Randy Boissonnault, Edmonton Centre MP, speaks with Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins about U.S. President Donald Trump pausing 25-per cent tariffs on Canadian exports.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Michael Higgins: This has gone from impending doom and gloom to a one-month reprieve. So what’s changed such that it appears Canadian voices have managed to get through?
Randy Boissonnault: I think it’s the full court press. It’s the government, its ministerial colleagues, its MPs, and the conversations between the prime minister and the president have been constructive. It’s also the full Team Canada approach, premiers weighing in, and also Canadian business.
I think you’re hearing some of the stories come out about the role of the auto sector in yesterday’s conversation, the role of big business in the U.S. At the end of the day, though, this is a clear message to the Americans that if you’re going to levy punishing economic tariffs on us, we’re going to push back. And I think the president and his team saw that we’re pleased with where we are. We know there’s a 30-day clock that’s ticking down and we’re going to work every day to make sure that tariffs stay off, even after these next 30 days.
MH: Donald Trump musing again about annexing Canada, claiming our country does not treat the U.S. well. How worried should Canadians be about this cycling back to the same uncomfortable, worrisome dialogue around tariffs?
RB: I don’t like it, we don’t like it, it’s disrespectful. And none of the math adds up to that.
We died fighting next to American soldiers in theatres of war going back decades, and this is the largest undefended border in the world. Let’s just look at it from what the president likes, which is talking numbers in business: US$2.5 billion dollars U.S. a day, that’s C$3.6 billion Canadian a day, that crosses our border.
Tens of thousands of jobs at stake in just a few sectors on the American side. And so our job is to make sure that what the president said that these tariffs were about, which is fentanyl and illegal migrants, is simply not the case. It’s less than one per cent of fentanyl going to the United States from our border, less than 1 per cent of migrants. I’ll give you the numbers: 43 pounds of fentanyl went from Canada to the U.S, while 21,900 pounds came into the U.S. from the southern border.
We’re not the issue and the fact that the president is using that as the issue, I think you could see the prime minister unravel some of that, and get to the bottom of it in the conversations that he had. Now we are here with this 30-day reprieve.
MH: How much of a nod do you give to Danielle Smith’s efforts to engage diplomatically, to advance an Alberta take on beefing up the border?
RB: I think beefing up the border was something we were doing regardless. I’m happy that the Alberta government has decided to put resources in as well. It’s a Team Canada approach.
Premier Smith signed up on the $155 billion in tariffs, the waves of tariffs that were going to come until we got this 30-day reprieve. The premiers, the prime minister, Team Canada, with the entire Canadian business ecosystem, lobbying our friends and allies to the States is important, but look, if the U.S. is going to pick a fight with us, we’re going to fight back.
I’ve been hearing from constituents and I’m hearing from stakeholders: They’re not happy. They’re not happy at how the United States is treating us and they’re making long-term decisions about buying products that now come from countries other than the United States.
MH: To what degree do you see this tariffs turmoil having an impact, or influencing the outcome of the Liberal leadership race? Who advances as the next short-term prime minister?
RB: I think if this plays right into Chrystia Freeland strengths. Full disclosure, I’m her Alberta chair, but even if you take that out of the mix, she’s the one that faced down Donald Trump in the NAFTA negotiations. She’s the reason we have NAFTA 2.0.
Donald Trump has a nickname for Chrystia Freeland; he calls her the killer because he said that she killed his really good deal and the Canadians got a better deal. That’s good for us. As a lifetime Liberal, and an MP, and a former minister, I’ll say this: We need a prime minister that hits the ground Day 1, no training wheels needed.
I think when you see the debates within the Liberal Party, among the leaders, this issue will loom large because I think the ballot question has now shifted to who can best defend Canada, who can best stand up to Donald Trump? And I think you’ll see the edge go to Chrystia on that.
MH: When you came out and publicly said that you were putting your support behind Chrystia Freeland, it was at that same time that you were announcing that you would seek re-election. This, of course, after having stepped away from your role as employment minister. That was late last year and was under that cloud of controversy around Indigenous identity claims. What have you done to clear that cloud and feel confident in putting your name forward again?
RB: Let’s go back to where all of this started, which was questions around a former business associate of mine. He is getting sued this week and so I’m working on that right now. I’m suing the business partner, I’m bringing that lawsuit forward just so that people understand that, because I think it’s important for me to clear my name and clear the air with respect to that.
When it comes to the questions of Indigeneity, I’ll say it again as I’ve said in my statement: I’m not Indigenous, I’ve never claimed to be Indigenous, and I’ve always been an ally to Indigenous peoples and will continue to do that work.
We just made a big announcement last week on trade wins, $5 million to train Indigenous people in the trades, particularly women in the trades, because I want to see First Peoples thrive in our city, in our province, in our country.
That’s my job as MP for Edmonton Centre, and I’m ready to battle the next election and make sure that we have Liberal representation in our city and in our province. I am already the chosen candidate for the Liberal Party in Edmonton Centre and I’ll be fighting that next election, whenever it happens in 2025. We could be into an election at the end of March. When we go back March 24, we’ve got to pass a supply bill, we will see where President Trump is with tariffs, we may need to pass legislation to either provide supports to workers and to businesses, we may need to pass legislation from a tariffs perspective.
Whatever our next wave of responses is, the reality is we will have an election in 2025 and when that election happens, I’ll be the candidate for Edmonton Centre for the Liberal Party.
