Report From Parliament Hill

Eric Melillo, MP, Kenora Riding

Dear Constituents

This week President Trump unjustifiably placed tariffs on Canadian goods. While he lifted the tariffs on some goods, he only gave a month’s reprieve. If he reinstates the tariffs, our message to the President is this: Canada will fight back. We will defend our people and our economy, and we will put Canada First. There is no doubt that our economy will suffer. But so will America’s. Already Americans are paying higher gas prices and American workers will lose the jobs they had upgrading Canadian raw materials or selling to Canadian consumers. 
To the forestry workers, the mining and energy workers, the truckers, the farmers, and every Canadian worker: Conservatives will fight for you. We will fight for your job, fight for your family, and we will put Canada First.
Before the threat of tariffs, Canadians were already struggling with the increased cost of living. Many wondered how they would ever buy a home after housing costs have doubled over the last 10 years, rising more in Canada than in any other G7 country.
Many have also struggled to put food on the table as food prices rose 37% faster in Canada than in the US over the last 5 years. Two million people, a record-breaking number, are already lined up at food banks—a number that had more than doubled before these tariffs even applied.
Companies have been moving jobs to the US before the tariffs, as CEOs put their share prices ahead of Canadian jobs, and a half-trillion dollars of investment left Canada in the last 10 years.
But Conservatives have a message of hope. We will overcome any attack on our economy, and we have a plan to do it.
First, we will retaliate, targeting American goods in the following order: goods we can make ourselves, goods we don’t need, and goods we can get from elsewhere. 
Second, counter-tariffs must not be a cash cow for the government. Almost every penny of the tariffs collected should go to tax relief, with a sum set aside for targeted relief to workers hit hardest by the trade war. None of the money should go to new government spending and programs. 
Third, we must immediately pass a Bring It Home Tax Cut, lowering taxes on work, investment, energy, and homebuilding. This will neutralize the effect of any tariffs and unleash massive investment in making our economy self-reliant. We will start with axing the carbon tax, then axing the sales tax on new homes, then axing the Liberal capital gains tax hike and slashing income tax, so hard work again pays off.
Fourth, we must immediately repeal the Liberal No-Pipelines Law to get projects built. We must greenlight LNG plants, mines, pipelines, and refineries that will bring home jobs and paycheques, make us less reliant on the Americans, and help us sell more overseas.
Five, Donald Trump doesn’t control homebuilding. Homebuilding is a homegrown industry that creates millions of jobs. We can unleash the biggest homebuilding boom ever by immediately removing all red tape and taxes on housing construction so we can bring homes Canadians can afford. That will also help our softwood lumber sector which has been under attack by Liberal environmental threats and US softwood tariffs.
Six, we must get the provinces together to knock down trade barriers and become one national free market economy, so we can bring home lower prices for Canadians.

Seven, we must secure our borders and rebuild our military to assert our sovereignty and strength in the world.
All these things—axing taxes, building homes & pipelines, fixing the budget, stopping crime—all of these things were great Conservative ideas before the tariff threats. They are absolutely necessary now, but none of these things have happened in the last 100 days since the tariff threats emerged. We need a change, and we will get a change. 
It will be tough, but building Canada was tough. So are Canadians. We will bring home the country we know and love, and restore its promise. Canada will be self-reliant, sovereign and stand on its own two feet.
What binds us together is the Canadian promise: that anyone from anywhere can achieve anything—that hard work gets you a great life, in a beautiful house, on a safe street, protected by solid borders and brave troops under our proud flag. To preserve that flag and its promise we must work together, fight together, and win together. 
That is what it means to put Canada First. Because our country is worth fighting for. For our people. For our land. For our home. For Canada. Let’s bring it home.
Working for You 
If you’re planning to be in Ottawa and are interested in attending Question Period or taking a tour of Parliament, please let me know and my office can help reserve Question Period and tour tickets. 
As always, if there is anything my office can assist you with, please call me at 807-223-2182 (Dryden) or 807-468-2170 (Kenora) or email me at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Eric Melillo
Member of Parliament
Kenora Riding