Bay of Quinte Member of Provincial Parliament and the Shadow Minister for Trade Ryan Williams spoke to Quinte News about the ever-changing international trade landscape in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s ongoing tariff threats.
Williams said Canadians are worried and angry because suddenly they are faced with the possibility of job losses and cost increases when affordability is already a problem.
The uncomfortable situation has been made worse because no one knows what Trump’s real plans are. Williams says it’s leaving Canadians in a kind of limbo made worse by the fact that MPs are not in Ottawa.
“Limbo is also the House of Commons. We’re supposed to be back March 24 but that’s not for certain so the only way out of this is to hold an election. We need to get to the polls so that federally Canadians can decide who’s best to run this country in probably the biggest crisis we’ve had economically in our country’s history.”
Williams says President Trump does not really care about Canada, Canadians, or who’s prime minister, adding that what Trump wants is American jobs and a shining legacy for himself.
“Now what that means for Canada is because of the weak state we’ve put ourselves in with high taxes and the inability to get the things we to best out of
the ground like LNG (liquefied natural gas) and oil and some of our agriculture because we tax farmers we’ve been in a really weak state.”
Williams says it’s imperative that the provinces and the federal government work quickly to remove interprovincial trade barriers and make sure people’s qualifications and education are respected anywhere in the country to increase worker mobility, adding that new overseas markets must also be found.
“We can’t continue to rely on the U.S. to prop us up. We’ve got to really focus on building ourselves up,” said Williams.
You can hear the full interview below
