Conservative members of Parliament are calling for a committee probe next month that will ask ministers and officials responsible for dealing with the United States on tariffs to testify.
“Conservatives have launched a motion, calling for the International Trade Committee to hold hearings beginning the week of January 6 through to January 20, when 25 percent tariffs may be imposed if a deal isn’t secured,” the party said in a press release Tuesday.
“This House of Commons order will force testimony from key ministers, border enforcement, the RCMP, Canada’s Ambassador to the United States, and top officials responsible for securing a Canada First deal with the United States.”
The Conservatives said the Liberal government was in a “state of chaos” following the resignation of Chrystia Freeland, who was also the chair of the cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations, as finance minister and deputy prime minister.
“This chaos cannot continue, especially as Canadians stare down the barrel of 25 percent tariffs from the United States that would devastate our already failing economy,” the Conservatives said, adding that it was important to have a plan in place before Donald Trump takes office as U.S. president in January.
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Freeland resigned from cabinet early Monday — doing so in a scathing letter to the prime minister that cited a difference of opinion on the direction of federal finances — leaving Karina Gould, leader of the government in the House of Commons, to table the fall economic statement in the chamber.
Dominic LeBlanc was sworn in as the new minister of finance and of intergovernmental affairs in a brief ceremony at Rideau Hall on Monday afternoon.
Last month, Trump said he will sign an executive order imposing a 25 per cent tariff on all products arriving in the United States from Canada and Mexico.
The president-elect posted to Truth Social that the duties will be among his actions on his first day back in the White House on Jan. 20 — Inauguration Day.
Trump said the tariff will remain in place until both countries stop drugs, in particular fentanyl, and people from illegally crossing the borders. He said until those issues are solved, Canada and Mexico will “pay a very big price!”
–with files from The Canadian Press
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