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Tempered and not as bad as what some other countries are facing: BC Premier reacts to tariffs
Apr 4, 2025
I think like all British Columbians and frankly, like all Canadians, you get whiplash if you follow president's every announcement as source of direction. So the feeling that we have today, OK, well, it's not as bad as what some other countries are facing right now.
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um we uh have uh obviously had an eventful 24 hours as a country and
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certainly as a province and uh I expect that that uncertainty and continued
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announcements from the president uh will continue um I did want to uh uh say that
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I am uh glad to see a shift in uh in how the president's talking about Canada uh
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how he's talking about our prime minister uh and I'm hopeful that this new constructive relationship that
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appears to be evolving between the prime minister and the president uh means some stability and ultimately uh grounds to
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sit down like adults and come to agreement on how our two countries can work together to increase prosperity for
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everyone um British Columbia stands together with
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Canadians across the country that are affected by the president's uh tariffs
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and particularly I think about people who work in the automotive sector and particularly in Ontario right now are already facing
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layoffs as well as we stand with the Americans who work at automotive plants that are also seeing layoffs today these
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tariffs are terrible policy so American families are going to see dramatic increases in literally everything that
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they buy at the store in terms of the cost that was already too high for so many families and as they face layoffs
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and see the contraction of their economy and the stock market continue to drop
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um one of the messages that we have for the American people and and that uh I
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know British Columbians uh that we all carry this in our hearts is uh is uh we
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we do better together and uh we supported each other for many many years and bad decisions out of the White House
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by one person do not affect that relationship that we have with Americans and vice
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versa um I uh I will be meeting with the uh prime minister uh in the coming days
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he's going to be coming out to British Columbia i look forward to that visit uh to talk about the issues that we're facing here particularly in our softwood
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sector uh tomorrow I'll be in Prince George uh meeting with forest industry
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representatives uh my concern uh is that the president has committed uh to
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targeting our softwood lumber industry even more than the Americans already have with their unfair duties on our
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products it's going to drive up the cost of housing in the States it's going to cost jobs south of the border and in
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British Columbia and we're going to stand together with those workers in that sector to make sure that they're
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supported as well as with that industry to make sure that uh that we get through this and part of the effort will be
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around diversification other markets and uh part of it will be about supporting uh industry and workers directly uh with
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programs to facilitate them moving into products and diversification across Canada that will uh enable us to head
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off some of the worst impacts of these tariffs um with that I'd like
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to open it up for questions and uh look forward to the discussion we're about to have good afternoon a reminder to media
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on the line to press star one to enter the queue we will start with questions on the ground we have global news
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Richard Sisman premier are you largely optimistic that the forestry sector the
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natural gas sector has dodged a bullet here from what we saw yesterday and can
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you talk to us about what was discussed this morning on BC's behalf when meeting
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with the prime minister and we just learned you're going to see him next week you know what should people read
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into this meeting with the PM you met with Jugnit Singh as well this week what
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should people read into this conversation that you'll be having with the prime minister next week um well I
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think like all British Columbombians and frankly like all Canadians um you'd get whiplash if uh if you followed uh the
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president's every announcement uh as a source of direction um so the the
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feeling that we have today okay well it's not as bad as uh as what some other countries are facing right now um is uh
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is tempered by two things one is the fact that what we're already facing is quite devastating for many sectors in
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British Columbia uh including our softwood sector our aluminum uh producers
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uh and uh and other tariffs uh that affect our seafood producers uh that are coming from China as as collateral
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damage in this uh in this increasingly global trade war um and the other thing that tempers any
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kind of feeling of relief uh for me anyway is the fact that you know two hours from now on Truth Social the
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president's going to put up another tweet about whatever uh and uh and undo any sort of sense of security that we
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might have that he's going to wait until after the election negotiate an agreement like Canada and the US always
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have done um so that uh that was a
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two-part message for the prime minister uh this morning uh one was uh to congratulate him on uh on what appears
