With Alberta and other Canadian provinces bracing for possible heavy new tariffs from the incoming U.S. regime, provincial and federal leaders have met to map out possible responses.
With many Alberta companies – including the vital petroleum and forestry industries in this district – depending on export to America, the threat of their products suddenly becoming much less attractive to customers must be taken seriously.
Whether the tariffs will actually come into place remains to be seen, probably early in 2025. What is known is that elected leaders here are right to work with industry and other stakeholders to prepare for the worst.
For her part, Premier Danielle Smith says her UCP government plans to start doing more to patrol the province’s southern border with the U.S. to address concerns with illegal activities such as smuggling and drug trafficking.
“I communicated this very clearly to the prime minister, and further indicated that Alberta will be acting urgently and decisively to patrol our own shared border with Montana,” said Smith.
“In the coming months, my ministers and I will be working aggressively to reach out to our U.S. allies involved with the incoming U.S. administration and Congressional leadership to work on strengthening our economic and energy partnership.”
Whether the new U.S. regime will look favourably – or even take any notice whatsoever – of the Smith’s government’s plan to step up patrols on the Alberta-Montana border remains anyone’s guess.
Hopefully the Alberta-taxpayer funded effort will lead to a reduction in cross-border criminal activities, including the smuggling of illegal firearms and the movement of organized crime groups into this province from the U.S.
Nevertheless, a made-in-Canada response involving close cooperation among provincial and federal governments probably holds out the greatest chance of successfully countering the possible new U.S. tariffs.
As such, the Alberta business community will be watching closely to see if Premier Smith is prepared, in this case, to put the livelihoods of Albertans ahead of her ongoing war with the Trudeau government.
Dan Singleton is an editor with the Albertan.
