Premier Doug Ford insists there isn’t a major split in ‘Team Canada’ approach, as prairie provinces urge the federal government to drop electric vehicle tariffs, which are in place predominantly to shield Ontario jobs.
A letter from Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew to Prime Minister Mark Carney last week urged him to drop 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, after China’s ambassador suggested his country would end its crippling canola tariffs in response.
“Seize the opportunity presented by recent remarks from the Chinese ambassador to Canada,” Kinew wrote. “He indicated that China is prepared to lift its tariffs on Canadian canola and pork if Canada removes the 100 per cent tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles.”
Tariffs on canola were introduced after Canada added tariffs to Chinese electric vehicles a year ago, along with the United States, predominantly to protect Ontario’s fledgling electric vehicle industry.
In August, China imposed a tariff of nearly 76 per cent on Canadian canola seed after an anti-dumping investigation into the country’s canola crop.
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Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has also called on Ottawa to drop its tariffs and even visited China in an attempt to smooth the relationship. He said the electric vehicle tariffs were put in place to protect Ontario’s “non-existent” electric vehicle industry at the “expense” of Western Canada.
Asked about the latest push to remove the tariffs during a fireside chat at Toronto’s Empire Club, Ford said he understood Moe’s motivation but thought he was wrong.
“I had a conversation the other day, Scott called me up and said, ‘I gotta protect my farmers,’” Ford recalled. “I get it, I get it. I get why Wab Kinew and Scott are saying drop the tariffs, but I have to do the same thing.”
He said the number of jobs in Ontario’s auto sector outweighed the export value of canola to China, and therefore justified the tariffs.
“So I respect what they’re doing, but there’s no damn way we should drop the tariffs on China. Absolutely not.”
When the tariffs were first introduced in October 2024, Queen’s Park and Ottawa had offered Honda, Volkswagen, Stellantis and Ford Motor either direct infrastructure funding or production-related tax incentives if they chose Ontario as their generational home.
The government was anticipating thousands of direct manufacturing jobs and new positions at spinoff companies as a result, raising the stakes in a global battle for the future of the electric vehicle market.
The impact of tariffs from the United States on vehicles and the slowing global demand for electric vehicles, however, has put the plan in jeopardy. While a massive battery plant in St. Thomas, Ont., is going ahead, others have paused or pulled back.
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