Canada Day – Trudeau Focuses on Steel, Aluminum
Canada Day – Trudeau Focuses on Steel, Aluminum
The prime minister said he has no plans to meet with protesters at the Justice for our Stolen Children camp, but he spoke briefly about their concerns.
“I’m glad to be here to remind everyone that Canadians stand up for each other,” he said at the park and pool just outside the Evraz steel mill Sunday afternoon. “That’s what we do and I’m glad to do it.”
Trudeau has been touting his government’s response to U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. Canada Day on Sunday was the very day Canada’s countermeasures took effect, hitting back at American products in a tit-for-tat trade dispute.
The prime minister’s first stop, at a packing and shipping plant in Leamington, Ont., saw him greeted with an impromptu rendition of the national anthem and waving Canadian flags. The Regina visit was more subdued.
For the second stop of his three-city Canada Day tour, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met Regina steelworkers and posed for selfies with their kids
Mayor Michael Fougere was on site to welcome the prime minister. Hundreds of people greeted Trudeau as he glad-handed workers in Evraz T-shirts. Selfies abounded, before the prime minister took questions from the press.
He said he had no plans on that day to visit the protest camp across from the Saskatchewan Legislative Building. But he said Ralph Goodale, the federal public safety minister who accompanied him to Evraz, has already engaged with the campers — who have been protesting over Indigenous rights for more than 120 days.
“I understand there are a significant amount of provincial issues they’re concerned about,” Trudeau said. “But we recognize that a truly nation-to-nation relationship around reconciliation requires that all levels of government step up and work together. We look forward to working with all orders of government and with Indigenous people on this.”
A staff member accompanying Trudeau said that the prime minister was deterred from the meeting by scheduling constraints, and not from any lack of interest in meeting those at the camp.
The Evraz workers were instructed not to speak to the press, according to one steelworker and an event organizer. But one said he was neither pleased nor dismayed with the prime minister’s visit.
“It’s something different,” he said.
After his visit to Regina, Trudeau was set to carry on to Dawson City, Yukon, for a Canada Day community barbecue.
Trump writes to GG
While Canada’s list reads like a hodgepodge of a grocery list, political watchers have pointed to its strategic targets.
For example, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell represents Kentucky, a state with a sizable bourbon whiskey industry. And Vermont, with its established maple syrup industry, is represented by Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders — a loud voice in Congress.
The symbolism didn’t stop with the list; it seemed to be built into Trudeau’s scheduling.
He skipped the Canada Day festivities on Parliament Hill this year and instead started with a stop at Highbury Canco in Leamington, Ont., a plant that makes tomato paste and other food products. Highbury Canco took over the plant from Heinz when it pulled its ketchup operation out of Canada in 2014.
Threat of auto tariffs
“NAFTA, I could start it tomorrow, but I’m not happy with it. I want to make it more fair,” Trump said.
When asked about Trump’s comments on Fox, Trudeau said his government will continue to work with the U.S. administration.
“Obviously, it’s a significant concern. Again, considering that autos might be a national security threat to the United States is something that doesn’t entirely make sense, but we’re continuing to work hard on improving and renegotiating NAFTA,” he said.
News Source: leaderpost.com, cbc.ca
