Different regions experiencing varying tariff impacts: MLA Hunter

Posted on May 8, 2025 by Ryan Dahlman

By Trevor Busch
Commentator/Courier
editor@tabertimes.com

As Canada grapples with a now-volatile relationship with the U.S. following President Donald Trump unleashing an unprovoked trade war early in 2025, all bets are off in the nation’s capitols as leaders and legislators try to come to terms with a new international reality.

This is no less true for Edmonton, with Alberta’s oil and gas industry being targeted by outside players as a potential negotiating chip for trade retaliation against Washington, while Premier Danielle Smith and the UCP have taken some criticism but continue to stand firm against this eventuality. 

Taber-Warner MLA Grant Hunter says the impacts of the trade war are being felt unevenly in different regions of Canada, but cites Smith’s diplomacy efforts as a key factor in Alberta largely dodging the most recent round of U.S. tariffs.

“It depends where you live, right? We’ve weathered it quite well in Alberta, and I believe that we’ve weathered it qu ite well to this point because of the advocacy and the work that the premier has done, she’s gone right down there into the line to talk directly to President Trump and talk directly to his cabinet, and to influencers. And she’s taken her story, our story, a good story to the American people through as many influencers as she can. And I think that’s the reason why we’ve seen Alberta not being hit with these tariffs. So I’m extremely pleased with the work she’s done. I know that the left will say, ‘Oh, she’s not patriotic’. Well, if patriotic means that you’re going to stand up and poke your largest trading partner in the eye, and then poke them back – I don’t know if that’s considered patriotic.”

While critical of the current trade war, Hunter believes rough and unpredictable behaviour is simply part of Trump’s character.

“I’m not happy with what President Trump, in their group, is doing down there with the tariffs. I think it’s the wrong approach for trading partners like Canada and the United States, which have traded so well and work so well together for so many decades. That’s not how you treat your best trading partners, but to be fair, President Trump is a New York brawler. Everybody knows it, and that’s his MO and that’s what he does.”

Round after round of threatened tariffs followed be eleventh hour reprieves are having a devastating effect on Canada’s investment environment, argues Hunter.

“I think that these are not easy times. Nobody likes uncertainty and so it is causing us concern, especially when it comes to people wanting to invest and expand their businesses; ‘I don’t know. I’m not sure whether or not it is a stable environment where I should be doing this.’ But I really believe in the resiliency of Albertans and Canadians. I really believe that we have so many competitive advantages to other jurisdictions, and we have the Alberta advantage. Remember that, in terms of comparison to Canada, Albertans have a $20.1 billion tax advantage over the next closest jurisdiction, which is BC. And that is the Alberta advantage – we’ve slayed a whole bunch of red tape. We’ve put money into Heritage Savings Trust Fund to build that up, I think we have a good strategy in Alberta to help us weather these difficult times. I think we will weather it better than other provinces.”

The previous federal government has saddled younger Canadians with a massive debt load, says Hunter, that future generations will struggle to pay off. 

“Now, I don’t want to see other provinces suffer, but decisions that are made in other provinces, there are consequences. Those decisions, and also federally, too – they’ve added, under Justin Trudeau, more debt than all the prime ministers prior to that. Put that into perspective: They’ve burdened our future generations with more debt than all the prime ministers before Justin Trudeau. And that is sad, because older guys like me are not going to have to pay that back. It’s going to be our children and grandchildren that have to pay that back. So I’m not happy about that.”