The premier of Alberta wasn’t celebrating Thursday, a day after the province largely dodged getting hit by any new tariffs.
Speaking at a special conference hosted by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce to discuss the shifting nature of Canada-U.S. relations, Smith said her thoughts were with the auto sector and those who work in steel and aluminum, which have both been slapped with tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump.
“I don’t want to be exuberant about dodging the (tariff) bullet,” Smith said, “because we have our friends who are heavily invested in steel and aluminum and the auto sector who are going to be hurt.”
One day after the U.S. president announced sweeping tariffs aimed at trade partners around the planet, the Alberta premier pointed to the announcement Thursday of temporary layoffs of thousands of workers at Stellantis in Windsor, Ont., which, Smith pointed out, were accompanied by the layoff of more than 900 U.S.-based employees at five different plants in the U.S.
Smith, who participated in a panel that included Canada West Foundation president Gary Mar, BHE Canada CEO Ed Rihn and Prince Rupert Port Authority CEO Shaun Stevenson, said she was already hearing that the business community was being more impacted by Canada’s “measured response” to U.S. tariffs than they were by the tariffs themselves.
“We have about 5,000 jobs impacted by aluminum and steel,” she said, “and the real problem …I’m hearing more people are being impacted by our ‘measured response’ than they are the tariffs that have been levied by the U.S. administration so – I would say, overall, this is a very positive development."
She said more tariffs could be coming that impact the province and the country at large.
“We know there are still sector-specific tariffs that are going to come in on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. He (Trump) continues to target supply management, so there’s likely to be something there (tariff-wise).”
Unity
Smith said a Thursday call between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Canadian premiers produced unity.
“The prime minister did let us know when he had his conversation with Trump that clearly Canada has to have a proportionate response,” she said, “and I think it’s already clear what that proportionate response looks like - that essentially, we’re going to apply the same Canadian content rules on autos that they’re applying on us in the reverse.
“With a one-step dial down: they’re not doing it on auto parts,” she added. “And so I would say that is unlikely to result in retaliation but I would say all the provinces, all the premiers are very supportive of the measured response and also supportive of whatever it is we need to do in order to support the auto workers as we go through this pretty rough patch, until we can get to some resolution.”
For the Alberta premier, the potential light at the end of the tariff tunnel lies with Carney’s intention to reopen the terms of the free trade agreement following the federal election, which she said could accelerate a resolution to the trade war.
“This is good that we are at least going to look into accelerating the renegotiation of the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement,” she said. “I’ve been asking for that and it sounds like the new prime minister has been asking for that – and that appears to be where we’re going.
“A renegotiation on that (free trade deal) right after this election is over could be very positive,” she said, continuing.
“If we can get that (deal) done, in the bank, rather than have it delayed for another 18 months, I think that will also contribute to investor certainty,” she said.
Calgary top destination for venture capital: CED
The conference took place at Calgary’s Hyatt Regency Hotel over lunch Thursday.
The meeting came as Calgary Economic Development (CED) revealed its strategy to help the city become more competitive on the global market.
CED says Calgary was a top destination for venture capital investment last year.
“Whether it’s energy moving into (agriculture) or (agriculture) moving into life science or vice-versa, that’s where we start to happen. You start to see these collisions of ideas and new companies start to get formed,” said CED CEO Brad Parry.
CED hopes to build on Calgary’s innovation by creating more than 187,000 jobs over the next 10 years.
With files from CTV’s Jordan Kanygin
