Ottawa not looking to ‘penalize’ Canadian firms offshoring jobs to U.S.
Global News
Unifor has urged Ottawa to prevent the loss of Canadian jobs to the U.S. by penalizing companies looking to avoid U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs.
The federal government has no plans to use legislative tools to penalize Canadian businesses for offshoring jobs to the United States or other countries to avoid American tariffs, the finance ministry says.
The clarifying statement comes after Unifor urged Ottawa last week to use existing measures to prevent the loss of Canadian jobs to south of the border, and strengthen the law through legislative amendments.
“The government is not implementing legislative tools to penalize Canadian companies who relocate abroad,” a finance ministry official said in a statement to Global News on Monday, following questions asking if the government would use new or existing legislation to do so.
“On the contrary, the government has put in place measures to support Canadian companies so they can continue to do business at home.”
The official cited the recently-announced remission framework that allows Canadian auto companies to import some U.S.-made vehicles tariff-free, “provided they continue to produce and invest in Canada,” as an example of such measures.
The statement comes as Parliament returns for its first session in more than five months, finally allowing legislators to consider measures to respond to U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada.
Trump has said his tariffs on Canada and trading partners around the world are intended to drive investment and manufacturing back to the U.S. He has specifically targeted the auto, steel and aluminum industries, which have relied on North American supply chains for decades.
Unifor — which represents tens of thousands of Canadian workers in those industries and others affected by Trump’s tariffs — wrote to Prime Minister Mark Carney and key cabinet ministers last week urging the government to take “immediate and decisive action” to prevent Canadian offshoring in response.
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