NDP leader encourages Canadians to buy local: ‘We need to be ready to fight back’

“We need to continue the pressure,” said Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, after an address at Montreal’s Chamber of Commerce Tuesday. She spoke of bolstering border security amid looming U.S. tariffs. Alyssia Rubertucci reports.

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was at a Montreal grocery store Tuesday encouraging Canadians to buy locally made products amid the 30-day pause on U.S. tariffs.

“We need to boycott anything that’s made in the United States during this time. We need to be ready to fight back,” Singh said.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order Saturday that would have imposed 25 per cent tariffs on a wide range of Canadian imports, with a lower 10 per cent levy on Canadian energy products. Ottawa responded by threatening a 25 per cent counter-tariff on a total of $155 billion worth of U.S. goods.

Trump has since decided to hold off imposing tariffs on Canada, announcing a 30-day pause that took effect Tuesday.

According to Singh, buying local products will protect workers by bolstering the Canadian economy in the face of possible future tariffs. This is was but one strategy the NDP leader put forward as part of a plan to “defend our country and defend what we have here.”

Jagmeet Singh and Craig Sauvé shop for Canadian-made cheeses at a grocery store in Verdun on February 4, 2025 (Zach Cheung, CityNews)

The NDP leader said he supports the measures put in place by the government last week. However, Singh added that Ottawa’s response needs to go further, arguing that the federal government should impose measures that specifically target Trump’s allies.

“The only thing that’s going to work is to make it clear that if Donald Trump wants to pick a fight with us, it’s going to hurt him,” Singh said. “We need to target his allies like Elon Musk.”

Singh said the federal government should implement additional measures to cut off the supply of critical minerals in an effort to target companies owned by Musk.

Singh added that Trudeau still has yet to implement policies that guarantee protections for workers, especially those who are not unionized. He also called upon Ottawa to invest public funds into Canadian companies, particularly those that hire Canadian employees, as a way to brace for the tariffs.

“We need to call back Parliament, and we need to have a package of protections in place for workers that might be impacted,” Singh said. “Let’s have that ready to go now instead of scrambling if something happens in 30 days.”

Boycott Amazon, Singh says

The NDP leader also called upon the federal government to “stop Amazon” by ending its $120 million worth of contracts with the online retailer.

This comes after the union representing workers of an Amazon warehouse in Laval – one of seven Quebec Amazon warehouses shutting down and laying off all employees – called for a boycott of the e-commerce giant on Tuesday morning.

Amazon estimated that roughly 2,000 workers were expected to me laid off after the company shut down its seven Quebec warehouses. Since it’s announcement last month, the amount of layoffs ballooned to over 4,500 workers.

“In the past, I was so firm that I hate what Amazon does. And now, it is clear that we have to stop Amazon,” Singh said. “They have tried to punish workers who tried to unionize, workers who wanted fair wages and security work conditions.”

Singh said it is the government’s obligation to “send a strong message” to Amazon, adding that “you cannot get rich on the backs of Canadian workers while denying them their rights.” 

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