Singh suggests NDP could help Liberals pass Trump tariff relief

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Tuesday he is open to working with the Liberal government to pass relief measures for workers if U.S. President Donald Trump moves ahead with devastating tariffs on Canadian goods.

Singh has said for weeks he and his MPs will vote to bring down the government and send Canadians to an election at the earliest opportunity when Parliament reconvenes after prorogation in March.

Singh said that commitment still stands — but he opened the door to propping up the Liberals long enough to pass relief legislation.

If the Liberal government needs a partner to get a bill through Parliament to help rescue a tariff-battered economy, Singh is willing to listen to what Ottawa is proposing, he said.

WATCH | Singh opens door to backing emergency tariff relief: 

Singh says Liberals should present a workers' support plan to opposition leaders

2 days ago

Duration 1:02

With the threat of tariffs from the U.S. looming, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is asked whether he would support the Liberals if they presented a plan to support workers. Singh says nothing has been presented to him or other opposition leaders by the Liberals and says his ‘position remains: we will be voting against the government at the earliest convenience.’

"I will be voting against the government at the earliest opportunity. If the Liberals are serious, though, about a plan to support workers, call the opposition leaders together. Discuss that plan with us," he said.

Singh said he hasn't heard from the Liberals about what a tariff-relief package will include, if there is one.

"If there's a plan, all the opposition leaders need to come together," he said. "Let's have a plan in place."

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet, conversely, ruled out supporting the Liberals.

He said it's a bad idea to give the Liberals any more time to get something done in Parliament because the promise of only a few extra days to pass emergency legislation could turn into something longer.

"If the Liberals want to help people, they should simply start the election sooner," he said.

WATCH | Blanchet says Bloc won't support a potential emergency support package: 

Blanchet says Bloc won’t support a potential emergency support package

2 days ago

Duration 1:06

Asked by CBC’s Raffy Boudjikanian whether the Bloc Québécois would support the Liberal government if it presented a relief package in response to the U.S. tariff threat, Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet says that if the Liberals want to help people, then they should simply ‘start the election sooner.’

Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman said the party wants Parliament to be immediately recalled to deal with the possible Trump fallout but she did not commit to passing any tariff-related relief that could come before MPs.

"Had the Liberals not put their party ahead of their country, we could be debating and considering options to deal with this critical issue right now. Instead, they suspended Parliament to save their political skins, putting the livelihoods of Canadians at risk in face of this unjustified threat," Lantsman said in a media statement.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said the federal government will be there to help affected workers and businesses get through the economic fallout of Trump's threatened trade war.

To that end, Ottawa is preparing a multibillion-dollar aid package to shore up the economy, if necessary, government sources told CBC News.

The government hasn't settled on just how much financial support could be made available given there are still many uncertainties, the sources said.

Some aid measures could be adopted without parliamentary approval, but others under consideration would need approval, the sources said. Support from at least one other major party in the House of Commons would be necessary to get that relief through this minority Parliament.

Singh compares measure to COVID relief

Trump has said he will hit Canada and Mexico with 25 per cent tariffs on all their goods as of Feb. 1.

A White House spokesperson said Tuesday the tariffs are expected to take effect on Saturday, as Trump has planned.

Pressed to say clearly what he intends to do if the Liberals need a parliamentary dance partner to get potential relief legislation through the House of Commons, Singh said he wants to help workers.

Singh raised what the Liberal government did during the pandemic when it worked with the other parties to quickly pass relief at a time of national crisis.

"I think we need to have a discussion like we did during COVID to discuss how to support workers," he said.

The minority Liberal government didn't have to worry about falling on a confidence vote because it had the support of the other parties to carry on through the health emergency.

Then, after the 2021 federal election, the NDP signed a formal supply-and-confidence agreement to prop up the Liberal government over a longer term.

Singh ripped up that agreement last fall. After Chrystia Freeland dramatically resigned from cabinet in December, Singh said the Liberals' time was up and his party will vote against the government as soon as it can.

Trudeau resigned earlier this month and the Liberal Party is in the midst of a leadership race to pick its next leader.

The NDP has been unequivocal until now about its intentions to vote down the Liberal government.

"We don't have confidence in this government, whoever is the leader of the Liberal Party. So, we have been really clear about that. We will vote non-confidence when the House will be back," said Alexandre Boulerice, the party's Quebec lieutenant, last week.

Peter Julian, the party's House leader, said the parliamentary session will last only a few days before the opposition parties vote together to bring down the new Liberal leader and their government. 

'Get ready for a bit of a bumpy ride,' says minister

While Parliament is prorogued, the Liberal government is still at work trying to get Trump to drop his tariff push.

Trudeau and his cabinet ministers are crafting Canada's response to Trump if the tariffs go ahead, which is likely to include tens of billions of dollars of retaliatory tariffs of U.S. goods.

Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Tuesday Canadians should be bracing for turmoil in the months to come as Ottawa fights back against an unpredictable president who is hellbent on imposing tariffs despite clear evidence it could be an act of economic self-sabotage.

"This is a process and we will be working through this process, I would expect, for some time," he said at an announcement in Saskatchewan. "People should get ready for a bit of a bumpy ride." 

Wilkinson laid out in stark terms why Trump's promised 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods will inflict not only "significant, negative economic impacts on Canada" but also the United States and its people.

Trump claimed in a speech to the World Economic Forum last week that the U.S. "doesn't need" Canada or its natural resources. Wilkinson said that just isn't true.

To start, if Trump goes ahead with a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian oil, American gas prices could jump by as much as $0.75 US a gallon overnight, Wilkinson said.

That's because U.S. Midwest refineries that supply the region's gas stations are built to process heavy crude that comes from Alberta.

"They don't produce heavy crude in the United States. Their choice in the Midwest is — they have none," he said.

And American farmers will pay dramatically more for Saskatchewan potash, a product that's critical to fertilizers for agriculture, Wilkinson said.

Electricity prices will soar, too, because so much of America is powered by hydro from provinces like B.C., Ontario and Quebec, he said.