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to be uh a deescalation for now with the president i'm grateful for that um and
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uh the uh the second is that we can't trust it um we need to uh work with our
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allies internationally uh the president has attacked the entire world at the same time uh and this does create an
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opportunity for us to deepen our relationship to deepen our trading relationship our security relationship with countries that value fair trade
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with uh countries that value democracy and uh and that share our values as
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Canadians and so uh when the prime minister comes to visit um we're going
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to continue that conversation but also it's important for the prime minister to understand the unique impacts of the
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president's actions on British Columbia um the uh the risk always uh with prime
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ministers and with federal parties is they get trapped in Ontario uh they're in Ontario all the time they're in
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Ottawa they're beside Quebec uh literally just over a bridge uh and they
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forget about the West and so my message to the prime minister will be uh that you have to be on top of issues in
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Western Canada and in British Columbia and uh and your response whether to support workers or industries or
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whatever it is uh needs to include British Columbia so I'm glad he's coming and I look forward to our visit back to
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Richard for a follow-up on that point preston Manning wrote an op-ed that was published today uh calling for greater
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conversation in this country about in essence what would be western separation
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he says the movement is grown at Alberta and Saskatchewan but there could be a sense of that in British Columbia and
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Manitoba do you feel any of that sense of isolationism here in BC and a
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detachment away from what's happening in the rest of the country yeah I saw that op-ed uh to say that I was deeply
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disappointed in a moment of national unity when uh premers regardless of
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political stripe are reaching out across the country to work together that Canadians are joining hands uh I've
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never seen the level of Canadian patriotism in British Columbia that I've seen right now or or even from Canadians
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it's so inspiring uh we're all singing the national anthem loud we're buying Canadian products to have an op-ed at
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this moment that says that the path forward is to break up the country uh which is what he said uh is uh is
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completely uh bizarre it reflects the perspective of an MLA in our own legislature who approvingly tweeted out
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a graphic showing uh Western Canada separation that he advocated we should
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become a protectorate of the United States the MLA for Shushwap Salmon um I
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I just can't fathom that mindset uh in this moment where we're all coming together to try to rip the country apart
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drive divisions um we need to stick together to be successful as Canadians uh if we're going to stand on our own
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two feet we got to stand together and uh and I hope that uh Mr manning
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reconsiders uh his uh his reintroduction into Canadian political life uh with this
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particular proposal i hope that that MLA from shoe swap uh reconsiders advocacy
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for us to become a protectorate of the United States um we're not Guam uh we
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are a proud amazing province uh we are a proud amazing country and we're going to
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stand on our own two feet and uh and we're going to grow our economy and uh we will do it uh not despite uh the
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United States but in fact uh because it's something we should have done a long time ago
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next we'll take a question from Rob Shaw Czech News uh Premier with two credit
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rating downgrades uh to what extent is our um poor financial situation as a
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province affecting your ability to respond to the tariffs and the province's ability to respond to weather
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the sort of uh economic global roller coaster that we're seeing now in response to yesterday yeah I've noted uh
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the uh concerns of these uh credit rating agencies which are uh concerns that I share you know the impact of the
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tariffs on British Columbia the impact of federal immigration policy swings from one extreme to another on our
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economy here in British Columbia i mean as just one example you know our provincial nominee program this is a
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province provinces program where we can sponsor Canadian citizens uh was cut to about 40% of uh of what it normally is
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the impact of this is at a moment when American leading uh business people
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researchers uh investors are uh and key workers with
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skills that we desperately need from medicine to construction uh are looking for somewhere to go uh we're unable to
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offer them a space here right now that affects our economy's ability to grow that affects our ability to uh to be
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prosperous here in the province and it's rightly noted as a headwind for us by these credit rating agencies the other
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piece is uh we have a significant deficit uh we have committed to protect
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frontline services for British Columbombians to build hospitals to build schools we're doing that work we
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need that to be strong in British Columbia uh and also uh we need a path to return to balance that's why the
