Trudeau talks trade with local ‘Team Canada’

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This article was published 16/02/2024 (685 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is calling upon Manitoba business leaders to remind their American clients of Canada’s importance in the lead-up to the United States presidential election.

Trudeau sat down for an hour-long conversation Friday, hosted by the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. Business executives and association leads filled seats during the event at the downtown Winnipeg Art Gallery.

“I am deputizing all of you at the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce to be part of Team Canada,” Trudeau told the crowd.

Manitoba businesses have a role in reminding southern partners and clients how their work links to U.S. jobs and economic opportunities, he said.

“That’s what we’re going to have to do — in thoughtful, careful ways — but in very active ways over the coming months, so that Canada doesn’t become either a controversial point in the U.S. election or a target that some people decide to go at.”

The presidential election is slated for Nov. 5. It is shaping up to be a rematch between President Joe Biden (Democrat) and former president Donald Trump (Republican).

Campaign season will bring flared tensions and talks about “borders and America first and protectionism,” Trudeau stated.

The U.S. is Manitoba’s No. 1 agri-food trade partner, a 2023 provincial government analysis shows. The country made up 46 per cent of Manitoba’s agri-food exports and 86 per cent of its imports from 2012 to 2022.

Canada is Kentucky’s largest export destination, Trudeau said Friday.

He called out the “American lumber lobby,” saying Americans pay too much for their homes because of tariffs on Canadian lumber.

When former president Barack Obama visited Winnipeg in 2019, he commented on Canada’s continuous lumber talks as not something the U.S. cares about.

“I’m going to continue to talk about this because it makes no sense,” Trudeau declared Friday, adding a change to the tariff would be a win-win for both countries.

Canada also needs to improve on interprovincial trade, Trudeau added.

“We have… (easier trade) between Canada and Europe than we have between one Canadian province and the next Canadian province,” he said. “That just makes no sense.”

The Liberal prime minister pointed a finger at the provinces, saying Ottawa has eliminated nearly every federal responsibility causing interprovincial trade barriers. Job certification differences between provinces should be looked at, Trudeau continued.

Among the topics Friday, chamber president Loren Remillard asked the prime minister about overdue Canada Emergency Business Account loans.

A national poll by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce found 15 per cent of small businesses don’t expect to be able to pay back their COVID-19 pandemic-era CEBA loans. (The poll took place in 2023’s final quarter.)

More than 80 per cent of 898,271 businesses have repaid their loans, Trudeau responded.

The latter 20 per cent have another three years to repay in full; some have until March 28 for partial loan forgiveness because they’ve refinanced through their banks.

“At one point, we have to look at saying, ‘OK, emergency is right in the name (of the loan), the emergency of the acute phase of the pandemic is over,’” Trudeau said. “We have to look at other ways of moving forward.”

He noted pressures such as inflation linger from the pandemic. The best way to help business is to solve the affordability crisis, the prime minister contended.

After the talk, Remillard told reporters he brought up CEBA because businesses are still struggling.

“It needs to be an ongoing conversation,” he said. “How do we especially support (businesses) when they encounter situations like a pandemic?

“All this good work (of CEBA), let’s not waste it when we’re so close to the finish line.”

Remillard also questioned Trudeau about Canada’s immigration strategy. The country seeks to accept 485,000 immigrants in 2024; last year, it accepted some two million temporary immigrants, including workers and international students.

The influx matched what Canada can absorb to grow communities, Trudeau maintained.

Still, Winnipeg “will see a little bit of a decline… over the next couple of years” in the influx of international students, he said.

In January, the Liberal government announced 360,000 approved study permits for 2024, a 35 per cent decrease from the year prior. Ontario will almost halve its number of international students, Trudeau noted.

The prime minister cited increases in mental health distress and suicide among international students, and an “increasing numbers of fake diploma mills” drawing people from abroad.

“Our measures on international students are first and foremost about getting the situation under control so that young people we bring in… are properly taken care of,” Trudeau told the crowd. “That wasn’t happening.”

Immigration remains a “huge advantage,” he added.

During the talk, Trudeau promoted economic reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and noted Ottawa “should be encouraging” more green procurement policies within its operations.

He described working with Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew and Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham as a “breath of fresh air.” (On Thursday, Trudeau and Kinew announced the signing of a $633-million health-care funding agreement.)

That statement was something Remillard applauded.

“One of the great takeaways for me was the power of alignment between governments,” he said. “I think… the history of our community, for far too long, has been a disjointed approach between municipal, provincial and federal government.”

About 250 Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce members attended the Friday event.

Outside the WAG, a pro-Palestinian group was protesting Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com