PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. — Premier Scott Moe outlined his government’s stance on the Canada-U.S. trade dispute Wednesday, strongly pushing back against the notion of export taxes.
Moe once more voiced support for the Prime Minister Mark Carney government’s “targeted countermeasures that are in place, but only when those tariffs are focused and targeted to have a minimal impact on Canadian industries and families and a larger impact on our trading partner that we want to bring back to the table.”
On that point, Moe said what “we as a province cannot and will not support is any kind of export tariff on our natural resources or any of our resources that are being exported to the U.S. or through the U.S. to other areas of the world.”
On potash, Moe said Saskatchewan, in the not-too-distant future, will “be providing half of the world's potash. That would be a tremendous economic hit to our province and to our nation.”
“First, Canadians would lose jobs. Second, farmers on both sides of the border would pay more for that crucial fertilizer. Third, the United States of America, most assuredly, would switch to buying potash from other nations around the world, nations like Belarus, for example. We would lose a long-term customer to some degree.”
On oil, Moe said it would be “an unsustainable hit to our Canadian economy, and, in particular, our Saskatchewan and Alberta economy.” He also said an export tariff on oil would have a far greater impact on those in Eastern Canada.
“Twenty to 50 per cent of Canadians' refined petroleum products, our diesel, our gasoline, is produced through products that are produced in Western Canada, travel through the United States of America back into Canada to be refined and utilized.”
Moe said what those very industries have faced over the course of the last decade or longer are “some very flawed policy discussions and flawed policy implementations in our nation for far too long.” He pointed to the governance structure and restrictions at the Port of Vancouver as one such example.
“We have asked for that structure to change, the board structure at the Port to change, to prioritize the Canadian economy, to prioritize the prairie provincial economy so that we have true access to the world through an efficient port system and, ultimately, build that industry for years into the future.”
Tariffs coming to U.S. alcohol
Export taxes were not the only issue Premier Moe pushed back against. He again pushed back against calls from the Opposition and elsewhere for Saskatchewan to remove U.S. liquor from store shelves.
He said leaving the choice with the people of Saskatchewan was a “very important core value for this government to allow Saskatchewan people to make their own choice.”
“And I would say that Saskatchewan people are choosing. American alcohol sales in our province are down 40 per cent. And I think that that actually sends a much stronger message than any government-ordered ban that could be put in place.”
But Moe did announce there would be measures coming in with respect to alcohol procurement. He said Saskatchewan will reciprocate in response to the U.S. 50 per cent tariff on Canadian alcohol by imposing a 50 per cent tariff on American alcohol entering the province.
Moe also spoke more broadly about procurement in general. He spoke of the importance of ensuring that all of the “construction that we see happening in this province, whether it be public investment or private investment, that those construction projects are utilizing to every degree possible Canadian and Saskatchewan proponents to build our province.”
Moe emphasized that the government would support Canadian counter-tariffs “when they are focused, when they are targeted, and more importantly, they are in place for the short term, and they are making every effort to bring our American partners back to the table and for us to return to that negotiating table so that we can find an agreement, find an agreement and move forward. And I think this is a point that everybody can agree is the end goal of everything and should be the target of everything that we do.”
Premier Moe acknowledged that while they support the countermeasures, we "also understand that they are going to harm businesses, workers, and families, not just in Canada, but also in the United States."
"It's not the course of action that we would have ever hoped for. It's not the course of action that we want to be on. But unfortunately, it is action that needs to be taken at this time."
Moe said the "best path forward for Canada and the United States of America, for Canadians and Americans, is for both of our economies to move forward with a free and fair trade agreement so that we can ensure that we have a sovereign continent. We will all have choices to make in the days and the months and hopefully not the years ahead."
"There is no roadmap for what we are currently facing in this nation or on this continent. But I would commit this government to this, that the Saskatchewan government will be listening to Saskatchewan business owners, to Saskatchewan workers, and most importantly, to the families that live here, listening and we are going to act on your behalf to make the best decision that we can in what is a very uncertain and an unprecedented time. So I will close how I started with some words from the former Prime Minister from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, with a quote, and I quote, 'one Canada, where Canadians control their own destiny.'"
