On Parliament Hill

Recently, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer announced the launch of the Defend Local Jobs tour.

Over the summer, Conservative Members of Parliament will be meeting with workers, businesses, and local labour groups across the country to determine how best to respond to the threat to our economy posed by U.S. tariffs.

Many Canadian families are already feeling the pinch of these tariffs, and some workers have already lost their jobs as a result.

If this trade war grows to include Canada’s auto and agricultural sectors we could see more than 160,000 jobs lost.

Justin Trudeau’s failure to secure a deal on NAFTA – and the resulting tariffs – can largely be blamed on his insistence on including, and prioritizing, chapters on climate, indigenous and gender issues as a part of the deal. While these are important issues they do not belong in a trade negotiation.

It has been clear from day one that the Prime Minister is out of his depth when it comes to international trade, thus his failure to secure any meaningful international trade deals, putting us at the mercy of American tariffs.

The Prime Minister’s failed economic approach has also left us weak and vulnerable to tariff action. He spent the cupboards bare when times were good and his refusal to compete for and attract international investment through lower taxes and less regulation means Canada is losing opportunities to strengthen and diversify its economy.

This threat has been looming for over a year, causing massive uncertainty and a turbulent investment climate. Sadly, instead of putting forward a concrete plan to deal with U.S. protectionism, Justin Trudeau failed to provide any measures in his latest Budget that would prepare the steel and aluminum industry for this possibility.

While the Liberals continue to “fumble the ball” on NAFTA, Canada’s Conservatives are listening to Canadians. With this tour we want to get the best ideas from workers, businesses and local labour groups about how Canada can best respond to this threat and protect local communities that are most vulnerable to these tariffs. Instead of dividing Canadians though identity politics, Conservatives want to bring people together to find solutions.

Conservatives will continue to stand with the steel, aluminum and auto workers, and their families, who stand to be impacted by these devastating tariffs. We will continue to defend our farmers and the supply management system, and we will continue to hold the Trudeau government to account when they don’t take action to defend local jobs.