Saskatchewan Prime Minister Scott Moe says that the incoming prime minister of Canada needs to negotiate immediately and urgently a way to avoid China’s planned rates on the Canadian canola, even before an electoral call.
The designated prime minister, Mark Carney, and his cabinet will swear on Friday after his recent victory in the liberal leadership career.
Carbya is expected to call an election before Parliament resumes on March 24. If that happens, the Canadians will probably go to the surveys at the end of April or early May.
Moe said Thursday that the commitment to China must occur before any choice to ensure that the canola industry “does not leave in purgatory” during a campaign.
China has announced that it intends to put 100 percent retaliation rates on canola and canola oil food, as well as tariffs on other Canadian products such as seafood and pork, on March 20 in response to the 100 percent canada fees in electric vehicles made by Chinese and a 25 percent tax on Chinese aluminum and steel products imposed on October 1.
Moe said China’s tariffs “would decimate” the canola industry in Saskatchewan “in a matter of several weeks, not months.”
On Thursday, MOE said that Canola crushing facilities closed throughout Canada, including Saskatchewan, would be the legacy of the liberals “use” during the electoral campaign.
He said that there would be a loss of temporary work in those plants, but also an “incredible” loss of markets that would have had more impact.
“They were incredibly difficult to build in the first place and will be incredibly difficult to recover,” he said.
“So I don’t know if those works will return immediately.”
On Thursday, Moe reiterated his statement that no one in Canada is buying EV of China.
MOE said the liberal government needs to show a signal to the China Government that it is ready to negotiate and find a path to a non -tariff environment.
This week, the Minister of Innovation, François-Philippe Champagne, told CTV News that the federal government has no intention of abandoning tariffs on China.
MOE also expressed his disappointment that Carney’s first planned international visit is for the European Union.
“It is not good, not good. We do not have a commercial war with the European Union today,” said Moe, and added that Canada is in a commercial war with the two largest economies in the world and its two export markets and larger commercial partners.
“Choosing going to the European Union is beyond what I could understand as shocking or represent the Canadians,” he said.
Moe said he is urging Carney to reconsider that plan, and to commit first to the Chinese government and plan how it will be involved with the United States MOE, he said that the plan should not include export tariffs.
MOE said Champagne, Federal Finance Minister Dominic Leblanc, and Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford, were in Washington, DC, Thursday to meet with US officials about US tariffs on Canadian goods, and added that he encourages more of that type of commitment.
