{"id":16711,"date":"2025-02-17T19:06:19","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T19:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/02\/17\/trump-threat-looms-over-mlas-return-to-b-c-legislature\/"},"modified":"2025-02-17T19:06:19","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T19:06:19","slug":"trump-threat-looms-over-mlas-return-to-b-c-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/02\/17\/trump-threat-looms-over-mlas-return-to-b-c-legislature\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump threat looms over MLAs\u2019 return to B.C. legislature"},"content":{"rendered":"


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When British Columbia\u2019s Legislature opens for the first time in nine months on Tuesday, the driving force behind the province\u2019s politics and the government\u2019s upended agenda will be thousands of kilometres away.<\/p>\n

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New Lt.-Gov. Wendy Cocchia will deliver a throne speech outlining the NDP government\u2019s goals, opening the legislative session against the backdrop of economic uncertainty and the looming threat of whopping tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

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Already, at least one flagship promise is out the window, with last week\u2019s cancellation of the government\u2019s $1,000 grocery rebate by Finance Minister Brenda Bailey, who said the government would also have to \u201crevisit\u201d its election vow for a middle-income tax cut in future budgets.<\/p>\n

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B.C. was facing an \u201cunpredictable\u201d future she said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Opposition Leader John Rustad said the government should have been on this problem shortly after Trump won the U.S. election.<\/p>\n

\u201cShould we have had that honour of forming government, I would have been in Washington back in November,\u201d Rustad said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to understand how Trump negotiates. This is how he negotiates, right, with a lot of bluster and threats,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But Bailey said last week that the impact of Trump\u2019s threatened tariffs were impossible to predict, with B.C.\u2019s budget scheduled for release on March 4, the very day that a pause on Trump\u2019s threatened tariffs on Canadian exports expires.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAt a time when Canadians across the country are pulling together, our number one priority is to be ready to defend the people of B.C. no matter what comes next,\u201d Bailey said.<\/p>\n

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Bailey said that part of the government\u2019s response to the tariff threats will be to protect current resources, making sure that provincial investments are working as intended for the people of B.C.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFor the budget next month, it\u2019s impossible to predict what the tariffs may be, let alone their impacts. That makes it very challenging to know what we need to have at the ready to deliver targeted help for impacted businesses, people, workers to get through what could be an incredibly difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Premier David Eby was in Washington, D.C., last week along with Canada\u2019s other premiers and met with top White House officials.<\/p>\n

He told media afterwards that he believed there are ways the two countries can work together on Trump\u2019s demands to increase prosperity on both sides of the border.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what\u2019s on offer right now, unfortunately, is continued threats of tariffs, uncertainty. It\u2019s not clear what the objectives are, and in that atmosphere, British Columbia only has one choice, which is to look to other customers and that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

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