‘We need a plan’: Gondek pushes province for more action on U.S. amid tariff war

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek says she’s relieved to see the UCP Government take action on tariffs imposed by the United States.

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek says while she’s relieved Alberta is taking some retaliatory action in the ongoing trade war with the United States, she questions why the province hasn’t unveiled plans for a $4-billion contingency fund set aside, in part, to mitigate the impact of potential U.S. tariffs.

The contingency fund was announced as part of Alberta’s most recent budget less than a week ago.

Though Premier Danielle Smith announced on Tuesday that Alberta will no longer buy American alcohol and video lottery terminals, she didn’t outline plans for the contingency fund.

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Gondek said while she supports halting the sale of U.S. liquor and creating trade deals interprovincially, there are a couple of “really big questions” that remain unanswered.

“What is the plan with the $4-billion contingency plan you set aside for tariffs?” Gondek said at an afternoon news conference.

“We need solutions that are designed to provide relief to people who will be the hardest hit. Oil, agriculture, manufacturing… they all sounded the alarm well before the tariffs actually went into place,” she said.

“We need a plan from the province that addresses the very real needs of people and businesses in Calgary.”

Gondek also questioned “what exactly” the provincial government’s “obsession with border security” would do at a time when Albertans and Calgarians are being “hammered by tariffs.”

“Just because President Trump manufactured a boogeyman and named it fentanyl doesn’t mean we have to play into his hand,” she said. “He made fentanyl at the border the red herring and this provincial government can’t seem to shake that.”

“Trying to appease a bully like Trump is not the Canadian way,” Gondek said.

Trump has put 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian goods and 10 per cent levies on energy, saying he wants Canada to take action on cross-border drug traffic.

Smith said on Wednesday that Alberta won’t play what she calls its “trump card” by reducing or levying oil and gas exports heading south.

With files from The Canadian Press