Two major Canadian industry associations are calling for parliament to return, an election to be called and the removal of interprovincial trade barriers amid 30-day reprieve of the ever-looming 25-per-cent Trump tariffs.
In the last week both the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) and the Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses Canada (CCMBC) have called for immediate action from parliament, though all parliamentary business is on hold until Mar. 24.
Canada’s governor general, Mary Simon, granted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s request to prorogue parliament to give time for the Liberal party to choose a new leader. The leadership contest is set to end Mar. 9.
“The Governor General should never have agreed to prorogue the house basically for the Liberal party’s benefit, because there’s really no other excuse you could possibly cook up,” Catherine Swift, president of the CCMBC told True North in an interview.
“People have been saying the Trudeau government is ‘lame duck.’ I’d say dead duck at this point. They have no moral authority whatsoever. And Canadians deserve to have a say.”
She said CCMBC was against prorogation when Trudeau announced it in January. The manufacturing and business owner’s coalition also released a statement expressing its staunch opposition to a “self-destructive trade war” proposed by Canadian politicians in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats.
Its news release stated such a trade-war would cause “serious economic damage” and plunge Canada into even greater public debt.
The group also started an online petition calling on parliament to use the 30-day tariff reprieve to get back to work, fix the economy or call an election.
Swift is calling on the government to reverse a large swath of Canadian government policies, including some which started with previous governments.
“We have a mess of interprovincial trade barriers, a dysfunctional supply management system in our dairy and poultry, and so many others. We’ve hobbled our economy for years, and notably the past 10 years. But not exclusively,” She said. “We block resource projects in this country. How stupid.”
Liberal Trade Minister Mary Ng said the government would not make any concessions on the supply management front in an interview with CTV on Wednesday.
She said many of her coalition members now have properties in the U.S., and many of those who don’t are asking those with operations south of the border to allow them in on a joint venture. She said many Canadian businesses have opened up in the U.S. out of necessity to protect themselves and the jobs they provide.
“Half of our board members now have premises in the US. Ten years ago, zero did,” she said. “They just found if they wanted to stay in business, that’s something they had to do because the U.S. was a more competitive marketplace and because government isn’t anti-business like it is in Canada in many, many instances.”
She said many of her members cut back on production due to the uncertain economic climate they are facing right now.
“Our economy has been sinking for a number of years now, our standard of living, very clearly, is declining…We see our dollar declining. We see a lot of indicators as to the economic problems that have been caused,” Swift said. “But the real key is uncertainty here. Uncertainty is the bane of business. (members) don’t want to invest. They don’t know where to invest. They don’t know what’s going to happen here, and they’re not being consulted.”
She said the tariff reprieve has allowed Canada to recall parliament and reverse much of the economically disastrous policies of current and previous governments that have left Canada in a weakened financial state.
The Canadian Trucking Alliance similarly called for an end of prorogation, lifting interprovincial trade barriers, implementing measures to increase productivity and avoiding a trade war with the U.S.
“The trucking industry is experiencing cost inflation at an unsustainable rate, while revenue quality continues to decline. Carriers are shrinking fleets and workforces to survive, but customer expectations and operational demands continue to rise,” Greg Arndt, Chair of the CTA ,said in a news release.
“An already oversupplied market cannot afford further disruptions, and tariff-related policy changes will have devastating effects on our industry,” says Greg Arndt, CTA chair. “Tariffs could likely be the nail in the coffin for many fleets across Canada.”
