Candidates clash on carbon tax, trade and tariffs at Battlefords–Lloydminster–Meadow Lake forum

Q: Small and medium sized businesses are struggling with rising costs due to inflation, supply chain disruptions and interest rates. What measures will you take to stabilize costs and support business sustainability?

Darrell Patan (CFP): “The CFP will break down the trade barriers between provinces and territories so that both small business and the agricultural sector as well as other larger Canadian businesses can freely trade and move across the country.”

Larry Ingram (LPC): “We’re working with big unions, businesses and industries to support workers impacted by the tariffs… introducing a new $15,000 benefit for workers to upskill and train in the middle of their careers in priority industries and covering training costs for new apprentices up to $8,000.”

William Petryk (NDP): “The NDP has always supported skills training because this is something any business relies on. In addition, there are grants and tax incentives to small manufacturing industries. Additionally, there’s infrastructure, if anyone just drives on gravel roads, this does cause wear and tear on vehicles and makes it difficult to get to and from your place of employment.”

Q: The carbon tax has significantly increased costs for businesses, especially energy intensive sectors. Will you eliminate the federal carbon pricing framework to ensure businesses remain competitive or redesign it?

Patan: “If we would have a mandate, we would repeal the carbon tax as it was made by Justin Trudeau. However, we would sit with industry and come up with an industrial carbon tax… the bigger users are the ones that are causing the biggest problems, so they’re the ones that we need to come up with a plan.

Petryk: “You’re right. No one likes carbon tax. Maybe call it a carbon initiative… I’ve always been against opa, OPA taxes or hidden taxes that you’re not aware of. I believe that carbon taxes should be transparent. So if you’re going to a gas station, whatever, you know exactly what a carbon tax is and there should be initiatives to reduce carbon tax. Better insulation for homes, better transportation infrastructure can now reduce our car carbon footprint.

Ingram: “As Prime Minister Mark Carney has already delivered by eliminating the consumer carbon tax, which has already relieved pressure on Canadians at the pump and cool inflation down to 2.3 per cent in March….they’ve been dropped. That wasn’t incentive to get companies and people to quit using carbon fossil fuels as much as they were, and I would think that most people in the room have probably felt that they backed off on the amount of fuel they were using over the past few years and have switched to electric here and there. Maybe not totally, but most of us have done something like that, like with myself, I bought an electric lawn mower and an electric snowblower, and so I didn’t have to worry about starting the gas motors again. So that’s been in a lot of people’s minds, [and] you see a fair amount of solar panels here and there.”

Q: Federal debt is at record levels and rising interest payments could lead to higher taxes or reduced services. What is your concrete plan to reduce the national debt while avoiding further tax burdens on businesses?

Patan: “Canada is not in a position to start offering fancy tax breaks… We are under a threat from many places in this world… We need responsible deficits that are transparent to the taxpayer because we need increases in military spending. We need to make sure that our borders are secure and safe.”

Ingram: “The party would be working to decrease the debt by getting everybody working, maybe not everybody but increase the workforce again so that most people are employed and working. That’s the fastest way to reduce the debt federally, is to get the people working, get our product to market because as we get our product to market, we pay off our debts and we pay taxes, and the debt gets paid down. But we also have more sales across the country.”

Petryk: “The NDP has always been in favor of transparency and spending.We do spend on investment… properly monitor spending [and] make sure transparency.”

Q: What are you going to do to help eliminate large tariffs on our agriculture sector and how urgently will you act?

Petryk: “We have to make trade agreements with people that respect their agreements… and do not bow out of them to make a point.”

Ingram: “As soon as the tariffs were put on, he [Prime Minister Carney] went outside of the Canada US area and tried looking for more markets for our grain and our products to be shipped to and signing agreements with other countries besides the United States, so I think that that’s basically what we’re going to have to do.”

Patan: “The CFP would also introduce tax and policy incentives to help Canadian businesses diversify their exports beyond the increasingly protectionist U.S. market.”

Closing remarks

Patan: “A snap election makes it difficult for some parties to be able to compete. Our party is only eight months old… I am still brave enough to sit up here and look you guys in the face and into that camera to say that the Canadian Future Party is offering the only fiscally responsible and socially progressive option in Canadian politics.”

Ingram: “Mark Carney and the Liberal team are ready to step up for workers, for families, and for seniors to build the fastest growing economy in the G7. The Mark Carney led government would implement a tax cut for the middle class, build 500,000 homes a year so every Canadian can buy a home {and] strengthen a $10 a day childcare. ”

Petryk: “Canadians believe in taking care of each other. Now more than ever, we need New Democrats to fight for working people — not one who puts billionaires first.”

The forum was live-streamed on the chamber’s YouTube page.

The 2025 Canadian federal election is scheduled for April 28. Voters in Saskatchewan can cast their ballots during advance voting on April 18, 19, 20, and 21.

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cjnbnews@pattisonmedia.com

by battlefordsNOW staff

Candidates clash on carbon tax, trade and tariffs at Battlefords–Lloydminster–Meadow Lake forum

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