Sask Party government sent out their response mere moments before Young’s news conference had even started.
“The lost and reckless NDP continues to demonstrate how out of touch they are with rural Saskatchewan and working with other levels of government,” their statement read. They pointed to working alongside federal partners to support agriculture producers, as well as previously announced program enhancements from the Monister of Agriculture.
“Since that time, we have continued to advocate with the Prime Minister, his ministers, and staff in his office. Work like this continues at the Agriculture Federal, Provincial, and Territorial tables, where Saskatchewan will announce $15M of support later today. This work also continues as Premier Scott Moe meets with his provincial and Federal counterparts at the Council of Federation meetings this week. Where he will continue to advocate for the removal of Chinese Tariffs, Free and Fair-Trade deals, and support for Saskatchewan industry.”
When asked about that statement, Young said “I think the Sask Party spin machine is a little slow to start up this Monday morning, if the best they can do is hug the federal government to show how hard they're fighting for interests in rural Saskatchewan.”
As for the potential announcement of $15 million of support later today, Young responded by saying “I suppose we'll wait and see.”
“It's, again, been nearly five months since the Saskatchewan NDP started talking about the needs of producers in Saskatchewan facing these tariffs. It's been nearly a year that these tariffs on canola have been threatened. And today, when we see action from the government, I suppose that remains to be seen. But regardless, this isn't just a day late and a dollar short. This is months and months of inaction.”