By Michael Bennett
Local Journalism Initiative
The Ridgetown Independent News
David Epp returned to Ridgetown recently for another coffee shop discussion with residents at Yeck’s Station 11.
It was the 117th informal meeting the Chatham-Kent–Leamington MP has hosted in the riding since taking office in 2019 following his first of three successful elections.
Epp discussed a wide variety of topics during the hour-long session that the attendees brought up.
The Leamington native told the audience that Chatham-Kent–Leamington is now the second largest riding in Canada – by population – with close to 140,000 residents.
“The purpose of this is, in large, is to listen to you,” Epp said. “I continue to enjoy meeting folks, listening and trying to honour the commitment that I made in 2018, to take voices to Ottawa, maybe bring some information back and some discussion and explanations.”
Epp invited attendees to state their personal concerns with the government or the situation in Canada.
Naturally, the tariffs and relationship with the United States, which has been tarnished, thanks to President Donald Trump, was a hot topic.
“As Canadians, as Europeans, we are not going to control Donald Trump and the only people that have a shot at doing that are the Americans, if and when they choose to,” Epp said. “Canada-U.S. trade is about two per cent of the American GDP (Gross Domestic Product), it’s about 22 per cent for us, so it does affect us far more in the turmoil we have going on right now.”
Epp said while the U.S. will always be Canada’s No. 1 trading partner, expanding relationships with other nations is a way to counter the proposed tariffs being imposed by Trump.
“We’re a natural resource powerhouse, but we’ve squandered those opportunities with other parts of the world,” he said.
Epp said he will support Prime Minister Mark Carney’s efforts to rapidly expand relationships with European and Asian nations to counter Canada’s reliance on the U.S.
“It’s developing these other relationships that would give us more leverage,” he said.
Another topic was keeping Canadian factories productive to prevent them from moving to the United States and Mexico.
“Factories have not been easy to sustain a business model, at least not enough of them in Canada,” Epp said. “A factory needs to make money, and so the reality is, how do we encourage (them) and what’s the proper balance on these tax incentives and labour rates?
“We have a lagging labour productivity function, and that is not a comment on the laziness or virtuousness of Canadian people; it is a function of the lack of investment in automation to make their output per hour more, so it’s a function of our tax system,” he said. “Businesses in Canada do not put enough dollars into R&D (research and development) and automation as they do in other countries.”
Epp used the lack of aluminum can manufacturing in Canada as an example of tariffs causing a tremendous impact on the economy.
“Quebec is the largest exporter of aluminum to the U.S., and with the tariff wars we’re having right now, the U.S put on a 25 percent tariff on Canadian aluminum, it is difficult,” stated Epp.
“Do you know how many aluminum manufacturers we have in Canada?” he asked the audience.
“None,” he answered.
Epp said the reason these manufacturers closed is “one of the realities of the economics.
“The U.S. is 10 times our size, their plants are bigger, and so for a fraction of a penny, our processors can get a cheaper can in the U.S.,” he stated.
Epp said the tariffs on aluminum coming back into Canada have impacted the food-growing industry as well, as beer makers, especially the smaller craft breweries, are feeling it.
“It’s one of the biggest challenges that’s come up, how do you deal with Donald Trump?” he said. “Our supply chains are so integrated, so you want to put counter tariffs on things that hurt the U.S, but don’t hurt you. That’s the challenge; we simply have to do everything that is in our control, but many things aren’t.”