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finance minister has been doing the work uh and uh and we're doing a review of all of our programs to reduce spending
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in the provincial government on administration on things that don't deliver those frontline services on old programs that no longer meet the moment
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and ensure that we're using every tax dollar wisely uh we are financially uh
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in uh one of the best positions in Canada in terms of provinces in terms of our debt to GDP ratio in terms of our
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unemployment rate in terms of our economic growth um but there are significant headwinds that we face here in BC uh fortunately they are less than
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the headwinds faced by some other provinces um but I take little comfort from that because the tariffs could be quite devastating here follow-up
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question for Rob Shaw uh the federal NDP today proposed the return of victory
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bonds to help governments raise money they could use to fight the American tariffs i haven't seen those since the
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Second World War you use a lot of wartime metaphors do you see any value is there any provincial interest in you
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know whipping up the patriotism people feel to give the province money for promised returns that help you in the
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financial situation you're in now weather the economic storm um well I know that British Columbians are looking
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for ways uh that they can send a message that they can participate uh in uh in
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ensuring that we're standing up to the United States particularly the president uh that we're supporting BC business um
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there are all kinds of ways that British Columbombians can do that um for those that are uh that are wealthier they can
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invest in supporting and growing BC businesses uh and uh right now a lot of
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businesses uh need that capital support because some of the banks are saying "Look you know we're not going to lend right now till we know where all this
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tariff stuff is going to end." Um you can buy uh just in terms of your daily
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actions and I know so many British Columbombians are because I see it in action i talked to people at the grocery store they're buying Canadian they're
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buying BC products they're supporting BC firms and we've got a bill that just passed second reading in the legislature government's doing the same thing um in
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terms of uh of issuing bonds uh uh victory bonds or or anything else uh one
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of the areas that we are looking at uh uh in terms of asking British Columbians to support to deal with challenges that
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we face uh is around uh housing we have a a very innovative affordable
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middle-income housing program in Vancouver uh involving uh about 1,800
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units where there's a second mortgage held uh by the provincial government to make the units more affordable to
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first-time home buyers and to home buyers that might not otherwise be able to get into the market uh and once we
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prove out that model uh we'll be looking to uh foundations and other uh investors
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uh who are interested in uh helping British Columbia respond to the housing crisis uh earn a return uh much like
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what a victory bond would be but it's not related to the tariffs it's related to affordable housing next we have a question from Katie D rosa CBC premier
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with BC really um not having significant tariffs imposed by uh the US the
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Conservatives are saying we don't need Bill 7 uh do you agree with that and and why have the hypothetical charge on US
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trucks if we don't foresee that happening so it's uh I mean the the Conservatives
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have never been in favor of Bill 7 bill 7 does three things one it liberalizes trade across the country it is the most
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aggressive uh legislation introduced yet by a province in Canada to get rid of internal trade barriers we're at the
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front of that fight uh we want BC businesses to trade across Canada we want British Columbombians to access goods from other provinces without
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restriction uh the second thing it does is buy BC for government buy Canadian buy anything but American uh it ensures
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that we are uh responding to just like families are at home uh that government is using tax dollars to support uh
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Canadian businesses first and the third piece is this uh ability for us to put a charge on uh trucks going from
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Washington state to Alaska and uh and I know um that is an aggressive thing it's
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not something that we want to use uh but we want to ensure that those uh Republican politicians in Alaska are uh
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plugged in to the reality that I know they are but that they have an extra motivation uh to speak out to the
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president to stand up strong and say these tariffs are not a good idea and uh it's not cuz we don't like Alaskans in
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fact we like them very much uh they're friends and family and we've worked together on projects of national significance including the Alaska
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Highway and we're going to continue to do that work but if you if you if you don't have the tools to respond to a
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bully if you don't stand up to the bully uh then the bully only comes back for more and the bully is not the people of
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Alaska it's not the people of the United States it's the president of the United States we got to stand up strong we're showing good results so far from our
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work uh there's been a motion passed uh in uh the United States that uh decries
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uh the tariffs being placed on Canada and the annexation threats to our country uh and we got to keep going uh
