Singh says he will reduce government in March but will first pass Trump Tariff Relief

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said on Thursday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should remember parliament to adopt legislation to protect workers and businesses if US President Donald Trump goes on with Customs on Canadian goods as promised.

Singh said he is still obliged to bring Trudeau’s time into office to cease later this spring. But he said he is willing to support the government to get a relief through first.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has also pushed Trudeau to bring back parliament to better tackle potential trade challenges.

Talking to journalists in SUULT STE. Marie, ont., Singh said Trump is “to start a war” and Canada must be “ready to fight back. We have to fight back to protect Canadian jobs” and it will require to bring parliamentary members to Ottawa to get legislation passed for law.

“The trade war will hurt us in both ways, but we can’t let the workers carry brown,” Singh said.

Trudeau steps aside as Prime Minister after the Liberal Party chooses its new leader on March 9. Parliament is prior until March 24, but the prime minister could bring it back earlier.

A liberal source of government speaking to CBC News on the background said there is no plan to remember parliament by March 24, despite Singh’s request.

The government has mechanisms available to protect workers, business and national interests, the source said.

“We will answer appropriately. From right now there is no plan to remember parliament,” the source said.

Singh said “We will vote against the government when we return to parliament at the end of March and there will be a choice in the spring.”

But there is a lot of time between now and then, Singh said.

“The liberal government says seriously that they will not do anything for workers for two months and wait until the end of March? Remember Parliament immediately, let’s put targeted support,” he said.

Trudeau has repeatedly said the government will be there to support workers and businesses if Trump goes on with Customs on Saturday.

Government sources have told CBC News that Ottawa is preparing a relief package of several trillion dollars, some of which could be implemented by the cabinet alone, while other components may require parliamentary approval of the line.

But sources have emphasized that it is still too early to say what, if anything, is necessary at this time.

Trump has threatened 25 percent tariffs, but there is a chance that they are only targeting certain sectors – or they are not used at all if Canada’s diplomatic efforts to convince the administration to settle back. The size and extent of a potential relief package has not yet been settled, the sources say.

Government says it is unclear who will be affected

In a speech with journalists in the Oval Office, Trump repeated on Thursday that customs will move on this weekend as planned, but he said he has not yet decided whether Canadian oil will be hit.

“We will take this determination probably tonight on oil because they send us oil. We’ll see, ”he said.

US gas prices could jump with as much as $ 0.75 US A gallon overnight if Trump moves on with a 25 percent duty on Canadian oil, according to federal data because many US refineries are dependent on Alberta oil.

Even if oil is omitted by Trump’s commercial action, a duty of 25 percent on other Canadian goods would be Destructive to the economyPossibly throwing the country into a recession and shaving billions of dollars out of GDP.

Canadian officials are largely in the dark about what Trump has exactly planned.

Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson, who has been back and forth to Washington and is actively involved in Canada’s response to Trump, said there is no point suggesting a relief package before Ottawa knows what Trump will do exactly if anything .

“We just have to say at a news conference in Saskatchewan.

Minister of Industry François-Philippe Champagne, who is also active in the Canada-US file, said the government has handles that it can pull to support the economy without going to parliament immediately.

“We look at ways we can use existing programs to support workers to support industries that could be affected by it,” he said.

Trump’s election of trade secretary, Howard Lutnick, offered some clarity Wednesday when he said that the first tranche of tariffs on Canada and Mexico, to take effect on Saturday, could fall by the road if these two countries show action on border problems like the flow of drugs and migrants.

Ottawa is trying to show us officials that its new border plan of $ 1.3 billion already bears fruit. It’s part of an effort to convince Trump that Canada is obliged to tackle the problems he says he is interested in the most.

Public Safety Minister David McGuinty told journalists on Wednesday that Canada is actively sharing video footage with the Americans to show Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) staff and RCMP officers at work along the 49 parallel.

These recordings are to “help show the investments we make and that they work,” McGuinty said. “We will continue to carry down on the border.”

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