Ryan Kiedrowski
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The World-Spectator
Yorkton-Melville MP Cathay Wagantall says the looming U.S. tariff threat is in part due to taking advantage of a weakened situation.
“We have to face the fact first of all that Trump did not create the circumstances we’re in,” she said. “Trudeau and the NDP government have put us in an economic dive. He’s seeing the weaknesses, obviously.”
The need to place Canada first is integral, including a strike back with retaliatory tariffs says Wagantall.
“It’s a wake up call and an opportunity, really, to meet our own potential,” Wagantall said. “The first thing is, we do have to retaliate with dollar-for-dollar tariffs that are aimed at maximizing our impact on American companies while minimizing on Canadian consumers.”
Part of that includes targeting American brands that can be made in Canada, or buy elsewhere.
“One of the biggest right now, of course, is we need to retaliate against American steel and aluminum, because we have an amazing ability to make those vital products at home,” Wagantall said.
The Conservative view is also that tariff revenues ought to be devoted into helping affected workers and businesses.
“None of that money should be earmarked by the government for any other purpose than making sure that our own businesses are able to survive,” Wagantall said.
In speaking with those around her riding, Wagantall says she’s starting to hear messages of pride emerging.
“There’s a lot of concern, and rightfully so,” she said. “There’s a lot of pride coming out as well, which I think has been beaten down for some time within Canada. I think that we see this is a time that we start to take more responsibility for ourselves. With what Trump is doing, there’s an awful lot of nations that are feeling that way. What I’m hearing, too, is that a lot of our businesses and manufacturers, they’re concerned about the fact that we need to bolster our economy and stop this inflation and even create jobs.”
Wagantall sees tax cuts as the answer, especially when it comes to energy.
“We’re just making it that much harder on ourselves and home building,” she said of the carbon tax in particular. “Anything we can make at home, we need to do more to liberate our own ability to do that, so the carbon tax and the capital gains tax have to go. They shouldn’t be there. We need to allow our entrepreneurs to succeed quickly and profitably. Taxes are only of value when it’s long term. If you tax a business out of business, that’s counter-intuitive, so we need to be encouraging our entrepreneurs to succeed and to do so quickly so that it is an improvement on our economy long term.”
Most importantly, Wagantall would like to see the end of prorogation so MPs can return to Ottawa and resume working on solutions.
“We need to be in the House and implementing these good moves to get our country back on track and to show the president that we are the incredibly good neighbor that we are and have always been,” she said.
