West Vancouver–Sunshine Coast–Sea to Sky Country MP Patrick Weiler says his Liberal government aims to “make our country more resilient.”
Weiler teamed up this week with the Squamish Chamber of Commerce to talk about all things tariffs.
On March 12, Weiler, alongside government relations and public affairs principal Megan Veck, hosted a townhall meeting at the Squamish Adventure Centre to answer any burning community concerns around the tariffs and trade war.
The tariffs and what they mean for 小蓝视频 and Squamish
Weiler said to the approximately 20 residents and business owners that were gathered in the theatre room at the Adventure Centre that the focus has been to avoid U.S. tariffs being imposed.
“Canada's main approach here is, Number 1, to try to avoid any tariffs being brought into place. Number 2, if tariffs do come into place, to have a strong plan to respond to them,” he said.
“Then the last thing is, as much as possible, to make our country more resilient by increasing opportunities for trade within Canada, as well as to take advantage of free trade agreements that we have with 50 other countries.”
Weiler said he believes U.S. President Donald Trump initiated the tariffs against Canada to get businesses to set up across the border.
“Tariffs are harmful for both countries, but by bringing the threat of tariffs, it is actually a really effective tool for the U.S. to cause uncertainty in Canada,” he said.
“Because there are so many businesses that, in Canada, rely on exporting to the U.S. [so] by creating this uncertainty of access to this market, it actually creates an incentive for those Canadian companies to establish operations in the U.S.—which, in my view, is actually the main intent behind all of this.”
He also acknowledged that even as a politician, he too finds it hard to keep up with the constant tariff changes.
“It is hard to follow because one day there'll be tariffs, the next day there'll be less tariffs, the next day there'll be no tariffs,” he said talking about Trump’s tariff indecisions.
“The reason for tariffs some days is fentanyl, some days it's trying to deal with trade imbalances, the next day, it's about on-shoring so I have a hard time following it as well.”
On Feb. 1, Trump signed orders to impose and 10% tariffs on energy exports from Canada imported into the U.S.
These were put on hold for one month while the countries entered into negotiations, but came into full effect on March 4.
In retaliation, the Government of Canada imposed in goods imported from the United States on March 4.
These items include alcohol, peanut butter, orange juice, appliances and motorcycles.
On March 12, the U.S. imposed tariffs of 25% on Canadian steel and aluminum products.
In retaliation again, on March 13, the Canadian Government imposed 25% tariffs on including candles, golf clubs, tableware, iron, steel and aluminum sheets, stoves, and furniture.
“Our main focus with tariffs is that they're going to have the maximum impact upon the U.S. and have the minimal impacts on Canadians, including Canadian businesses,” Weiler said.
On how to deal with Trump
The only way to deal with a bully, is to stand up to him, says Weiler.
“You have to stand up to a bully. I think that's the key, and that's why we've committed to bringing in dollar for dollar response to the tariffs,” he said.
“Because we're being bullied, we're being tariffed and Trump's talking about Canada being the 51st state. If we succumb to those things, it's just going to encourage more and more of that behaviour to happen. So, you know, Canada needs to stand strong.”
He said that Canadians have come together across the country with the federal government working with both provincial and municipal governments—even Quebec.
“You're even seeing the sovereignty movement in Quebec really take a back seat and Quebecers coming out in support of Canada, which, to me, has been something I haven't seen in my lifetime,” Weiler said.
“So we need to come together, and we're going to need to be willing to withstand some economic harm.”
Weiler took a moment to remind guests that “Trump is not forever, it’s four years.”
For business owners
As a way to help business owners to make it through the trade war, Weiler mentioned three financing tools available.
- Trade Impact Program
- loans for businesses in sectors directly targeted by tariffs
- financing to reduce financial barriers for the Canadian agriculture and food industry
He also noted that the government has introduced temporary flexibilities to the .
“If you're facing a slowdown because of tariffs, this will allow you to reduce the hours of your employees and have support from the federal government for essentially, for them being on EI half the time and working for you half the time, or somewhere in between,” he said.
Weiler said businesses could also get remission for items—not having to pay the tariffs—if they meet a select criteria.
“It has to be for a product that is not available within Canada, with the exception of very exceptional circumstances where it would have major impacts on the Canadian economy, which is a more case by case study,” he said.
“If there are goods that you need from the U.S. for building housing, and you can't get them in Canada, those are things that remission orders should be used for.”
On the environment
With the government focusing heavily on the trade war and upping Canada’s dependency on the industry sector, Weiler said he doesn’t think it will have a negative effect on the Squamish environment.
“One of the ways that 小蓝视频 has responded to it is that they've identified some priority natural resource projects that they want to move ahead, and they're changing the regulatory system out of the environmental assessment process into the 小蓝视频 oil and gas regulator, so that's a way of expediting those projects,” he said.
“Whether that is the right thing to do or not, I think is a good question, because when you're doing that, you're removing some of the environmental oversight, and you're basically making a value judgement there about how best to move ahead with it.
“I don't know if that will particularly affect any project in Squamish, thinking of things like Woodfibre. That's a project that's already been permitted and is well underway to be constructed.”
A change in luck
While the Liberal Party of Canada is currently behind the Conservative Party of Canada in the , Weiler acknowledged that the trade war has seen a boost in favour of his party.
“A lot has changed in the last couple months. I think number one, there's a big appetite for change in Canada, and I think there was a big frustration with our current Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau,” he said.
[On Friday morning, Trudeau officially resigned. Mark Carney is now prime minister.]
“In a time of crisis and seeing what's happening south of the border, I think … it's made people want to have someone who has a steady hand in those crises, and someone that's going to have some real solutions, you know not the kind of chaos, and I think that's what's really made people attracted to someone like Mark Carney.
“They want something more serious, even maybe a little bit more boring as well, in politics. And so I think you would have to chalk [the change in polls] up to that as well.
A lame duck government?
But what can the current government actually do before an election is held?
Weiler said he doesn’t think people will have to wait long to find out.
“There could be an election soon, or there could be an election not until October—it's likely that it's going to be happening very quickly,” he said.
“The prime minister and cabinet, they stay in their roles, they're able to respond to things. So much of the measures we talk about tariffs, that can be done by executive order very quickly.
“If there's anything that needs to be done immediately, those changes can be made. The larger changes, if anything requires passing legislation, like, if there's new spending that needs to be approved, that has to go through parliament, and so that would require the election to be over, the new parliament to convene and pass a legislation that way.”
For more information on the tariffs and how they affect the everyday Canadian, visit the
