Photo: Parliament of Canada
Kelowna-Lake Country MP Tracy Gray
The prosperity and productivity of a country’s people and economy depends on businesses and investments growing, and workers having good paying jobs to support their families.
This is an urgent and timely issue affecting jobs includes tariffs, specifically tariffs for softwood lumber production, electric vehicles (EV’s), aluminum, steel, critical minerals, and other products.
The first speech I made in the House of Commons called on the federal government to immediately negotiate a softwood lumber agreement with the United States due to tariffs the U.S. imposed on Canadian lumber and job losses at the time, including job losses in my community.
The former Conservative government successfully secured an agreement softwood lumber, as well as an extension, which expired in 2015. Canada also previously filed trade complaints against the U.S. and won.
The forestry sector is especially important to British Columbians, as it provides many well-paying jobs that support families. B.C. producers exported 5.4 million cubic metres of lumber, worth $1.73 billion, to the U.S. over the first six months of 2024 alone. This is a crucial industry.
Unfortunately, after nine years of the Liberal government’s inaction, the U.S. has now nearly doubled tariffs on softwood lumber. That has increased the total tariffs to an average rate of 14.54%, up from 8.05%.
When Canadian companies pay tariffs up front, it adds substantially to immediate costs. It also adds significant uncertainty to all those employed in the forestry sector. Moreover, it creates uncertainty and adds extra costs to the construction industry, as the supply chains for lumber are integrated between our two countries.
The bottom line is those tariffs will have devastating consequences within this hugely important sector.
On electric vehicles (EVs), the government often praises its investments into the EV sector without working to secure the associated jobs. Beijing poses a real threat with cheap made-in-China EVs (and other products related to EV production) flooding our markets. That situation puts hundreds of thousands of steel, aluminum, mining and auto manufacturing jobs at risk by injecting artificially low prices from cheap made-in-China goods that outcompete domestic Canadian products.
It must be noted the regime in Beijing is only able to offer those low import costs because of it practices, which exploit poor labour, human rights and environmental standards.
To address that issue with urgency, the Trade Committee recently passed a Conservative motion to study tariffs on the unfair EV, steel, and aluminum sectors coming from China.
The U.S. escalated tariffs on those made-in-China items over the past six years and Canada was not in step with our largest trading partner. That was why Conservatives called on the government to match the U.S. tariffs to protect Canadian jobs. After much public pressure, the government announced matching the U.S. tariffs.
When the government announced funding for various billion-dollar EV projects – including the Stellantis/NextStar battery plant—it emphasized the importance of spending to secure jobs for Canadian workers. We now know that isn’t the case.
Canada’s Building Trades Union confirmed heavily subsidized battery plants in southwestern Ontario will rely on foreign replacement workers instead of Canadian workers in jobs they say their workers could do. The $44 billion being spent on already-profitable corporations is not delivering the jobs promised to Canadians by the federal government.
Liberal and NDP Members of Parliament tried to block Conservative efforts to produce the details of these battery plant contracts, which we now know show the extent to which foreign workers are being used.
The astounding lack of transparency on this issue should concern all Canadians. We need to ensure that Canadians’ tax dollars are used wisely, and that taxpayer-funded jobs are given to Canadians.
I’d like to hear from you:
Are you concerned about these current issues affecting jobs and workers?
Please reach out to 250-470-5075 or [email protected] if have any thoughts to share – on this issue or others – or if you need assistance with any federal programs.
Tracy Gray is the Conservative MP for Kelowna-Lake Country.
This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
