The provincial government’s tariff response cabinet committee is meeting today and tomorrow at the legislature in Victoria to strategize while premiers are away in Washington D.C. to communicate the potential harms of tariffs to American business.
This comes after the U.S. issued 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.
Minister of housing and municipal affairs Ravi Kahlon, who also chairs the province’s tariff response cabinet committee, acknowledged the scale of the province’s response to trade with an international partner is a little unusual. However, he also said it was important not to give in to bullying.
He outlined some of the main ideas which premiers could be communicating down in the U.S., including that efforts to rebuild L.A. after the wildfires will demand British Columbian forest products.
“Who would have thought one day we’d wake up with a new president who decides all the sudden Canada is the number one enemy,” he said. “We don’t take threats of becoming the 51st state lightly.”
He suggested the situation is mobilizing change from government leaders and business leaders alike, but also individuals who are making different choices. For example, he described fewer British Columbian liscence plates in the state of Washington.
Kahlon spoke with Ryan Price on CFAX 1070 today: