Tuesday January 7, 2025 | VICTORIA, BC [Posted at 11 am | Updated at 3:15 pm]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
BC will have a three-pronged approach to dealing with the threat of tariffs from the United States.
Identifying the US president-elect as the source of the tariff challenge, Eby said that BC will continue working with employers, business and labour — bringing people together to make sure there is a “unified BC response”.
“I’ve also been engaging with my counterparts south of the border as have I know businesses in the province. Our response will have three key components,” Eby said today.
Premier David Eby outlined three key components to the BC strategy:
- To support federal government discussions and evaluations of retaliatory tariffs;
- Ensuring that our province, our economy, is adapting to the new realities for expedited permitting, through necessary response work that we were already initiating in the response to forestry and the impacts on that sector, as well as permitting times to make sure we are adapting – permits, response (forestry);
- Diversifying our trade partners, making make sure we’re in a position to respond to replace US customers that we may lose for our exports as a result of the tariffs.
Premiers meeting this week:
Premiers from across Canada are building a coordinated approach to the tariff response. Premiers together as the Council of the Federation will meet soon on that front said Eby. Eby called that “a unified Canadian response”.
Update at 3:15 pm: Premiers will meet in person with the Prime Minister in Ottawa on Wednesday January 15.
Eby will also be going to Washington, DC along with other Canadian premiers on a lobby mission — to meet with leadership counterparts to discuss tariffs which he identified as “government in the United States as well as governors”. He did not confirm or deny that his visit to the US capital would be for the January 20 inauguration.
Back on December 13, Eby said that ‘nothing is off the table’ with regard to protecting BC from the impact of US tariffs including the threat of electricity sale impacts. Today he noted that BC electricity helps light up cities in American states to the south of BC.
As Trudeau moves on:
Yesterday Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he will resign from that office once a new Liberal party leader is chosen. Meanwhile, he will be working on Canada-US relations as a priority, it was indicated yesterday.
Trudeau met with Canada’s premiers back on November 27 through a Zoom call to discuss border and tariff issues.
Eby thanked Prime Minister Trudeau for his service to Canada over his time as prime minister without doubt there were moments of frustration that I’m sure went in both directions.
“But we got some big things done together,” said Eby, noting child care in particular and that Trudeau “got the country through a global pandemic”.
Eby said today that promised federal money is awaited before projects proceed. “We don’t count on federal money until it’s in the bank,” Eby told media today.
===== RELATED:
- Significant interest rate drop needed on Jan 29 (January 6, 2025)
- Canada’s Premiers prioritize Canada-US relations, energy security and improving health care (December 16, 2024)
- ‘Nothing is off the table’ says Premier Eby regarding US tariff threat (December 13, 2024)
- Canada’s Premiers discuss border & tariffs with Trudeau (November 27, 2024)
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