Joe Biden and Returning to Work in Ottawa

Returning to the office or “normal” life has been a priority for both employers and employees. The exception is Canadian Parliament.

Some of us recall that a federal election was conducted on September 20, 2021. The House of Commons with an extremely low number of newly-elected MPs returned to Ottawa for their first formal session on November 22 – an event which occurred a full two months after the vote.

Arguments on timing aside, there is a heavy volume of items for the legislative agenda, particularly from corporate Canada. Businesses and the Canadians they employ, according to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, are anxious for Parliament to resume and deliver measures that will initiate and sustain economic growth. The focus of the new government should be a competitive tax and regulatory system, securing talent for employers across Canada, trade enabling infrastructure, and foreign policy reform.

Robert Asselin of the Business Council of Canada noted the economy does not appear to be the focus or a priority for the new cabinet. The current shortage of skilled workers, for example, needs an elevated level of collaboration between government and business to transfer and integrate qualified people into high demand occupations.

Perhaps the most ominous and challenging question for the Trudeau administration is their future relationship with American President Joe Biden and the subsequent impact on Canadian business. The Waterloo Region Record published an intriguing editorial on November 15, 2021, stating that it is now the current Democrat, not the real estate developer who left the Oval Office in January, who is providing Ottawa with challenges.

A compatible relationship similar to the relatively short partnership between Justin Trudeau and Barack Obama, which included endorsements following endorsements, seemed guaranteed with President Biden but has not materialized.

In his first day of office and by convention his first opportunity to function as President, Biden cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline which was annoying to the federal cabinet and devastating to the Alberta cabinet lead by Premier Jason Kenney. The Record editorial also referenced the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline and Washington’s absence from the on-going dispute between Michigan and everyone north (and some south) of the border. The decision on Keystone was probably sufficient energy controversy for President Biden and he has determined that Michigan can solve their own problems – or at least attempt to solve Enbridge. Voters and businesses in the Midwest states are nervous because energy supplies in Ohio, Michigan and beyond are sourced from Alberta and arrive through Line 5.

The Build Back Better plan passed recently by Congress offering huge incentives for American consumers to purchase American made electric vehicles rather than Canadian manufactured models is quite popular within the White House. Passage would lead manufacturers to invest in American plants like they invested in Canada a half century ago from the Auto Pact and Medicare.

Flavio Volpe of the Canadian-based Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association called the proposed incentives a bigger threat than anything pointed at us by Donald Trump. Also, as noted by Don Pitts in a November 22, 2021, CBC article, the incentives are directed to electric vehicles and batteries made by unionized labour in the United States. The Ontario electric vehicle strategy announced by Premier Ford will be stalled like a 1959 Ford Edsel against the American action.

Three decades ago, when Bob Rae assumed the Premier’s Office at Queen’s Park, his Finance Minister Floyd Laughren delivered a then-unthinkable 1991 spring budget carrying a deficit of $10 billon plus. Protestors from Bay Street – people wearing expensive suits and waving placards – descended on the front lawn of the Legislature demanding more fiscal discretion.

The message to the government of a speaker from one of these budget protests was that you as elected officials work for us – not the other way around. Same rules apply today and tomorrow. Hopefully Ottawa is listening to Canadian voters like Biden can hear Americans.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Art Sinclair

Art is Vice President Policy and Advocacy for the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce.