COLUMN: Report from the Legislature – We can weather the economic storm

I think it is safe to say that everyone getting tired of the rollercoaster ride of tariff threats being thrown around for the last couple months. Since president Trump’s inauguration, we have seen serious threats to our cross-border trade and relationship with the United States in general. Since the first threat we have heard many commitments and comments from political leaders across our country including our premier and prime minister. We do need to act but I am convinced that we will not be able to trade retaliate our way out of this mess. Donald Trump is in office for four years and he has set the stage for our relationship during that time. The only way to combat the effects on our economy is major deregulation and economic incentives in sectors that are most dependent on U.S. trade.

Instead of retaliation on the trade of products that substantially affect our citizens and insignificantly affect theres, we need to instead give our economy the tools to compete. The most certainty that we can see from retaliation is that it is going to push the president to increase tariffs in the days to come, which could outright cripple our economy. We instead need to remain competitive with U.S. companies making it harder on the people of the United States and their economy. This will in turn force them to put pressure on their government and the president. We see substantial regulation and taxation in each of the main trade sectors within our economy. Our region of the province is significantly based on agriculture and manufacturing. Within these two sectors of our economy, we can easily see far more than a 25 percent government burden on production as well as significant opportunity for government to enable growth. This same approach can be seen and used across all major sectors of our economy.

Examples of these taxes and regulation that make up more than 25 percent of the costs of production are things like the carbon tax, production levies, payroll tax, corporate tax and income tax. If we can cut taxes and regulations by more than the 25 percent for our local businesses and manufactures it will allow them to not only compete but also provide them the flexibility to react to ongoing market changes while keeping their employees working and happy. This not only will allow the economy stability but avoids the alternative government reaction which is debt driven subsidies which we have recently learnt the devastation that it can have on inflation and the stability of our economy.

We are an economy heavily dependent on exports of raw or near raw materials that our effect of retaliation is insignificant in the grand scheme of our trade position. Government should never get into business or in the way of business. It should be governments position right now to step out of the way of business and the economic growth of our province and country by allowing businesses the tools they need to remain competitive. The more money left in the pockets of Manitobans is more money into our economy. This trade war can be won with less government involvement instead of more.

I will continue to hold our government to account for the decisions that they make affecting our economy. It is important that we work together with all Manitobans to represent the unique but fragile trade environment within our economy. If you have any specific concerns or recommendations about trade relations and your specific industry don’t hesitate to reach out to help me understand. Contact me anytime at info@konradnarth.ca.