One of the pressing issues in Ottawa for the last number of weeks has been the dispute between Canada and the United States when it comes to tax incentives on American-made electric vehicles.
Windsor Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmierczyk says this is a top priority for the government, and he's been in touch with Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and International Trade Minister Mary Ng to push how important the issue is to the economy in our area.
Kusmierczyk says the EV provisions are part of the proposed 'Build Back Better' legislation south of the border, which could get a vote before Christmas.
"It contains a whole sort of spending measures. Anything from housing to childcare to fighting climate change, but it has a provision in there that contains tax credits for only U.S. made electric vehicles. It's $12,500, and what it represents in essence is very discriminatory because it excludes Canadian made vehicles."
Kusmierczyk says they'll be working with local partners to ramp up the advocacy with their American counterparts in the coming days and weeks.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday that Canada has proposed aligning its electric vehicle tax policy with that of the United States to settle the dispute, after threatening to slap tariffs on a number of American goods unless the matter was resolved.
Kusmierczyk says the hope is that common sense will prevail.
"An ideal situation would be for example one where those incentives that are right now just focused on U.S. made vehicles would be expanded to include Canadian made vehicles. Then we would, for example, look to harmonize incentives on this side of the border as well too so we have the same incentives on the U.S. side as we have on the Canadian side."
He says one of the things the government is prepared to do is use the instruments within the USMCA, the new NAFTA agreement, to make the case.
"The dispute settlement, for example, where we can bring our case to say that this particular provision goes against and violate the trade agreement. Same thing with the World Trade Organization, has provisions and what not, but those take time and so we need solutions that are going to be able to send a strong message immediately."
The federal government has pushed back against the Buy America provision, arguing it will cut out Canadian-made vehicles and parts and, in turn, harm the North American auto industry, including U.S. workers.