00:00Good morning, everyone, or afternoon.
00:02As you've heard, since last night, around midnight,
00:07Donald Trump is putting tariffs on the majority of the 338, 50% tariffs.
00:13We had a conversation with the Prime Minister all day yesterday,
00:17right up to probably quarter to 12, 11.45, when he called me to tell me the news.
00:23And I've always said we need to fight these tariffs,
00:28tariffs, tariff to tariff, dollar to dollar.
00:30And I'm glad he didn't sign that deal because it was a bad deal.
00:35It was a bad deal for Ontario.
00:36It was a bad deal for the auto sector, the steel sector, and manufacturing sector.
00:42And we never started this fight, but I can assure you we're going to win this fight.
00:46We're going to be United Team Canada.
00:48We're going to use every single tool we have here in Ontario.
00:52And hopefully the rest of the Premiers feel the same way.
00:55We have to use every tool in our toolbox.
00:58To make sure, as Donald Trump is trying to inflict pain on every Canadian,
01:04that we inflict pain right back until he realizes that we're his number one customer in the world.
01:12And yes, they're our number one customer.
01:14But we have to make sure that we look at every single asset that we have,
01:20no matter if it's a critical minerals or if it's a steel or if it's a nickel,
01:24anything that we have here in Ontario, everything's on the table.
01:29How much pain do you think, as you said?
01:32Yeah, it will be painful, but we have a strong, vibrant, diversified economy.
01:36We're diversifying around the world.
01:39And I think the job numbers, Minister, but my message to all the Premiers,
01:44we need to stick together.
01:46We need to take a Team Canada approach.
01:48And everyone has to be in this fight.
01:51We can't have an outlier.
01:52We need all, a group of all Premiers across the country to fight like they've never fought before.
02:00Good morning, everybody.
02:02Thanks for joining on short notice.
02:06This morning, Canadian workers woke up to news that, despite them doing nothing wrong,
02:16working hard, playing by the rules, supporting their families,
02:22that they are about to be hit by the companies they work for,
02:27are about to be hit by 50% tariffs that are inexplicable and indefensible.
02:40I think they've really revealed the true nature of what the Americans are seeking from the White House
02:48in terms of their relationship with Canada.
02:51The suggestion, the suggestion that Canada would not trade with other countries
02:57or reduce our trade with other countries because the Americans tell us to,
03:02would reduce us to the economic equivalent of the 51st state.
03:06It's never acceptable.
03:08It's never acceptable to Canadians, and the Prime Minister and his team
03:12rightly walked away from any suggestion that we would agree to that.
03:18It is clear that the current U.S. administration cannot be trusted.
03:24We just can't trust Trump.
03:25Even if an agreement had been signed, how long would it have lasted?
03:30Well, every possible tool, every weapon that can be deployed by the federal government,
03:38in this economic war that is being waged on Canada, is on the table for British Columbia.
03:48There is no question that there will be economic pain associated with this.
03:53There already is.
03:55But it is necessary to stand up to a bully.
03:57And if you don't, they'll just keep coming back for more.
04:01No deal is better than a bad deal.
04:04A bad deal runs the risk of entrenching a set of tariffs and charges and capitulations that will be very
04:11hard to undo in the long term.
04:14My hope is that with a change in administration, or a change in approach from this administration following the electoral
04:22impacts that they're seeing currently,
04:24that we'll be able to get to a place of stability.
04:26But I think the idea that our relationship with the United States is going to go back to what it
04:30was is folly.
04:32It has changed.
04:33It will not go back.
04:35And as a result, we have to do the uncomfortable but necessary work of reaching out and increasing our trade
04:40diversification around the world
04:43to ensure that we will not be held hostage in the way that the president is trying to right now.
04:49But the key issue for me and the dominant one has been the completely unfair, bizarre national security threat to
04:58the United States
04:59that apparently our lumber sector presents to them.
05:03The fact that our wood products can only access the U.S. market at tariff rates that exceed the tariff
05:11rates charged to Russia is profoundly unfair.
05:14And there was not a world in which British Columbia would be putting U.S. booze back on the shelf
05:19if there wasn't constructive and meaningful progress on reducing those tariffs for our timber sector.
05:24It's completely unfair.
05:25It's bizarre.
05:26It's costing jobs in the U.S.
05:28And it's driving up costs for people who just want to do a renovation on their home, build a deck,
05:32or build a place to live in, in the United States.
05:36And so the idea that you can simultaneously attack Canadians and also benefit from what they're doing,
05:44what's in Canada, which the rest of the world also wants, is an absurd one.
05:49It makes no sense.
05:50And it is reflective of this administration's entire approach to their relationship with Canada.
05:55They want to have all the benefits of a relationship with Canada, but they also, you know, want to punish
06:02Canadian workers,
06:04to bully us, to tell us who we can trade with.
06:07It is the definition of an abusive relationship.
06:11They cannot have a positive relationship with Canada and benefit from what is in this country,
06:18while at the same time attacking us, running us down, and saying that they want to take us over.
06:23And so that contradiction is one that needs to be addressed in terms of the American administration,
06:31because from my perspective, in terms of Canada having what the world needs,
06:35we've got lots of other dance partners out there.
06:38There will be pain involved, and we will work with the federal government in mitigating that as best we can,
06:43but it is nothing compared to what we would face in the long term becoming a colony of the U
06:48.S.
06:49Great. Thanks very much, everybody.
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