Kinew urges premiers to build economy together

WINNIPEG — Premier Wab Kinew says Ottawa and the provinces are bracing for “a lot of turbulent waters to navigate” once the U.S. imposes sweeping tariffs Wednesday.

Kinew spoke to reporters after the premiers received an update from Prime Minister Mark Carney about his Friday morning call with U.S. President Donald Trump. They heard about the federal government’s plans for “protecting, building and fighting at this current moment,” said the premier.

“We had a good discussion as first ministers about building up our Canadian economy and how to respond jointly.”

Kinew said he told his counterparts Manitoba is going to buy Canadian steel to build infrastructure and other major projects, including schools.

“We are going to face this period of turbulence, and one of the things that we can do to shore up and build up our economy is to really prioritize ‘buy Canadian,’” Kinew said.

“You, as the average person out there right now, you’re looking at maybe spending another dollar or two on lunch to make sure that you’re supporting Canadian businesses and Canadian products.” When it comes to spending Canadians’ tax dollars on big projects “we need to be doing the same,” he said.

Carney and the premiers talked about confronting a trade war on two fronts.

“We’ve got tariffs on canola and pork and the People’s Republic of China. We’ve got the steel and aluminum tariffs and potentially more coming next week from the Trump administration,” Kinew said.

Last week, the premier said Carney would be engaging with Chinese President Xi Jinping about imposing 100 per cent tariffs on Canadian pork and canola.

“What we heard was that the engagement right now is happening at the officials’ level. The prime minister hasn’t spoken to (China’s) president yet, one on one,” the premier said.

“We’ve got to find a path forward on the pork and canola tariffs for Manitoba because it is such a big part of our economy.”

Kinew said he expects a visit from European Union ambassadors soon, but he wouldn’t share details about where they will go during their trip to Canada.

“I think the most important thing I want to share with Manitobans is we are at a time where we need to look around the world and think carefully about our Canadian values and where are we going to take our economy and our country,” the premier said, adding Canada must strengthen its ties to Europe.

“It’s time for us to look at other countries overseas to partner with when it comes to the economy — to be able to do that in a way that creates good jobs here,” he said.

Kinew said federal officials have warned that while there has been some positive signs during negotiations with the U.S., there will always be friction.

The premier said he touted Canada optimizing its competitive advantages when it comes to resource development, tourism and as a haven for U.S. professionals and scientists who want freedom to live and work.

“Getting a new mine to the shovels-in-the-ground phase, that is a big competitive advantage that we have over the U.S.,” Kinew said, referring to the Lynn Lake gold mine that officially broke ground on Tuesday.

“If we do mining in the right way, meaning we’re working with local communities, Indigenous communities, we’re taking care of the environment along the way —- being able to be the jurisdiction, the province, the country that supplies the world with those things is a real strong economic opportunity that we have.”

Manitoba is running tourism ads in the U.S. as it hopes to attract “bright” people who want to stay.

“Send me your tired, send me your weary, send me your doctors yearning to be free,” Kinew said, riffing off the inscription of the Statue of Liberty, which reads “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…”

“There’s bright people in the States who are being put out of work or who cannot do the randomized controlled trials that they need to publish serious papers because of the changes that are happening under the Trump administration,” Kinew said.

He advised them to head north: “We’re investing in research, we’re investing in our post secondaries, we’re investing in our health-care system, we’re investing in our cancer care. And you are going to have the freedom, the academic freedom, to be able to research in the areas that you see fit.”

The province is running ads in the U.S. to attract nurses and health-care professionals.

» Winnipeg Free Press