Premiers call on federal government to fight harder against Buy America provisions
Thestar.com
July 11, 2019
Kristin Rushowy
The federal government hasn’t been tough enough in fighting Buy America provisions and needs to act, Canada’s premiers and territorial leaders said at their annual summer meeting.
In what emerged as a major issue around the table on Wednesday as the 13 leaders gathered in Saskatchewan -- still reeling from news that Bombardier plans to lay off half of its staff at its Thunder Bay, Ont. plant -- the premiers and territorial leaders say Ottawa needs to be more forceful.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the CEO of Bombardier told him Buy America policies are “killing us right now. Absolutely killing us right now. We need the federal government to continue to negotiate with the U.S. government ,we have to change” those provisions as large U.S. contracts dry up.
A senior government source said this is a key concern for Ford, and said he will be calling the Liberal government for “failing to stand up” to the U.S. -- because Canadian contracts alone won’t sustain these companies in the long run.
But federal Labour Minister Patty Hajdu told the Star’s Tonda MacCharles that “our government has repeatedly and aggressively pushed back against U.S. trade barriers, including Buy America provisions.”
Ford, she added, “is welcome to join us in Washington to help make the case” but said he first “needs to get to work” helping Thunder Bay workers.
Ford noted that Ontario conducts more than $390 billion in two-way trade with the U.S., and is the top trading partner with 19 states.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said there’s no need for the premiers to wait around for Ottawa to act -- they could agree “right now” to ensure that Canadian companies and workers are protected.
“We need Canadian and Ontario content in all of our infrastructure contracts, making sure that a chunk of that work goes to Canadian and Ontario companies,” she said, adding that “formalization of that” goes a long way to ensuring they get the work and good-paying jobs.
“When they are handing out public infrastructure dollars ,these kinds of requirements are built in,” she said. “Each premier needs to stand up to the plate as well.”
The Buy America Act forces transit and airport projects over $100,000 US that receive federal funding to have varying, but high or total levels of materials or products sourced from the U.S.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said the premiers were to discuss “how we might strengthen international trade relations at this time of uncertainty and also continue the effort to reduce the barriers within our nation, between our jurisdictions.”
He said Canadian industries need to be exempt from Buy America legislation, as did Quebec Premier Francois Legault.
“The problem that was raised by Bombardier was about the Buy America Act,” Legault told reporters. “They had an important contract in the U.S. that is ending and they have a rough time getting more contracts in the United States.
“That’s why we all decided together that we need more leadership from the government of Canada to negotiate an exemption.”
The premiers also discussed allowing provinces to individually opt out of their exemptions under the Canadian free trade agreement -- exemptions that hamper interprovincial trade, another key issue around the table that in the past premiers have made little progress on.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney immediately announced that his province would drop half of them, and review the rest.
