Canada's premiers held their summer Council of the Federation meeting this week, with trade continuing to dominate conversation as Canada waits to see if the U.S. will follow through with threats to ramp up tariffs on Aug. 1.
The Council of the Federation met in Huntsville, Ont. The group is comprised of premiers from all 13 provinces and territories, and generally meets twice per year.
The premiers and prime minister spent much of this meeting working to come up with a way to head off U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to increase tariffs on Canadian goods to 35 per cent. Many items would continue to be exempt as part of a trade deal signed between the countries during Trump's first term, but the move could still harm the Canadian economy.
The meetings wrapped on Wednesday, July 23. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney told the premiers that he would not accept a "bad agreement" for Canada as he negotiated for a trade deal with the Trump administration.
"The objective is not to have an agreement at any cost," Carney told reporters in French.
B.C. Premier David Eby expressed a willingness for more retaliation, with limits.
"I'm fully supportive of retaliation against the Americans, where that has a very low or no impact on Canadians," Eby told reporters. "I think we need to keep in mind that [the Trump] administration is already flailing a fair bit. Their economy is slowing. Inflation is going up. It will collapse under its own weight. We just need to give it some time."
Meanwhile, against that backdrop, Eby struck inter-provincial trade deals with several other provinces and territories at the conference.
Separate deals with Ontario, the Yukon and Manitoba each include the removal of barriers for people in regulated trades and professions, allowing them to move more easily between jurisdictions.
The Ontario and Manitoba deals also include a framework for direct-to-consumer alcohol sales, and the Yukon agreement includes a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on potentially connecting to B.C.'s electric grid.
No end to pipeline talk
A major part of Canada's response to Trump's tariffs is to diversify trade relationships with countries other than the United States. This effort has revived calls for another pipeline to increase the amount of oil that can be loaded onto ships in B.C. bound for Asia and elsewhere.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has seized on this opportunity to push the idea of revisiting plans for the Northern Gateway oil pipeline to B.C.'s north coast. Eby continued to push back by pointing out there is no proponent tapped to build it, so the focus should be on "shovel-in-the-ground" projects.
"Let's get working on what we can do to build this country and build our economy, and when Premier Smith and the prime minister are in position with a proponent, we're absolutely willing to have those conversations with them," Eby said.
Any pipeline to B.C.'s north coast would need to be accompanied by a reversal of a federal heavy oil tanker ban in the area, something Eby has previously said he wants to keep in place.
Marilyn Slett, president of the Coastal First Nations-Great Bear Initiative and chief councillor of the Heiltsuk Tribal Council, penned an open letter calling on Carney to keep the tanker ban in place.
“There is no pipeline and oil tankers project or proponents that would be acceptable to us on the North Coast,” Slett said in a news release accompanying the letter. “Anything that proposes to send crude oil through our coastal waters is a non-starter.”
