Canada PM Mark Carney unveils tariff relief, ‘nation building’ reforms
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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada will also make it easier and faster for affected workers to access government support programmes.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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OTTAWA – Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a flurry of measures aimed at blunting the pain of US tariffs as well as “nation-building” reforms to boost trade and investment days before he’s expected to call an election.
In a bid to mitigate the economic hit from sweeping import taxes on Canadian goods proposed by US President Donald Trump, Canada will temporarily allow businesses to defer payments of corporate income tax and consumption tax remittances, Mr Carney said in Ottawa late on March 21.
The move would apply April 2 to June 30, his office added in a statement later.
In addition, Canada will deploy a new government financing facility and make it easier and faster for affected workers to access government support programmes, he said, without detailing the budget impact of the moves.
“These measures as a whole will help our workers, help keep our businesses running, and protect our economy during this phase of the trade war,” said Mr Carney, who was sworn in as Prime Minister a week ago
“We are in a crisis – not of our own making.”
Industry Minister Anita Anand later outlined a C$450 million (S$415.98 million) boost over five years for regional development agencies to help small and medium-sized businesses affected by tariffs.
Mr Carney didn’t stop there.
Under pressure from US import tariffs already put in place
At his March 21 evening news conference, Mr Carney also announced measures aimed at stimulating investment and accelerating the movement of goods, services and workers between the country’s 13 provinces and territories.
By harmonising regulations, he said, “we can create that truly open and one Canadian market”.
The Prime Minister claimed eliminating Canada’s internal barriers would increase the size of its economy by C$250 billion.
“It is high time to build things that we never imagined and to build them at a speed that we have never seen,” said Mr Carney, a former governor of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England.
Some of the other measures Mr Carney announced include:
Developing a “national trade and energy corridor strategy” for transportation, energy, critical minerals, and digital connectivity
Removal of all federal exemptions under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement
Legislation to be introduced by July 1 would remove federal barriers to the inter-provincial trade of goods
The government will also remove labour mobility restrictions for federally-regulated jobs, and eliminate “federal duplicative requirements” by recognising provincial assessments for major projects.
“One project, one review,” Mr Carney said regarding that final point, adding that officials will also create what he called a “one-window approval process”.
The new measures include a “first-mile fund” for capital to build transmission and transportation networks to link natural resource extraction sites to existing railways and roads, as well as doubling the size of Canada’s indigenous loan guarantee program to C$10 billion.
Canada will also work with provinces and indigenous groups to identify “projects of national significance” in an attempt to get them built faster.
He cited three examples: investments in the port of Churchill in Manitoba, and the west coast liquid natural gas facilities Cedar LNG and LNG Canada – the latter of which could have a second phase which doubles its output. BLOOMBERG
