REGINA - Tariff threats, and more controversial comments from President-elect Donald Trump towards Canada this week, have gotten the attention of politicians north of the border including those in Saskatchewan.
Trump has been threatening to impose 25 per cent tariffs and has referred to Canada as the "51st State," but the rhetoric was taken up a notch Tuesday during a news conference in Florida.
During that media event, Trump did not rule out using military force for acquiring both the Panama Canal or Greenland. He then told reporters he would not use military force to annex Canada, but instead would “economic force.”
“Canada and the United States, that would really be something,” Trump said. “You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like, and it would be much better for national security - we basically protect Canada.”
Trump added the problem with Canada was “we’re spending hundreds of billions a year to protect it. He pointed to massive trade deficits, saying “we don’t need their cars, we don’t need their lumber… we don’t need anything they have.” Trump also again referred to outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “Governor Trudeau.”
His remarks prompted an outraged response from Trudeau on social media in which he posted there was not a “snowball’s chance in hell” that Canada would become the 51st State.
The Trump comments have also raised alarms at the Saskatchewan Legislature over the potential impact to Saskatchewan trade crossing the border, especially in agriculture.
When asked about Trump's threats Tuesday, Opposition Leader Carla Beck called again for a unified response. She also was critical about the timing of Trudeau’s resignation announcement on Monday.
“This chaos comes at a particularly bad time for this country, and there's a lot of frustration about the division that we see at the federal level. And there's a lot of frustration, whether that's talking with provincial leaders, whether that's talking with industry, about the federal government being focused on internal partisan squabbles instead of being focused on this big train that's headed our way, potentially devastating train that's heading our way.”
Beck was also asked about whether Premier Scott Moe had responded yet to her offer of support on the tariffs issue. Beck replied she got a Christmas message from Moe but “we haven't talked about that again.”
“The offer still stands. And it's an earnest offer of willingness to sit down and see where we could leverage relationships, common messaging. We certainly have common interests here.”
From the provincial side of things, there has not been an abundance of communication from Premier Moe in the last few days either about Trudeau’s resignation or about Trump’s latest comments towards Canada. Moe’s main focus on social media the past few days has instead focused on the equalization issue.
Moe posted on the X platform in which he pointed out the disparity: “Four provinces will get more than $3000 this year for every resident. While SK, AB and BC will get $0 per resident.”
Tuesday morning, Premier Moe did finally issue a statement on X about Trudeau's resignation, in which he reiterated his “call for an immediate election so that Canadians may choose who will represent them.”
“Suspending parliament to take months to settle who will lead the Liberal party is not giving Canadians the choice they desire or deserve.”
Moe’s statement did touch on the Trump tariff threat. He said the Saskatchewan government will “continue to work on solutions for Saskatchewan people. We are focused on addressing affordability, engaging on increased market access, investment attraction and continuing to engage with the USA on ensuring border security for those that live on either side of the border.”
Regina Mayor Chad Bachynski was also asked about Trump’s latest comments during a media event on Tuesday. He had a cautious wait-and-see response to it.
“I'll work with the governments at every level to work through anything that actually comes of statements like that,” Bachynski said
“You know, until something actually happens in terms of whatever statements are being made, we'll wait to see what actually tangibly comes out of that.”
