REGINA - Opposition New Democrats are calling for Premier Scott Moe and provincial ministers to release records showing what the China trade office has done in the last six months.
On Tuesday the NDP were again accusing the China trade office of not addressing the China tariffs on canola, including 100 per cent tariffs imposed on canola oil and meal and the most recent 75.8 per cent tariff on canola seed.
In a news release the NDP also blasted Premier Moe for not going on a trade mission sooner to China. They called out Moe for having not visited China in six years.
“The canola tariffs are one of the biggest issues facing our province right now. We need our trade offices and our government firing on all cylinders. Producers rightly deserve to know what the Premier has done to try to fix them, and what goals he’s set for his China mission,” said Opposition Leader Carla Beck in a statement.
“It took six months of job-killing tariffs for Moe to finally get up off his seat and consider launching this trade mission. Tariffs have only gotten worse, and our producers rightly deserve to know that their government has made removing them a top priority.”
In response to the NDP the government issued a statement regarding Premier Moe’s upcoming visit to China, which they stated will “aim to advocate on behalf of Saskatchewan at producers and processors, with the goal of having China remove or significantly reduce its canola tariffs.”
“While Premier Moe will be strongly advocating for the removal of tariffs, it will ultimately be the federal government that must engage with China to make this happen. That is why Premier Moe has invited Prime Minister Carney and other federal Ministers to join this trade mission.”
The Sask Party government also pointed to the value of merchandise exports in the province having grown by 50 per cent since 2018, “from $30 billion to now averaging nearly $50 billion per year, over the last three years.”
“The lost, reckless, and dishonest NDP need to come clean about their position on foreign trade. Last fall, they campaigned on closing down trade offices calling them ‘wasteful’, while referring to international trade missions as ‘junkets.’ Recently they have called for the expansion of trade, saying these trade offices should be more widely utilized. With this kind of hypocrisy and inconsistency, it’s no wonder Saskatchewan people will never trust the NDP.”
