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Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has sustained significant criticism for what many consider to be a weak response to the threats of unjustified American tariffs.
Saskatchewan is among the provinces that is least reliant on trade with the United States, yet Premier Scott Moe has served up a soft response on tariffs.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has sustained significant criticism for what many consider to be a weak response to the threats of unjustified American tariffs.
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Moe has repeatedly focused on the need to “de-escalate” the trade conflict — in flagrant contrast to the tough talk of counter-tariffs and boycotts coming from virtually all other Canadian leaders and premiers.
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At a news conference on Monday to respond to the threat from U.S. President Donald Trump, Moe repeated information that will make his soft reaction to the tariffs threat even more puzzling.
Saskatchewan is among the provinces that relies least on trade with the United States, making you wonder why some resolute rhetoric has not been emanating from the Land of the Living Skies.
Saskatchewan trade with Trump-land amounts to 55 per cent of exports, according to Moe and Statistics Canada (as of November), well below the Canadian level of 77 per cent. Certainly, Saskatchewan’s dependence on U.S. trade needs to be taken seriously because it’s extremely significant.
But Saskatchewan has less at stake than most of Canada, which could provide some leeway for a stronger voice — especially from a premier who has repeatedly taken intransigent stances against the federal government and worried little about repercussions.
Moe has often been lumped with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith for taking a distinct path on Trump’s threats from the rest of Canada instead of forming a united front. But Alberta’s oil-fuelled American trade accounts for 89 per cent of its exports, which is the second highest in Canada.
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So you can at least understand why Smith is inclined to take a different trail on tariffs, even if you don’t agree. Moe’s pacifist path seems less justified and very out of character.
Compare him to British Columbia Premier David Eby, who has emerged as one of the strongest voices in the tariffs tiff while leading a province with about the same level of exports to the U.S. (54 per cent) as Saskatchewan.
Eby urged people two weeks ago to reconsider travel to Canada’s nearest neighbour. Moe, when faced with the imminent threat of 25 per cent tariffs, needed coaxing by journalists to offer a far less incendiary suggestion that people shop and travel local.
Perhaps winter stay-cations prove a tougher sell in a province where the temperature outside dipped to -28 C during Moe’s news conference in Saskatoon.
Yet Moe did warm up to retaliatory tariffs, which he said “unfortunately are necessary,” a few hours before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a one-month reprieve from the crippling measures.
While Moe’s advice for de-escalation sounds nice, you can hardly expect reason and logic from Trump, whose justification for igniting a trade war has shifted from alleged border concerns to a perceived trade imbalance to a push to annex Canada. Why Trump decided to pause tariffs is anybody’s guess.
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While Trump is providing Canadians with the best argument against ever joining the U.S., you can hardly expect to appease someone when you cannot even pin down his true motivation.
Yet Moe assessed the trade conflict as among the “most challenging situations” faced by Canadians outside of a war. However, his demeanour invokes Neville Chamberlain more than Winston Churchill as wartime leaders go.
Many will dismiss Moe because of this — which is a shame, since he brings some valid points to the conversation.
His suggestion that the Canada Border Services Agency be included under Canada’s military to help boost our delinquent defence spending seems worth considering, if not a stroke of genius.
And he noted the criticism his government has taken for global trade missions when the focus is now shifting to more diversified trade with the erratic Trump in charge south of the border.
It’s one thing for coastal B.C. to achieve more diversified trade, but it represents quite another level of accomplishment for landlocked Saskatchewan to do so.
Too bad so many will have already tuned out Moe and Saskatchewan when it comes to this trade conflict.
Phil Tank is the digital opinion editor at the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
@thinktanksk.bsky.social
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