A day to celebrate all things Canada. That is Premier Wab Kinew’s plan for the first weekend of April.
Before briefing members of the press about a first ministers call about U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, Kinew first wanted to focus on a “Rally for Canada.”
He said the family-friendly event is scheduled for April 6 in front of the Manitoba legislature at 1 p.m.
“Send a strong message that we’ll never be the 51st state. We’ll always be true north, strong and free,” said Kinew.
He said now is the time to celebrate this country and stand up in the face of uncertainty.
More details are expected to come closer to the date, but he said people should expect food trucks, kid-friendly activities, face painting, and he encourages everyone to wear red or their Canadian tuxedo.
Group call with Carney, premiers
Prime Minister Mark Carney briefed premiers Friday following his phone call with Trump, which has been described as “very constructive” by Carney and a “very, very good” talk by Trump.
Kinew said there was good discussion in the group call from all premiers, and he personally feels in lockstep with Carney on the direction Canada needs to go in the face of tariffs.
“I shared a few perspectives from here in Manitoba. One, it’s time to buy Canadian and build Canadian,” said Kinew. “I think that Mark Carney and myself, we had a really good alignment on that, the idea that we are going to face this period of turbulence and one of the things that we can do to shore up and build up our economy is to really prioritize buying Canadian.”
He said he also addressed how Manitoba is being impacted by tariffs – from canola and pork tariffs from China to steel and aluminum tariffs from the United States.
“There’s a lot of public attention on the Trump tariffs for good reason, but we’ve got to find a path forward on the pork and canola tariffs for Manitoba.”
Following the call, Kinew said every premier is on Team Canada and agrees on a “strong, coordinated approach.”
“We all know that every team has a variety of personalities in the locker room, and winning teams happen to be able to be the ones that bring them all together towards a common goal. And right now, the common goal is to power our Canadian economy towards the future.”
Widespread tariffs on Canadian goods could be imposed on April 2 by the United States.
