REGINA – Facing heat from the NDP on the government’s tariff response again, the Sask Party government are insisting a calm and cool approach is what is needed.
“Look, what the important thing is right now is for cooler heads to prevail right across the piece, Canada and the U.S.,” said Deputy Premier Jim Reiter following Question Period.
Reiter’s response, and the latest messaging to that effect from the Sask Party government, follows what has been some heated exchanges in the Legislature in response to President Donald Trump’s announcement he would impose new 10 per cent tariffs on Canada.
That new announcement came on the heels of Trump’s declaration that he was ending trade talks with Canada, in retaliation to Government of Ontario ads which lifted quotes from former President Ronald Reagan expressing opposition to tariffs.
On Friday the opposition New Democrats had called on the Sask Party government to retaliate to Trump’s latest actions by taking U.S. liquor off the shelves and restore the pro-Canada procurement policy.
Opposition Finance Critic Trent Wotherspoon continued that same messaging in Question Period Monday. He demanded answers from Premier Scott Moe om “how many contracts with American companies had that premier ended” as part of the fightback against Trump.
In response, Trade and Export Development Minister Warren Kaeding seemed to pour water on a “reactionary” response.
Kaeding said that “the very strong, consistent diplomatic approach is ultimately what our business sector has asked for, what our trade partners have asked for… those who are building this province expect that from this government.”
“But we find reactionary policy that others have tried has proven to be very counterproductive. You know, what we’ve seen — the inflammatory knee-jerk reactions that we witnessed in other jurisdictions — has not added anything positive to equation. I’m just afraid that the only place that kneejerk reaction is successful in is a Disney movie.”
That response drew a disgusted reaction from Wotherspoon, who noted his question had been for the Premier and he got “no answer” from the Minister.
“There was no answer how many contracts were ended, but I’ll provide that answer. It was zero contracts were ended.”
In speaking to reporters afterwards, Wotherspoon continued to demand a stronger response from Premier Moe.
“This Premier has been slow and meek in stepping up to Trump from the start,” said Wotherspoon.
He went on to accuse Minister Kaeding of “making excuses, if you will, for Trump’s reckless attacks.”
“No one should be making excuses for Trump’s attacks or for minimizing those. What leaders in this province and this country need to do is to stand up for our province and for our country.”
In speaking to reporters after Question Period, Deputy Premier Reiter said people needed to get back to negotiating.
“Get back to the negotiation table and work this out. Extreme reaction has not been working. Everybody just needs to calm down and get back to the table where this needs to be solved.”
When asked whether the Ontario ad campaign had helped, Reiter simply said the “incidents of the last few days, to me, just reiterates, again, on both sides of the border, everybody just needs to calm down and go back to the negotiating table.”