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in terms of our push now is not the time to stop it's a bizarre suggestion to Katie for a followup i mean in the last
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several weeks a lot of the measures that the NDP have taken have been you know just justified because of what Trump is
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doing in in removing these tariffs or softening them on Canada have you a foil
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um yeah I guess um I'm I'm not sure that I agree with the Conservatives that uh
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that the issue has gone away the president is currently doing a national security investigation into our softwood
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lumber industry in the province um the goal of that is to put additional
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punitive tariffs and shut down one of the foundational industries of this province uh he has put a 25% tariff on
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aluminum and steel uh we have a massive aluminum smelter uh in Kamat British
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Columbia uh those workers their jobs are directly implicated by that and it's not
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the biggest part of our economy but we sell hund00 million of auto parts uh out of British Columbia here uh that are
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potentially subject to an up to 25% tariff uh effective at midnight all
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everyone still including companies like Stalantis still trying to figure out uh what is in and what is out but we are
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under attack by the president and uh and the what is required here uh is ensuring
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that we're standing up for all of these sectors all of these workers in our province and we're going to continue to do that and the other thing is uh if you
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don't like what President Trump says you just wait an hour uh if you like what he says uh maybe wait an hour uh before
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holding the Victory Party next we have a question from CTV rob Buffam hi Premier just wanted to confirm
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or clarify from your comments is it your expectation that softwood lumber will indeed be subject to additional tariffs
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apart from the 14.5% duties that are going up that they'll be subject to additional Trump tariffs and I'm also
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wondering does BC need to do more in light of what you've said about we can't be complacent we I assume we're keeping
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the booze off the shelves the American alcohol do we need to do more yes um the short answer to your second question is
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yes we need to do more uh we've been working with the business community with indigenous leadership and uh and uh
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labor leadership uh they have identified some key uh initiatives uh that they're recommending to us uh we are currently
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undertaking the work around uh evaluating those uh for potential implementation uh we uh the work uh
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that's ahead is harder work uh it's about growing our economy uh it's about uh uh getting rid of those internal
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trade barriers uh it's about uh getting projects approved and shovels in the ground uh to ensure that we're able to
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weather this uh it's not as straightforward as taking the Jack Daniels off the liquor store shelf um
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but we've got to do that work and uh and we're going to do more uh the reasons why I'm anxious about softwood uh
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there's three reasons one is the president himself has said uh we don't need any Canadian lumber uh we've got
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everything we need here uh we don't need to buy a single stick of lumber from Canada the second is he's launched a
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national security a ludicrous national security investigation into our timber practices here uh in order to impose
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additional tariffs under his emergency national security authorities without going to Congress the third is that uh
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Howard Letic uh and uh the uh the key representative uh to uh the president on
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the trade file has indicated repeatedly that uh timber lumber softwood uh is a
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key concern of the presidents and an industry that he intends to target and I take Mr lutnik very seriously at that
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threat um so for multiple reasons I'm anxious about the sector which is already reeling from record high tariffs
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uh softwood lumber duties that have been imposed and uh and the Americans obviously threatening to put even more on uh I don't know how you explain that
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to somebody who's trying to uh build a renovation or rebuild their home or buy a first home while you're doing that to
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the price of lumber in the United States um but for me and British Columbia and Canada uh we've got to support that
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sector and ensure that we're doing all we can to uh just to ensure it survives uh so that it can get to uh uh the
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realization on the American side that they actually do need Canadian lumber uh and uh that it helps keep costs down for
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people uh we just got to make it through that period uh for sanity to prevail follow up with Rob Buffam yeah just
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wondering if you can share with us a little bit about what the tone was like at this morning's uh virtual meeting with the other premers and Mark Carney
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including you know was there some I don't know complimentary comments to Mark Carney he's been called prime
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minister not governor the tone seems to have shifted significantly in the last few weeks yeah on the phone call this
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morning I congratulated the prime minister i uh I do think he has succeeded in shifting the tone with the president i hope it continues uh and uh
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and I encouraged him to be uh to be cautious in uh and uh and I'm sure he will be in rolling out the victory uh
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banner and the fact that we've been not been hit with as draconian tariffs as some other jurisdictions um the uh the I
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guess the tone on the calls is always uncertainty we're all uh waiting for the next tweet we're waiting for the next
