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Canadian workers need real action that protects Canadian jobs

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Randy Hoback – Member of Parliament Report

When a “Buy American” plan was announced by President Obama, the Conservative government at the time leveraged our strong relationship to allow Canadian companies to continue participating in U.S. government projects.

But under Justin Trudeau, relations with the US have deteriorated, with disastrous consequences for Canadian workers.

Just this year, we have had the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline; the threatened shutdown of Line 5; trade challenges on dairy quotas; a doubling of the softwood lumber tariffs; and most recently, the Biden Administration is proposing a $12,500 tax credit for electric vehicles assembled in the US, a step that will inevitably deter automakers from building their cars in Canadian plants.

Under Joe Biden’s new “Buy American” protectionist policy, Canadian companies who currently provide a range of manufactured products for U.S. public works projects and our auto manufacturing sector face troubled times ahead. These actions put hundreds of thousands of Canadian jobs at risk, including in my home province of Saskatchewan.

Yet the silence from Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government is deafening. The failure by the Trudeau Liberals to stand up for Canadian jobs has very real consequences for Canadian auto, manufacturing, steel, and aluminum workers coast to coast.

This at a time when household budgets are already stretched thin as the cost of living skyrockets. Families, single-parents, and seniors are trying to figure out what essential item they can save on, like gas, groceries, and heating. They need to know that their job is not in jeopardy too.

Unfortunately, Justin Trudeau didn’t earn a single concession during the recent Three Amigos summit. Mr. Trudeau’s approach to these threats has been to play down their seriousness and to sound hopeful. Downplaying these threats and being hopeful is not a plan to protect Canadian jobs.

Unlike the federal Liberals, Canada’s Conservatives will be the voice of Canadian workers. The government needs to work collaboratively with the U.S. to build resilient North American supply chains. We need to see an economic recovery that includes all sectors, all regions, and one that leaves no Canadian worker behind. That’s what we will continue to fight for.

When North American leaders met in Washington, D.C. recently for the Three Amigos Summit, Canadian workers needed to see more than a handshake – they need certainty.

They needed to see real action that protects Canadian jobs. Once again, this Prime Minister failed.

An alternate to Trudeau

Randy Hoback, Member of Parliament

For the past four years, my Conservative colleagues and I have worked hard to show Canadians that there is an alternative to Justin Trudeau’s incompetence and poor judgment.

Conservatives held Justin Trudeau accountable for his massive deficit – a deficit he said would disappear in this year’s budget. Trudeau is instead borrowing nearly $20 billion this year, despite inheriting a budget surplus from the previous Conservative Government, and despite his good fortune with sky-high revenues.

We also held the Prime Minister to account for his job killing carbon tax and other tax hikes.  Trudeau promised he would lower taxes. Yet his carbon tax and other tax hikes are making it more difficult to for Canadians to get ahead.

Trudeau promised an ethical government.  Yet his firing of Jody Wilson-Raybould for not obstructing justice to help Liberal corporate friends says otherwise.  Because of his actions, our closest international allies have flagged Canada for corruption. The Anti-Corruption Division of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently announced it is “closely monitoring” Canada as it relates to the ongoing SNC-Lavalin corruption scandal. This is a shocking development.

Trudeau’s lecturing of Chinese officials on the independence of Canada’s judicial system, while at the same time bullying his former Attorney General has shown that he is willing to dismiss the rule of law for political considerations.  Because of his actions, China has halted all new purchases of Canadian canola, and has imposed strict inspections of other Canadian agricultural goods.

Justin Trudeau is nothing like the leader he promised Canadians he would be.  And after four years, Canadians have had enough of Trudeau’s deficits, tax hikes, ethical scandals, and international failures. He personally has damaged our relationships with our international trading partners; and as a result, Canadian farmers, loggers and other exporting businesses are now paying the price.

In contrast, the Conservative Opposition laid out the ways it will help Canadians get ahead; by taking the tax off maternal and parental EI benefits, cancelling the Liberal Carbon Tax, and taking the GST off home heating and energy bills. 

Conservative Members of Parliament fought for energy workers and their families and laid out a six-point plan to get pipeline projects built.  We also presented our vision for an energy corridor that would allow major job-creating projects to get built, while also minimizing environmental impact.

We also announced the first steps in our plan to combat child abuse, tackle human trafficking and put the rights of victims ahead of the rights of criminals.  This is all part of our overall plan for A Safer Canada.

We fought for our agricultural producers and demonstrated how Trudeau’s weak leadership is hurting our canola farmers and Canada’s reputation on the world stage.

Over the past few weeks, Conservative Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer presented Canadians with a vision of Canada that is much different than that of Justin Trudeau. Our vision of Canada includes a federal government which will balance the budget responsibly, leaving more money in Canadians pockets.  It will include a government-wide effort to remove the interprovincial trade barriers that have held back our federation for so long and negotiate a new Interprovincial Free Trade Agreement.

It includes an immigration policy which immediately restores fairness, order and compassion to an immigration system and will do more to promote private sponsorships of refuges. It includes the clear and honest identification of the threats Canadians face – a renewal of our sovereignty with a reinvigorated national defence, so Canada will be both ready when called on and able to stand alone and stand strong.

The vision also includes an environmental plan that strikes a balance between the need for Canada to combat climate change by reducing global emissions and our core promise of leaving more money in the pockets of Canadians and letting them get ahead. Unlike Justin Trudeau’s tax plan, our environmental plan focuses on green technology, not taxes. It will facilitate a cleaner and greener natural environment and will take the climate change fight global.

The difference in the two visions is clear.  Justin Trudeau is not as advertised, and his Liberal government has failed to deliver on Canadians priorities.