Unity among provinces and the federal government is critical in the face of the grave challenge posed by the threat of massive new import tariffs from Canada’s closest trading partner, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Wednesday following an emergency first ministers’ meeting.
The premiers met virtually Wednesday with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, along with Freeland, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc and RCMP Deputy Commissioner Mark Flynn.
The meeting came just 48 hours after U.S. president-elect Donald Trump said he will impose punishing new taxes on all Canadian and Mexican imports the same day he is sworn into office in January.
Trump said he will keep the tariffs in place until both countries move to stem the flow of illegal migrants and drugs into the United States.
“I don’t want to minimize for a moment the gravity of the challenge we now face,” Freeland told reporters on Parliament Hill, shortly after the meeting ended.
She said Canadians should have confidence that while Canada depends on the United States, “the United States also depends on us.”
She said that the way to meet the challenge successfully is by presenting a united front “especially when it comes to our conversations with our American neighbours.”
“Now is really a moment for us not to squabble amongst ourselves,” Freeland said.
She said she felt there was an agreement around the table that it was the time for “everyone to play for Team Canada” — but that unity was already being tested as Freeland spoke.
Premier Doug Ford, who chairs the premiers’ council, put out a statement following the meeting that accused the federal government of being flat-footed in the face of Trump’s threat.
He said Ontario has pushed Ottawa for months “to show that Canada understands, cares and is responsive to U.S. security and economic concerns.”
“During this evening’s meeting, I stressed that the federal government has been slow to react and is stuck on its backfoot,” said Ford, who joined the meeting from Toronto.
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“I expressed my hope that this evening’s meeting is the start of a more proactive approach from the federal government, including by showing that it takes the security of our border seriously by cracking down on illegal border crossings and stopping the transport of guns and illegal and illicit drugs like fentanyl, or risk the economic chaos of Trump tariffs.”
Earlier in the day, Ford said there was not enough funding to properly police the border.
Ford said he met with officials from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Canada Border Services Agency and Ontario Provincial Police ahead of the meeting.
LeBlanc, whose portfolio includes the Canada Border Services Agency, said the RCMP meets weekly with American law enforcement agencies including U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Drug Enforcement Agency.
LeBlanc said there are conversations about additional resources for the border, and said he would hope that no party in Parliament would block any kind of spending bill to pay for those resources.
LeBlanc was referring to the ongoing stalemate in the House of Commons as the Conservatives prevent debate on most legislation until the Liberals provide unredacted documents on allegations of misspending at a now-defunct federal green technology fund.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said that during the meeting, he discussed strengthening federal investment in the RCMP in Manitoba and law enforcement generally.
“The point that I made to the prime minister and the premiers on the call is, listen, Manitobans have long been talking about drugs being an issue in our communities. This is going back many years,” Kinew said.
“And so, what’s the downside if we invest in law enforcement and we crack down on drug trafficking here, at a time when that message might be well received in the (United States)?”
Quebec Premier François Legault said he asked Trudeau for a plan to secure the borders, but came out of the meeting without a “clear answer.”
“I clearly asked Mr. Trudeau to submit a detailed plan to better secure the borders, to avoid Mr. Trump’s 25 per cent tariff,” he said. “I didn’t get a clear answer, but we hope (for it) because there was support from other premiers as well,” he said.
He added: “I don’t think it’s time to play at, ‘Is it true or not that our borders aren’t secure.’”
In a statement issued after the meeting, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith called for the federal government and provinces bordering the United States “to take immediate steps to crack down heavily on these illegal border activities.”
“I communicated this very clearly to the prime minister, and further indicated that Alberta will be acting urgently and decisively to patrol our own shared border with Montana, with more details to be announced soon in that regard.”
The premiers had requested a meeting on Monday, before Trump issued his tariff threat.
University of Calgary economics professor Trevor Tombe authored a study this fall with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce examining what that could cost Canada. After running the numbers this week for 25 per cent tariffs, he posted on social media that it would cause a recession.
Tombe said the economy in Canada next year would shrink 2.6 per cent, or by about $2,000 per person.
Freeland said while Canada depends on the United States, the reverse is also true. The Americans are heavily dependent on Canada for oil, electricity and critical minerals and metals, she said.
“When it came to the economic relationship, we talked about the fact that trade between Canada and the United States is balanced and mutually beneficial,” Freeland said of the meeting. “That Canada is the largest market for the United States by far larger than China, Japan, the U.K. and France combined.”
Trump has pledged to cut American energy bills in half within 18 months, something that could be made harder if a 25 per cent premium is added to Canadian oil imports. In 2023, Canadian oil accounted for almost two-thirds of total U.S. oil imports and about one-fifth of the U.S. oil supply.
— With files from Morgan Lowrie in Montreal, Brenna Owen in Vancouver, Allison Jones in Toronto and Steve Lambert in Winnipeg
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