Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says Ottawa should not use the revenue attained from retaliatory tariffs on the United States for new spending and programs.
“Counter-tariffs must not be a cash cow for the government. Almost every penny of the tariffs collected should go to tax cuts, with a small sum set aside for targeted relief to workers hardest hit by the trade war,” Poilievre said in Ottawa on March 4.
America’s 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports and 10 percent tariffs on energy imports officially kicked in on March 4. At the same time, Ottawa responded with reciprocal tariffs on $155 billion worth of American goods, with $30 billion coming into force immediately and the other $125 billion starting in 21 days.
Poilievre said the Trump administration had “stabbed America’s best friend in the back,” and that U.S. citizens would also suffer from tariffs through higher gas prices, lost jobs, and “trillions of dollars erased in stock market value.”
“While Canadians are slow to anger and quick to forgive, once provoked, we fight back, and we will fight back,” he said.
Poilievre also laid out his vision for how Canada should respond to U.S. tariffs.
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He said American goods should be targeted with retaliatory tariffs, with an emphasis on goods that Canada doesn’t need or is able to make itself, and goods that can be imported from other countries. But he said this revenue should not be spent on new government programs, which he said would allow the government to “use this crisis” to “again launch a debt-fuelled money-printing spending spree that will drive up inflation and further destroy the working class.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and premiers previously said they would provide support for industries and businesses negatively impacted by U.S. tariffs, but nothing concrete has been proposed.
Poilievre was asked during the press conference if he believed the federal government had done enough on border security to prevent the 25 percent tariffs. U.S. President Donald Trump has connected the imposition of tariffs on Canada and Mexico to reducing illegal immigration and drug smuggling, and said on Feb. 3 that “vast amounts of fentanyl” were still coming into the United States from the two countries.
Poilievre said that Canada has lost 50,000 people due to fentanyl, more than the number who died in the Second World War, because of “the weak borders, the soft laws, and the radical liberalization of drugs that the Liberals experimented with.”
“But let’s be clear, that is not a justification for tariffs. We have guns, drugs, and illegal migrants coming from the United States to Canada. We have never tariffed the Americans for that.”
Since Trump first threatened tariffs months ago, Ottawa has introduced a $1.3 billion border security package that included the creation of a new North American task force targeting organized crime and synthetic drug trafficking, as well as 24/7 border surveillance. More recently, the government appointed a “fentanyl czar” and designated drug cartels as terrorist organizations.
During a March 4 press conference, Trudeau said the Canadian border was “already safe and secure” with less than 1 percent of fentanyl flows and less than 1 percent of illegal crossings into the United States coming from Canada.
“In sum, we stepped up. We engaged closely and constructively with the president and his administration. We did everything we promised,” Trudeau said.
Poilievre said while more needs to be done to address Canada’s fentanyl issue, it shouldn’t be done at Trump’s behest, but for the good of Canadians so “not one more mother gets a knock on the door from a police officer telling her that her son has died in a back alley.”
Poilievre said he would tackle cross-border drug trafficking by adding 2,000 new Canada Border Service agency guards, purchasing more surveillance towers, scanners, and drones, and giving fentanyl dealers life sentences in prison.
When asked about Trump’s recent comments that he did not like Poilievre because he is “not a MAGA guy,” Poilievre said the U.S. president was correct.
“It is true that I am Canada first. I am only for Canada. I’m fighting for the interests of this people and this country,” he said. “And if that upsets foreign leaders, including the American president, I’m fine with that.”
