In the latest episode of Trade Dispute: Impact on the Prairies, we look at the growing threat of capital flight in Alberta and hear from Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe on why energy security and domestic investment could help the province weather the trade war.
Podcasts are available now on GX94, Yorkton, or 620 CKRM, Regina, hosted by Steven Wilson. Or read the transcript below:
Steven Wilson — Welcome to Trade Dispute: Impact on the Prairies.
I'm Steven Wilson.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is forcefully pushing back against threats from the White House, insisting Canada will not be bullied out of forming new global partnerships.
Following his address to the European Parliament yesterday, Carney delivered a sharp rebuke to U.S. President Donald Trump, who threatened heavy tariffs if Canada pursues a European alliance.
Carney said nobody is going to dictate Canadian culture or tell the country who it can strike international agreements with.
He clarified that Canada is not seeking full membership in the European Union, but rather an alliance built on collective resilience.
Meanwhile, an American ban on certain Canadian products, including alcohol and motorcycles, is right around the corner.
The ground-level reality of those import bans is forcing governments and businesses into difficult corners.
In Alberta, a new data analysis highlights the precarious nature of public support for the standoff.
Citing a recent Build Canada survey, the analysis shows that while 75 per cent of Canadians support holding firm against the United States, 68 per cent consider a higher household risk of job loss unacceptable and 60 per cent reject any tax increases to pay for the economic fallout.
The analysis also warns uncertainty is driving capital flight, with companies like Sapporo reportedly considering moving Canadian production lines south to avoid border friction.
In Manitoba, the provincial government is taking aggressive steps to bypass the American border entirely.
The province announced it will exempt qualifying capital investments in the Port of Churchill from the provincial seven per cent retail sales tax.
The incentive is designed to attract private financing for a northern trade corridor, including liquefied natural gas facilities and ice-class vessels for year-round global shipping.
Speaking at the Lloydminster Heavy Oil Show yesterday, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe dismissed calls from the Opposition NDP to impose a ban on American companies doing work for the provincial government.
Scott Moe — 99 per cent of government procurement is to Canadian companies today.
94 per cent of Government of Saskatchewan procurement is to Saskatchewan companies today.
So I have no idea what they're talking about and this is why nobody can ever take anything they say seriously.
Steven Wilson — Despite the hostility, Moe says the United States will remain Canada's largest trading partner out of sheer necessity, and he believes energy dependency will ultimately force both sides back to the table.
Scott Moe — Our relationship with the United States of America, as trying as it is right now, as we find our way through the review of the CUSMA agreement, is going — they are going to remain our largest trading partner and we're going to continue to send them energy products into the future, not just oil but also uranium and other products as well.
So those discussions, I would say, haven't started up.
They've been ongoing as to what those opportunities might be.
Minister Beaudry and others continue to talk with the companies that are there.
And I would think that we are on the cusp of those discussions becoming much more real than maybe they have been over the course of the last decade, and here's why.
You need production to put in the pipe at the end of those — at the source of any of those pipeline expansions.
And with some of the policy initiatives that we've seen just over the past two weeks from the federal level, things, I would say, are lining up much better than maybe they have over the course of the past decade for that investment to flow and that production to actually happen.
I'm also fairly positive, despite current challenges around the U.S.-Canada trade negotiations, I'm fairly positive that we are going to find our way to some type of a resolution there.
It isn't going to be what we had two and three years ago, but it'll be better than what we're experiencing today.
Steven Wilson — Moe says the ongoing dispute highlights a critical need to build up Canada's heavy oil and uranium production so the country can finally become an energy superpower for its allies.
Scott Moe — This is the role Canada can play in the next number of decades.
This is the role I think Prime Minister Harper and Prime Minister Carney were alluding to when they say we want to, as a nation, become an energy superpower.
This was the opportunity we had a decade ago.
We squandered that by lack of policy direction at the federal level.
Let's not squander this.
Let's seize this opportunity as Canadians to its full extent and utilize it for not only the opportunities that it can bring our generation and the next generation in our communities with careers and jobs, but let's ensure that we're utilizing it to provide the sustainable product that we produce to other Canadians, others in North America and the rest of the world, our allied trading partners around the world.
Steven Wilson — Beyond energy, the premier says major domestic projects are helping offset trade anxieties.
Pointing to the recent announcement of a $52-billion artificial intelligence data centre south of Regina, Moe highlighted the generational jobs being created independently of American trade policy.
Scott Moe — The opportunity comes not only in the construction of this facility.
The opportunity also comes in the ongoing careers that this facility will provide.
And this was one of the very first questions that the government asked numerous proponents that want to build a data centre somewhere in the world and have asked if they could build one in Saskatchewan: what are you bringing in the way of careers to our community?
This one is over 600 ongoing careers directly and over 3,000 indirect careers that will be a benefit of what is the single largest investment in Canada's history.
Two out of the top three of which are in this province, the third being a potash mine.
In those 600 direct jobs are a hundred head office jobs that are coming as Bell starts to build out its data centre head office capacity right here in Saskatchewan.
Steven Wilson — We will continue following the diplomatic standoff overseas and the financial fallout right here at home.
I'm Steven Wilson.
Have a great weekend and thank you for listening to Trade Dispute: Impact on the Prairies.
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