Canadians, Manitobans ready to fight: Kinew

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WINNIPEG — Standing in front of a massive Canadian flag hung in front of the Manitoba Legislative Building Tuesday morning, Premier Wab Kinew told Manitobans it was time to fight for the Maple Leaf.

“Today we’re sharing a message of unity here in Manitoba and a sense of resolve and commitment against what President Donald Trump is launching by way of an economic attack on this country that we love so much,” Kinew said just hours after Trump imposed 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports to the U.S.

“As humble and as friendly Manitoba, as we all want to be, when a fight finds its way to us, we’re a nation of hockey players,” he said, flanked by NDP caucus members in a biting wind.

“We know that when it is time to have a good scrap, Canadians and Manitobans are ready.”

Kinew announced payroll and retail sales tax deferrals for businesses impacted by the tariffs that opt in. The deferral will start with the February tax period and run for three months before the measure is reassessed, he said.

“This allows businesses to keep cash and protect your jobs,” Kinew wrote in a social media post.

The premier also ordered all U.S. booze off the shelves at Liquor Marts by today.

Kinew, who took part in a virtual meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the other premiers Tuesday, said removing American alcohol products from store shelves and relaxing interprovincial trade barriers will help Canadian businesses.

“So, if you want to go shopping for wine, buy a B.C. wine, buy a wine from Niagara,” he said. And if you want to have whisky, don’t buy bourbon, buy Crown Royal,” he said, referring to the made-in-Gimli product.

He said the province will take additional actions, if necessary.

“In the coming days, if these tariffs persist, we will continue to roll out additional non-tariff counter-measures to stick up for Manitobans and to stick up for Canada,” he said.

The province is looking at Manitoba Hydro exports to U.S. states and preventing American companies from winning provincial contracts, among other measures.

“We’ve got to stick up for ourselves as Canadians and to push back against this aggression from Donald Trump,” said Kinew, who supports Canada’s retaliatory tariffs. He called on leaders in the U.S. who’ve privately denounced tariffs to speak up publicly.

Manitoba business and labour groups responded to the measures announced by Kinew.

Some small businesses will appreciate the flexibility of payroll and retail sales tax deferrals, but permanent action “is more critical than ever,” said Tyler Slobogian, a Canadian Federation of Independent Business senior policy analyst in Winnipeg.

“This measure only delays their financial burden,” Slobogian said. “Manitoba’s small businesses need real, long-term cost relief to manage the ever-rising cost of doing business — a concern that 94 per cent of business owners say the government must address.

Manitoba Federation of Labour president Kevin Rebeck said relief offered to business owners should be accompanied by conditions that protect jobs.

“They shouldn’t be getting government supports to keep operating at the same time that they’re laying people off,” said Rebeck, who represents 125,000 unionized private- and public-sector workers.

“Protecting jobs in our economy and protecting businesses so that they can operate here and pay good, family-supporting wages — that has to be part of the plan.”

The City of Winnipeg said Tuesday that it’s working with the provincial and federal governments to align procurement strategies, establishing a new process to estimate and monitor the costs of indirect purchases of U.S. goods through Canadian suppliers, updating public tenders and new contracts to require contractors to explore alternative sources for equivalent goods and directing public servants to provide regular reports to the city’s finance committee on the financial impact of the tariffs.

“The city is committed to ensuring taxpayers get the best value for their dollar, and that means working together with all levels of government and industry partners to navigate these new tariffs,” Mayor Scott Gillingham said in a news release.

Keystone Agricultural Producers said Trump’s tariffs “will do nothing but harm farmers and consumers on both sides of the border.”

Manitoba’s agri-food exports were $9.28 billion last year, with 46 per cent of the canola, pork, potatoes, oats and other foods going over the border to its top trading partner, KAP said.

Michael Mikulak, executive director of Food and Beverage Manitoba, said U.S. hog processors may have to cull their herds because of the added costs from the tariffs.

“We send weanlings across the border — these are baby hogs that get fattened up in the States and then often are sent back for processing in some form,” said Mikulak, whose organization has 300 members from small grocery product manufacturers to large operations, such as Maple Leaf Foods.

“These are fully integrated supply chains … you are basically losing money to send them across the border. This is not something that anybody wants to do — these are living creatures. One of the worst things about the way that Trump is approaching this is the uncertainty. Nobody has time to plan, to react, to create contingencies.”

Canada needs to be “fighting back against these tariffs, and fostering deeper collaboration with the United States,” said Agricultural Manufacturers of Canada president Donna Boyd. In 2023, Manitoba agricultural manufacturing employed 5,000 people and exports to the U.S. totalled $1.16 billion.

» Winnipeg Free Press, with files by Eva Wasney