Thursday February 13, 2025 | NATIONAL NEWS [Posted from VICTORIA, BC]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
All 13 of Canada’s premiers traveled to the US capital his week as part of a joint mission to strengthen Canada-U.S. relations.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is Council of the Federation (COF) chair this year, with Dennis King (PEI) as Vice-Chair. The other 11 premiers are: Francois Legault (Quebec), Tim Houston (Nova Scotia), Susan Holt (New Brunswick), Wab Kinew (Manitoba), David Eby (BC), Scott Moe (Saskatchewan), Danielle Smith (Alberta), Andrew Furey (Newfoundland and Labrador), R J Simpson (Northwest Territories), Ranj Pillai (Yukon), and P J Akeeagok (Nunavut).
While in Washington DC, Ford as COF Chair, led the group who among themselves have collaborated to present a united front in their view that tariffs on Canadian goods, if implemented, would hurt workers and businesses on both sides of the border.
Canada’s premiers met with bipartisan members of Congress, and American and Canadian business leaders, says the Council of the Federation.
Canada’s Premiers were also invited to the White House — at the last minute evidently (as reported on at least two Canadian national TV reports — to meet with senior advisors (staffers) to the US president. Their media scrums outdoors afterward were clearly in cold weather conditions… a few of the premiers looking tired and cold.
BC Premier David Eby told media in Washington yesterday that he made it clear that Canada becoming a so-called “51st state” of the United States is a complete non-starter. Echoing that all the way from Europe yesterday from a meeting in Brussels, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau repeated his emphatic there is ‘no chance in hell’ that Canada will ever surrender its sovereignty to the United States.
“There were some very frank moments across the table,” said Eby in a media scrum after the meeting with two top Trump officials. “They urged us to take the president at his word and so we will certainly do that,” said Eby.
Eby, Ford and probably others were wearing lapel pins of two flags — Canada and US. Perhaps that was to impart a message of two countries working together but it may have also been interpreted as the union of the two.
No meetings with any Canadian officials were held face to face with President Trump.
High diplomacy:
The primary concern of Canada and all the premiers is economic stability between Canada and the United States, with a specific goal of seeing that tariffs are not imposed by the United States on products exported from Canada into the US.
The mission strategy is to inform and influence elected officials (of both parties) and leaders in business and labour, regarding the problems that US tariffs (and Canada’s retaliatory tariffs) would cause.
Federal Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Canada’s Ambassador to the United States, Kirsten Hillman, were also in Washington yesterday to meet with Howard Lutnick, the US President’s commerce secretary, and Kevin Hassett, top economic adviser to Trump.
LeBlanc called it “a very positive and constructive conversation” that he and Hillman had with Lutnick. He said topics like border integrity and the appointment of Canada’s Fentanyl Czar (who will be in Washington in a few days) were discussed. The “process of how they are reviewing those metrics” was presented to LeBlanc and Hillman had with Lutnick.
Long day:
TV interviews with various of the Premiers as well as LeBlanc and Hillman showed wear and tear in their faces and body language.
Not only was there cold weather to contend with in business wear outdoors but one security clearance process reportedly took at hour for elected officials that are probably not used to being corralled around at the whim of another level of government in another country.
When Ford, Moe and Legault came out to address media he said they “felt frozen” from the cold weather — dressed only in suits without winter coats — as if their trip preparation or arrangements had not been properly informed or had changed at the last minute.
Shared priorities:
“During that discussion Canada’s Premiers stressed the need to work together to avoid tariffs which would hurt workers on both sides of the border,” says the Council of the Federation in their February 12 news release.
“They also listened and learned about opportunities to work with the Trump administration to align on and achieve shared priorities, including creating jobs, growing economies and protecting communities from the impact of fentanyl and other illegal drug.,”
The Council of the Federation is comprised all 13 provincial and territorial Premiers. “Premiers work collaboratively to form closer ties, foster constructive relationships among governments, and show leadership on important issues that matter to Canadians,” says COF.
===== RELATED:
- All 13 Canadian Premiers in Washington DC on Feb 12 (February 11, 2025)
- Canada’s first-ever Fentanyl Czar is Kevin Brosseau (February 11, 2025)
- Premier Eby addresses media Feb 10 as he heads to Washington (February 10, 2025)
- BC retaliatory tariffs are suspended for now but procurement shift continues (February 3, 2025)
- BC Premier David Eby on Feb 1 US tariff announcement (February 1, 2025)
- Hillman, Champagne & Ng about their Washington trip (January 23, 2025)
- BC Premier calls Trump tariff threat ‘bizarre’, announces BC task force (January 21, 2025)
- Trudeau announces Canada’s Council on Canada-US relations (January 16, 2025)
- Canada’s Premiers to discuss tariffs on Feb 12 in Washington DC (January 10, 2025)
- NEWS SECTIONS: CANADA-USA