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Auto makers could be the latest group caught in the worsening trade war between Canada and the United States, with Canadian officials threatening to retaliate if the Trump administration targets imports of vehicles and parts.
Canada’s deputy ambassador to the U.S., Kirsten Hillman, delivered the warning in person at a Commerce Department hearing, which is gathering input about President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs. Ms. Hillman said the Canadian response would be “proportional.”
Automotive trade between the two countries is worth $140-billion a year, and the industry is heavily integrated, with components made in one country often assembled into vehicles in the other.
Canada has already imposed retaliatory tariffs on dozens of American products, including coffee, ketchup and whisky, in response to duties on Canadian steel and aluminum.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
The premiers of Ontario and Saskatchewan are finding little appetite from their counterparts across the country to join a legal challenge of the federal climate-change plan. Doug Ford and Scott Moe hoped to find allies during a meeting of premiers this week in New Brunswick, but so far they’ve come up empty.
Canada’s premiers are looking to take their fight against U.S. tariffs to a new battleground: Fox News. Provincial leaders are frustrated by their inability to push back against the Trump administration’s tariffs, and they think one way to do that is to speak directly to Americans while challenging influential commentators on American cable news.
The federal New Democrats are pressing the Transport Minister to come up with a plan to replace Greyhound bus service in Western Canada and northern Ontario. The NDP has requested an emergency meeting of the House of Commons standing committee on transport, infrastructure and communities, hoping that Transport Minister Marc Garneau will spell out the options he’s considering.
A Federal Court judge has ruled that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the country’s spy agency, doesn’t have the legal basis to spy outside of Canada unless it is a matter of national security. “What is clear is that Parliament intended to grant the Service … a limited secondary mandate to collect foreign intelligence to assist the respective Ministers,” Justice Simon Noël wrote. “The geographical limitation’s purpose was to bar the Service from conducting CIA-like controversially aggressive ‘covert’ and ‘offensive’ activities abroad.”
Trade diversification is a buzzy phrase in Ottawa at the moment, especially in light of the newly shuffled federal cabinet. A new African free-trade bloc could emerge as a trade partner for Canada as it pursues its goal of diversifying export markets beyond the U.S. The African free-trade zone has a population of 1.2 billion and a combined economy of US$3.4-trillion across 55 countries. Forty-nine of the 55 member states of the African Union have signed a continental agreement to reduce barriers to trade.
Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to recall legislators for an emergency parliamentary session this summer to ratify the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, an 11-country trade deal. Mr. Scheer wants the House to to debate and pass Bill C-79 as soon as possible, citing the effect of U.S. tariffs on Canada and the uncertainty surrounding Canada’s trading relationship with its southern neighbour.
An independent investigation called by NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has cleared NDP MP Christine Moore of allegations of sexual misconduct and misuse of authority. Ms. Moore had been accused of harassment by Glen Kirkland, an Afghanistan veteran who appeared in front of a Parliamentary committee in 2013. Ms. Moore, who had been relieved of her caucus duties, will return to the NDP caucus.
A report by the Senate’s Standing Committee on Social Affairs says that the federal government should apologize to unwed mothers who were forced to give up their babies after the Second World War. Several of the mothers appeared in front of the committee to give their testimony and described that their “illegitimate” babies were taken after birth and given to “traditional” couples. Australia has apologized to mothers who went through the same experiences between 1945 and the early 1970s.
Every party in last year’s B.C. election campaigned on promises to bring services like Uber into the province – quickly – but the NDP government now says that won’t happen until at least next fall. The province has unveiled its long-awaited plans for so-called ride-sharing, and it says it will spend the next year modernizing the taxi industry to ensure it can compete.
Just four days after a controversial summit between Mr. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the U.S. president is planning on inviting his Russian counterpart to the White House. Mr. Trump has asked his National Security Adviser John Bolton to send the invitation. The two leaders had a one-on-one meeting for more than two hours earlier this week but there is no record of what was discussed because staff were not present at the meeting, only translators.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is asking Pope Francis to fire Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson, the most senior Roman Catholic cleric to be ever convicted for covering up child sexual abuse.
Rebels in Syria have agreed to surrender terms on the Syrian frontier with Israel-occupied Golan Heights. Bashar al-Assad’s forces, supported by Russian air power, have made their way through southwestern Syria swiftly over the last month.
Spain’s Supreme Court has dropped an arrest warrant for Carles Puigdemont, the former Catalan leader, after Germany declined to extradite him on a charge of rebellion. Mr. Puigdemont declared Catalonia independent last year after a referendum but went into exile after the bid for independence collapsed.
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on trade diversification: “The major elements of the Canadian and Japanese trade agreements with the European Union are similar. And those agreements also bear strong similarities with the TPP. The next step is clear. To preserve momentum for global free trade, which, in the long run, increases prosperity for all, the European Union and the Trans Pacific Partnership should conclude an Atlantic-Pacific Partnership, a free-trade zone that would stretch from Estonia to Australia, encompassing 39 countries representing about 40 per cent of global GDP.”
Denise Balkissoon (The Globe and Mail) on Michael Tibollo and Jane-Finch: “Imagine if, instead of considering the idea of racism a personal insult, politicians considered it a problem worth solving. Here are some things that Jane Finch Action Against Poverty and others in the community have been asking for, for years: better public transportation, good jobs to commute to, affordable childcare and easier access to fresh, cost-effective food. And yes, an end to carding, which has never been shown to deter crime.”
Andrew MacDougall (The Globe and Mail) on Ford and outrage: “Governing is a marathon, not a race. Mr. Ford won’t secure his re-election in a single day, nor will he be defeated in one. Keeping the hysteria to a minimum gives voters the best chance to make a reasoned decision the next time around.”
Gary Mason (The Globe and Mail) on Dominic LeBlanc: “There was likely no one in Justin Trudeau’s Liberal caucus better suited to dissipate some of the political animus that exists among the country’s premiers than the Prime Minister’s one-time babysitter from New Brunswick.”
Brian Lee Crowley and Sean Speer (The Globe and Mail) on our trade woes: The reality is a sizable diversification of Canadian trade is highly improbable and free trade with China is fraught with serious economic and security problems. For Canada, there’s no credible substitute for secure and stable access to the U.S. market.”
Andray Domise (Maclean’s) on Making Canada Great Again: “What matters to the contingent of people who would slam the door on asylum-seekers, who use the language of fiscal concern, of law and order, and of social cohesion to explain why they belong here and other people do not, is that our country is held to their imagined standards of purity. It’s a movement of people who, if you will, want to Make Canada Great Again. That needs to be named for what it is, whether they appreciate the label or not.”
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James Keller