OTTAWA — The New Democrats and Conservatives pitched fresh ideas on the federal election trail Thursday to make Canada and its workers more resilient in the face of tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh proposed tax-free savings bonds, while Pierre Poilievre said a Conservative government would remove the federal sales tax from Canadian-made vehicles.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney, in his role as prime minister, met virtually Thursday with Canada’s premiers to discuss the U.S. tariffs as Canadian automakers started to feel the effects.
Speaking after the meeting, Carney announced Canada will match Trump’s 25 per cent auto tariffs with a levy on vehicles imported from the United States.
He said every dollar raised through the counter-tariffs would go directly to Canadian auto workers and affected companies.
The Canada Victory Bonds proposed by the NDP would be available in 5-year and 10-year terms and pay a compounding interest rate of 3.5 per cent, the party said in a media statement.
Singh told a campaign event in Ottawa that Canadians are looking for ways to support their country and “do their part.”
“This is an opportunity for Canadians to invest in our country. In fact, during the world war, victory bonds raised more revenue than taxes,” Singh said at the National Arts Centre with the National War Memorial behind him.
Interest earned on the bonds would be tax-free if held to maturity, Singh said, meaning a $100 bond would grow to $118.77 in five years, or $141.06 in 10 years.
“We’re going to need to raise money to be able to build the roads, the bridges, the infrastructure we need,” he said. “Instead of relying solely on banks and paying debt and interest to those banks, let’s pay interest to Canadians instead.”
Campaigning in Kingston, Ont., Poilievre promised to remove the federal sales tax from Canadian-made vehicles in response to Trump’s tariffs.
Waiving the GST on a qualifying $50,000 automobile would save the buyer $2,500, he said.
Poilievre pledged that if the Conservatives form government after the April 28 election, he will set up a $3-billion fund for businesses hit by American tariffs to keep workers employed through the cross-border trade dispute.
Carney said Canada’s newly announced counter-tariffs will hit all vehicles from the U.S. that do not comply with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement and any non-Canadian content in compliant vehicles, but they will not apply to vehicle content from Mexico.
On Wednesday, Trump confirmed he is going ahead with 25 per cent tariffs on automobile imports, which will add to existing 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S., including from Canada.
He also unveiled a 10 per cent baseline tariff on imports from most countries and a lengthy list of higher tariffs dozens of countries will face. A White House fact sheet said goods imported under the CUSMA free-trade pact will not face tariffs, although imports that fall outside of it will be hit with 25 per cent levies.
Both Canada and Mexico remain under the threat of economywide duties that Trump has linked to the flow of fentanyl into the U.S.
Carney said Thursday that Trump’s tariffs on Canada are unjustified, unwarranted and misguided — and warned that Trump’s overall campaign of trade hostility against countries around the world will “rupture” the global economy.
— With files from Craig Lord, Darryl Greer, Kyle Duggan and Catherine Morrison in Ottawa and Sarah Ritchie in Kingston, Ont.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 3, 2025.
Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press
