Ontario Premier Doug Ford's statement on the Council of the Federation meeting in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

#CanadaOpenForBusiness; #CanadaOpenForJobs

Ottawa, Jul 12 (Canadian-Media): Following a successful Council of the Federation summer meeting in Saskatoon, Premier Doug Ford yesterday issued the following statement, media reports said.

"At this year's conference, Ontario stands united with our provincial partners in making Canada open for business and open for jobs. 

Canada's Premiers raised the issue of the growing use of protectionist measures by the U.S., including "Buy America" requirements at both the federal and state level. All provinces, including Ontario, remain concerned that these requirements will have a devastating impact on Canadian families and businesses who depend on this vital trading relationship to make ends meet.

Together with our provincial partners, Ontario renews our call on the federal government to take immediate action to ensure Canada is exempt from any "Buy America" provisions. 550 workers in Thunder Bay have lost their jobs because the federal government has failed to stand up to this damaging policy. We need Ottawa to act now and protect manufacturing jobs from the Buy America Act.

Ontario has made incredible progress with our provincial partners towards eliminating internal trade barriers. We continue to make inroads with our provincial partners through our Memorandum of Understanding with Saskatchewan and ongoing discussions with Quebec and Manitoba to knock down these barriers and create more opportunities for businesses.

Ontario is willing to work with any province or territory to accelerate the removal of internal trade barriers and help businesses create jobs, attract investment and bring prosperity to every corner of the country. We believe that such measures are not only good for Ontario, but good for all of Canada.  

Ontario continues to work with our like-minded provinces to oppose punishing federal policies that do not properly balance job creation and economic growth with environmental protection. Our position remains the same — the federal carbon tax is a cash grab that is making life more expensive for hard-working people across this country. 

We call on the federal government to revisit policies like Bill C-69. This legislation will grind new resource development and the energy sector to a halt across Canada and kill jobs that hard-working families depend on to make ends meet, moving us backward when we should be going forward.

Ontario further joins our provincial and territorial partners in calling on the federal government to do its part to put patients first and strengthen health care systems across Canada by increasing the growth rate of the Canada Health Transfer to 5.2 per cent annually. This increase is critical to cutting hospital wait times and ending hallway health care for Ontario and Canadian patients alike.
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I would like to thank Premier Moe and the good people of Saskatchewan for hosting this meeting of Canada's Premiers. I look forward to continuing to work closely with our provincial and territorial partners on shared priorities that will benefit the people of Ontario and all Canadians."