Couillard backs Trudeau, vows to defend economy
Premier vows to defend economy
QUEBEC The Couillard government has thrown its complete support behind Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in his raging tug of war over trade with U.S. President Donald Trump.
And the premier said his government will defend “at all costs” Quebec’s economy, including the aluminum and steel industry plus the supply management system that stabilizes prices and helps keep Quebec’s family farms alive.
Arriving for a meeting of the Liberal caucus in what will be the last week of sitting for the legislature, a deadly serious Philippe Couillard said he is taking the inflammatory language used by Trump and members of his entourage during the weekend seriously.
“Mr. Trump himself and the people around him have made multiple statements which can be qualified as aggressive on the subject of Quebec’s economy whether it be in metals or supply management,” Couillard told reporters.
“There are fundamental sectors of our economy, of our society. So we are going to defend them, at all costs, with plenty of determination. We are extremely determined to protect our workers and our businesses.”
Couillard then said Quebec stands firmly behind Trudeau, who has been targeted by Trump and his aides in an escalating war of words since the weekend G7 summit in Charlevoix wound up and Trudeau said Canada was not going to be pushed around.
Support for Trudeau — including that of former prime minister Stephen Harper — has poured in from politicians of all stripes in the last days.
“I would like to offer my support to Prime Minister Trudeau,” Couillard said. “He has responded with a mix of firmness without indulging in verbal one-upmanship. I think that is the thing to do under the circumstances.
“That doesn’t mean we support Mr. Trump’s conduct and policies, but verbal one-upmanship serves nobody.”
But Couillard said Trump has nerve telling Canada he wants to eliminate all trade barriers and tariffs in the agricultural sector when the American sugar and tobacco industries rely “massively” on government subsidies to survive.
Those subsidies represent almost 75 per cent of direct and indirect revenues of American dairy producers, for example, Couillard noted. “The day he eliminates all that in the States, we will listen to what he says,” Couillard said tersely.
For now, Couillard urged Quebec industry, workers and the people themselves to come together to defend Quebec’s economy as it did when Bombardier and softwood lumber jobs were in danger.
A few hours later, Economic Development Minister Dominique Anglade announced Quebec is ready to offer $100 million in loan guarantees to support the aluminum industry, which employs about 30,000 people in the province.
And Finance Minister Carlos Leitão had his own choice words for the way the Trump administration is conducting itself.
He said a full-blown trade war with the United States is entirely possible. Quebec, which exports two-thirds of what it produces, has always feared such a battle.
“It’s too bad, but we have arrived there,” Leitão told reporters at the legislature. “On the other hand, I will repeat what President Macron (of France) said: ‘Mr. Trump is not eternal.’ ”
Couillard conceded nobody really wins in a full-blown trade and tariff war. As for negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement, Couillard said that process seems to be at a standstill.
“It’s going to be extremely difficult to conduct negotiations in this type of environment,” Couillard said.