A day after the U.S. administration launched a global wave of tariffs, federal leaders in Canada put forward a number of new (and old) ideas to absorb a meltdown of free trade supply chains around the world.
Canada and Mexico were spared additional levies on its products, but three previous rounds of U.S. tariffs prompted Prime Minister Mark Carney to match a 25 per cent tariff on American autos.
In a speech Monday, he said Canadian workers impacted by the growing trade war would receive every dollar raised under the new measures.
Meanwhile, the campaign for the looming federal election continued, with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre saying he would remove federal taxes on Canadian manufactured vehicles.
He said waiving the GST on a qualifying $50,000 automobile would save the buyer $2,500. Poilievre also said that if his party were to win the upcoming election, it would set up a $3-billion fund for businesses hit by U.S. tariffs to keep workers employed.
Conservatives say they would green-light all oil and gas demands
Earlier this week, Poilievre said his party would commit to all five requests made by the oil and gas industry to expand their footprint in response to U.S. tariffs.
The five-point plan included declaring an “energy crisis” and using emergency powers to speed up development of key projects in the “national interest.”
Oil and gas executives also called on Ottawa to eliminate the federal government’s cap on emissions; reassess the West Coast limit on oil tankers; and perhaps most significantly, repeal the carbon levy on large industrial emitters.
“We need to get out from under America’s thumb and start building the infrastructure that is essential to sell our natural resources to new markets, bring home jobs and dollars, and make us sovereign and self-reliant to stand up to Trump from a position of strength,” said Poilievre.
“Canada’s energy sector, the experts on energy growth, have told us what we need to do. Today I am committing to meeting all of their urgent recommendations.”
Environmental groups responded with alarm. Climate Action Network Canada executive director Caroline Brouillette said many of the oil and gas companies that issued the demands are largely U.S.-owned with ties to the Trump administration.
“Time and again, the fossil fuel industry has shown that it’s not acting in the best interests of Canadians—from profiting off of the affordability crisis to failing to clean up their messes or curb their pollution,” she said in statement Tuesday.
“Their call for the federal government to declare a national energy crisis is copied straight from the MAGA playbook.”
“So why does the Conservative Party want to capitulate to their unreasonable demands, at the cost of Canada’s sovereignty, communities’ health and safety, and our climate progress?”
Polls have showed the upcoming federal election has narrowed to a two-party race pitting Carney’s Liberals against Poilievre’s Conservatives. The latest national poll carried out by Leger March 31 found the Liberals held a six-point advantage over the Conservatives if an election were held today.
In B.C., the poll found voter intention favoured the Liberals even more, with 48 per cent of voters saying they would vote for Carney’s party. That’s 10 per cent higher than the number who said they would back Poilievre and his candidates.
Victory Bonds to shore up domestic infrastructure
Despite slipping into single digit levels of support, Canada’s other parties attempted to remain politically relevant, releasing a series of new policy proposals on how to deal with U.S. tariffs.
On Thursday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh revealed his party’s plan for Canada Victory Bonds, a tax-free savings bond that would compound at an annual 3.5 per cent while raising money to build public infrastructure.
“Canadians are already taking a stand—buying local, cancelling U.S. trips and calling out Trump’s bullying,” said Singh in a statement Thursday.
“With Victory Bonds, we’re giving them another way to act—to invest directly in the fight for our economy and our future.”
The idea of a Victory Bond hails back to a First World War financial mechanism that allowed companies and individuals to loan money to their own government so it could finance the war effort.
Immensely popular, $100 million worth of bonds were issued between 1915 and 1919, and could later be redeemed with interest after five, 10 or 20 years, according to the Ontario Archives.
“The man, be rich or poor, is little to be envied, who at this supreme moment fails to bring forward his life savings for the security of his country,” read a slogan on the 1917 application for the bonds.
Instead of backing a war effort in Europe, the NDP’s plan would offer five- and 10-year bonds 0.25 per cent above a bank’s five-year GIC rate.
The bonds would be tax free if left to mature, and would be available through worker payroll deductions or over the counter, the NDP said.
The party estimates the bonds program would cost up to $80 million to manage. It estimates the cost of debt raised through the program would be higher than that raised in capital markets — about $10 million more for every $1 billion raised. The NDP argued that premium would be worth it because interest would flow directly back to Canadian households, instead of to lenders.
Also part of its Thursday announcement, the NDP said it would require federally funded projects to use 100 per cent Canadian steel, and ban U.S. companies from federal procurement projects.
“Not only will this support Canadian jobs—it will protect entire communities that depend on these industries, from Hamilton to Sault Ste. Marie to Kitimat,” Singh said.
The party would also “shield Canadian workers” from the effects of the trade war by expanding employment insurance benefits to 50 weeks at a raised benefit rate of 66 per cent. It would also remove GST on home heating and Canadian-made vehicles.
The NDP said it would also cap grocery prices on essential items like milk, bread and vegetables.
Green call for Saving Canada’s Bonds, civil defence corps
Similar ideas to revive big government nation-building institutions have come from the Green Party earlier this week. On Monday, party co-leader Jonathan Pedneault pitched a 120,000-person National Civil Defence Corps to respond to climate disasters, infrastructure protection and national security.
“The world is changing, and Canada can no longer afford to be complacent,” said Pedneault at the time. “Whether it’s wildfires forcing people from their homes, cyberattacks on our institutions, or the growing instability of Arctic geopolitics, the risks we face are real and growing.”
The idea of building regional and even national climate corps has gained traction in recent years. The modern version of the corps is influenced by the Civilian Conservation Corps of the Great Depression. Between 1933 and 1942, the U.S. program employed about three million workers to expand national parks, plant billions of trees, and build hundreds of thousands of dams and roads.
Advocates of the idea, such as the David Suzuki Foundation-backed group the Climate Emergency Unit, have called on the federal government to fund the creation of a pan-Canadian climate corps that would create 20,000 jobs with a $1-billion-a-year investment. A youth climate corps is currently being piloted in across B.C.
But the federal Green’s latest call goes further.
The program would provide universal civil defence training, and basic emergency preparedness skills, including first aid, crisis response and cybersecurity awareness. It would also provide options for advanced defence skills to carry out search-and-rescue survival techniques, tactical first aid and firearms safety.
While the plan included bolstering Canada’s military reserve forces to 20,000 members, Green co-leader Elizabeth May said it was “not a call to militarization” but “a call to readiness, community and national unity.”
On Thursday, the party expanded its platform to further answer Trump’s tariffs. Pedneault and May said Ottawa and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) need to mandate that pension funds are invested — not to get the best return in global markets — but in the Canadian economy to promote the creation of jobs and innovation.
The Green Party is also proposing the federal government issue “Saving Canada’s Bonds” so Canadians can invest in the country’s strategic resources.
— With files from the Canadian Press