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announcement um and uh and also um you know concern for the workers that are
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already seeing the impacts uh in our provinces and territories uh to make sure that the federal government
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collecting those duties uh are ensuring that they're delivered effectively to support workers and businesses um in uh
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in response to the American actions next we have a question from Alec Lenby Vancouver Sun hi Premier there's been
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some scrambling around Bill 7 over the past couple days i know you announced before the house resumed that uh uh
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section 4 of the bill would be scrapped um there was some confusion around the amendments yesterday on the bill and
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when they were coming in how that was going to be handled and then today we saw the conservatives uh scramble around
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second reading of the bill um and not have enough speakers uh put up to
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continue speaking to that bill i just what are the comments that you have around first of all the amendments how
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that process was handled and then second of all second reading today yeah I think um you know for this bill that gives us
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essential tools to buy BC to liberalize trade across the country uh and to uh
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have an additional tool in responding to the American threats that we're facing uh I think there's broad support from
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British Columbombians for us to uh take these actions uh the uh bill passed
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second reading today glad to see it um and it'll go to committee stage and uh
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the Conservatives will be able to ask all the questions they want but if you've got conservative MLAs that are
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advocating that British Columbia become a protectorate of the United States um
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you can understand why uh we might be having different opinions about whether or not this bill is needed about whether
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or not this bill is the right step um we just have fundamentally different views
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uh I don't believe that British Columbia should become a protectorate of the United States um I believe we should be
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part of a united country of Canada and uh I don't believe that Donald Trump has any justification for these tariffs and
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there is never a moment when I wouldn't stand to vote against uh the actions the president has taken and yet five
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conservatives failed to stand against those actions the president has taken and so I take everything that the
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conservatives say with a bit of grain of salt when it comes to this legislation follow from Alec um former BC United
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Emila Curran Kurt Patrick has uh registered a new center BC party with Elections BC i was just wondering your
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comments on that and what that possibly means for uh provincial politics moving forward uh you know I wish uh I wish her
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the best of luck uh in terms of her uh her new initiative uh the uh former BC
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Liberal Party is fracturing into multiple parts these days uh I guess we'll see where everything lands
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next we have a question wolf Gang Decker Black Press yeah hi good afternoon thank you for my question um earlier you said
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uh that your government is considering additional initiatives on top of some of the measures already introduced such as
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rem excuse me such as removing the alcohol um how do you plan to bring in those measures uh by way of legislation
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or assuming passage of bill 7 uh will you use bill 7 to bring in those measures thank you uh thanks Wolf so
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there there are some measures in terms of growing our economy and internal trade that if uh this bill our tariff
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response bill uh ultimately passes the legislature uh that will be brought into force by regulation uh the uh internal
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trade provisions of the bill enable us to move very quickly uh to remove internal trade barriers to recognize
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other jurisdictions in Canada uh that have also recognized our products as being good uh for them just like we
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think their products are good for us uh and so we'll be able to move quickly through regulation but it will still
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have to uh come to the legislature uh at the end within a year uh in order to be
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made permanent uh so we want to be able to act quickly but we also understand recognize and support the idea that
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those need to be debated by the legislature and ultimately passed into law um and so uh any other measure other
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than the uh toll potentially for vehicles going from Washington state to Alaska uh would require additional
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legislative uh authority uh to the best of my knowledge there may be uh some kind of action we can take without it
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like uh like we did with liquor we didn't require legislation to do that um but uh but to the best of my knowledge
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any additional measures would require some form of legislation to wolf for a follow-up okay so yes to the use of bill
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7 then uh regarding uh the internal uh sorry the interprovincial trade
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provisions earlier you talked about those measures being the most aggressive uh but Peter Millibar today pointed out
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pointed out a number of loopholes in that uh in that legislation in that aspect of the bill so how can you
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reconcile uh some of the your claim as well as the criticism from from the opposition thank you yeah you know Mr
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bill Malibar doesn't support the bill that's his prerogative um I uh I don't
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understand the conservative position these days uh on many different issues but that's not a surprise either they're
