Canada First

The tariff news out of the U.S. has shaken our country, and directly affected the
citizens in our riding. My message is this: Canada will fight back. We will defend our
people and our economy, and we will put Canada First.
It will be tough, but building Canada was tough. Canadians are resilient.
I am committed to restoring the country we know and love, and to ensuring that
Canada will be always be self-reliant, sovereign and stand on its own two feet.
We must reward hard work, unleash entrepreneurs, harvest our resources, make
our own goods, trade with each other, build homes, secure our borders, rebuild our
military, honour our history and raise our flag.
What binds us together is the Canadian promise: Anyone from anywhere can
achieve anything. It’s a belief that hard work gets you a great life, in a beautiful
home, on a safe street, protected by solid borders and brave troops under our proud
flag. To preserve that flag and its promise we must work together, fight together and
win together.
That is what it means to put Canada First.
Our country is worth fighting for.
For our people.
For our land.
For our home.
For Canada.

Support Local Businesses

There has been a lot of discussion about buying Canadian since the threat of tariffs
began. Buying Canadian should always be a priority. But it is also more important than
ever that we support Toronto—St. Paul’s small businesses. There are hundreds of local
restaurants, grocers and retailers who rely on your support.
How tariffs will hurt local businesses:

1. Tariffs can make it more expensive for small businesses to purchase imported
   goods and materials. These increased costs can strain cash flow and lead to a
   decrease in profit margins.
2. To cover the higher cost of goods, small businesses may need to increase their
   prices. This can impact sales as customers may turn to larger companies or
   competitors that offer lower prices.
3. Tariffs will cause a significant decrease in sales for local businesses who export to
   the U.S.
4. Tariffs can disrupt the global supply chain, making it more difficult for small
   businesses or their suppliers to get the goods they need. As a result, businesses
   may not be able to fill customer orders, which can lead to a loss of revenue.
   

If you are a small business owner, and are affected by tariffs, we would like to
hear from you.

FACTOID: In order for an item to be labelled a Product of Canada, the government
mandates that at least 98 percent of the total direct cost of producing it be Canadian,
while products Made in Canada only require 51 per cent.

The 7-Point Plan

• First, we must retaliate, targeting American goods in the following order:
  • Goods we can make ourselves.
  • Goods we don’t need.
  • Goods we can get from elsewhere.
• Second, counter-tariffs must not be a cash cow for the government.
  • Almost every penny of the tariffs collected should go to tax relief, with a
  • sum set aside for targeted relief to workers hit hardest by the trade war.
• Third, we must immediately pass a Bring It Home Tax Cut, lowering taxes on work, investment, energy, and homebuilding
  • Starting by axing the carbon tax, the sales tax on new homes, the capital gains tax hike and slashing income tax, so hard work again pays off.
• Fourth, we must immediately repeal the No New Pipelines Law to get projects built.
  • We must greenlight LNG plants, mines, pipelines, and refineries that will bring home jobs and paycheques, make us less reliant on the Americans and help us sell more overseas.
• Fifth, we must accelerate homebuilding.
  • We must unleash a homebuilding boom by immediately removing red tape and taxes on housing construction so we can build homes our workers can afford.
• Sixth, let’s get the provinces together to knock down trade barriers and become one national free market economy, so we can bring home lower prices for Canadians. (See section below).
• Seventh, we must secure our borders and rebuild our military to assert our sovereignty and strength in the world.

Focus on Interprovincial Trade Barriers

Trade barriers between Canadian provinces are more costly than trade barriers
between Canada and other nations. The result is that we now trade more with the rest
of the world than we do with ourselves: in 2023, international trade was worth 66% of
GDP, while interprovincial trade was only worth 36%. That makes no sense.
The current agreement has 133 pages’ worth of carve-outs, exempting such goods as
alcoholic beverages, cannabis and fireworks from interprovincial transport.
A recent study by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business found that getting
rid of these sorts of internal trade barriers could boost Canada’s GDP by up to $200
billion annually.
That’s why I support bringing together the Premiers to agree on removing as many
trade exemptions as possible. We must prioritize one standard set of trucking rules to
get billions of dollars of goods moving east-west instead of only going north-south. This
move alone would boost GDP by $1.6 billion.

I also support a Blue Seal Professional Licensing Standard to be recognized in every
province and territory so doctors, nurses and engineers can work where needed and
Canadians trained abroad can quickly get certified.
As your MP, I support rewarding provinces with a “free trade bonus” each time they
remove a trade barrier. The bonus will be set by calculating the resulting GDP boost
from the deregulation, with the province getting an equivalent federal transfer.