Municipality of Boissevain-Morton Calls for Clear Direction from Federal and Provincial Governments on Tariff Issue

The Head of Council with the Municipality of Boissevain-Morton is calling on the federal and provincial governments to establish a clear path forward, whether we have or do not have tariffs to deal with. Despite suggestions earlier this year that the United States would impose across the board 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, such tariffs not yet come into effect and discussions continue.

Judy Swanson, the Head of Council with the Municipality of Boissevain-Morton, says the uncertainty makes it difficult for farmers who are deciding what to plant and for municipalities planning budgets and she calls for clear direction from the federal and provincial governments.

Clip-Judy Swanson-Municipality of Boissevain-Morton:

I'm not sure how effective they've been be honest. I think it depends on one person and that's the President of the United States as to how effective anybody is. It seems to be that he makes a decision one day and then the next day he changes that decision. So, really think they're doing the best they can, all of the different government levels, and they're trying to make sure that they have a backup plan.I'd like a steady course.

I'd like them to actually lay out what will happen to us, what their plan is. I keep hearing "we'll maybe do this or we'll maybe do that."As a municipality, we have to make sure our budgets are balanced.We have to know what's coming. We really depend on the provincial in particular and the federal government in order to make sure that this works.So, what I would like to see from them is, this is the plan. If the tariffs go forward, this is what we're going to do. If they don't go forward, this is what we're going to do.But, if anything has been done, it has made us well aware that we are really dependant on the U.S. and maybe that's a good thing.Maybe we need to start looking elsewhere.

Swanson suggests the pubic needs to be aware that a lot of the tariffs scare is just that, tariff scare and tariffs have not been imposed so the increasing prices are not all the result of tariffs but rather inflation.