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a different party they have different perspectives uh but what I can say is the bill does a couple fundamental
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things it allows us to recognize without condition other provinces rules around
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uh service services around professions around goods as good enough for British Columbia it uh creates the space for us
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to say uh there may be uh limited exceptions to that recognition and the the best example I can give and I think
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it's a good one is dental hygienists in Alberta can uh can administer anesthesia
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uh they can't in British Columbia and so for British Columbian hygienist to go to Alberta they need to have that
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additional skill set we've got requirements like that there are slight differences between provinces like that where we have to put those exemptions
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into place um but uh but this is very uh I mean in terms of the historic internal
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trade conversation that's a very aggressive uh set of provisions it doesn't even require that the other juris like Nova Scotia's bill requires
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that we recognize Nova Scotia before they'll recognize us uh our bill does not have that kind of provision in it uh
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we can unilaterally recognize another province's standards is good enough for British Columbia uh even if they don't
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uh recognize our authorities so uh so we think it's pretty good provision he doesn't like it but they voted against
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this bill consistently and uh and uh and they'll have to explain that to their constituents we'll now go to the phone
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lines for our last question and followup we have Chuck Chain Canadian Press
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uh thank you very much Premier um even though um Canada appears to have dodged the bullet so to speak with the uh
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latest Trump tariffs um the prime minister has mentioned that uh the the
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tariffs on other countries uh could fundamentally change the global trading system to the detriment of Canada i was
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wondering if you have any insights on whether some of these tariffs on other countries other markets may have detrimental knock-on effects on BC as
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whether the province is preparing anything to address those concerns yes uh the uh prime minister has been
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clear that he'll be vigilant around uh the issue of product dumping and and basically what that means is you got a
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lowcost jurisdiction that was expecting to sell a bunch of let's say tires uh to the United States uh there's tire
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manufacturing that takes place in some provinces in Canada uh all of a sudden a whole bunch of tires come in from a
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jurisdiction uh at uh at cut market prices uh that destroys uh the market
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for Canadian tires uh and uh and causes those factories to close and then once
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they're closed the price goes up and it not only goes up past the original cost for Canadians but it goes up uh to an
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even higher cost that Canadians can't afford and we don't have any way to respond because we don't have any factories left so that's why uh uh
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governments uh at the federal level uh police dumping i think that's the great anxiety a lot of products that were
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headed for the United States uh being redirected to Canada you get a temporarily low price but then you pay
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for it down the road uh so I know the federal government's engaged on that issue they're monitoring carefully and uh we support them in that final
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followup Chuck uh thank you very much and Premier again back to Mr is um editorial um you
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mentioned the the need for a team Canada approach more than ever you know at the same time we uh this week we've seen
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Alberta's premier Daniel Smith write a letter to the Quebec premier while ago about possibly possibly pushing for
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greater provincial autonomy i was hoping to get your reaction on that and also whether whether or not a deeper uh
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collaboration in terms of uh King Canada is possible with these type of developments happening in the background
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within provinces thank you yeah thanks i I mean I don't think there's a there's a premier in Confederation that doesn't
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look at the deal that Quebec has and think gosh that'd be nice um you know Quebec gets uh $13 billion in
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equalization payments uh from uh from the rest of Canada uh they control their
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own immigration system uh they have a a special level of consideration from the
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federal government that the rest of us uh uh can only look on and admire um the
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uh the uh challenge I think for those of us in Western Canada and I can't speak for uh Premier Smith but what I can say
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for myself is uh we we are in British Columbia we're just looking for a fair deal we're looking for a per capita
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share anything that Quebec or Ontario gets uh we just want a per capita share for British Columbombians uh and uh and
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we want that same space at the table i've had reassurances from the prime minister uh that that's front of mind
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for him i know that uh that the leader of the Conservative Party federally is committed to that i know that the leader
30:06
of the NDP party federally is committed to that so I'm hopeful that whoever becomes prime minister at the end of
30:12
this election cycle uh ensures that British Columbia is at the table in a meaningful way uh and uh and that our
30:18
voice is heard and uh and if the feds want to give us increased autonomy over immigration we would certainly welcome
30:23
it because it has not been handled well to date that's all we have time for today thank you everyone and have a
30:28
great day thank you
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