NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh Announces Plan to Protect Canadian Workers from Trump’s Trade War

WINNIPEG — In response to Donald Trump’s reckless trade war and the devastating tariffs, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced a plan to protect workers, safeguard jobs, protect health care and ensure Canadian families don’t bear the brunt of these attacks. Singh emphasized that the NDP will fight to protect everyday people from paying the cost of Trump’s trade war while building a stronger, fairer economy for the future.

“Trump’s tariffs are an attack on Canadian workers and middle-class families,” Singh said. “We won’t let him or anyone else force you to pay for their greed. We’ll fight back with everything we’ve got to protect your job, your health care, and your future.”

The NDP’s Plan to Protect Working and Middle-Class Canadians

1. Meaningfully Improve Employment Insurance (EI)

• Raise the Maximum Insurable Earnings and increase the benefit rate above 55% to ensure workers can count on livable benefits that actually cover the bills.
• Reduce the threshold for qualifying to a universal 360-hour standard and extend benefits to contractors and self-employed workers.
• Expand EI Work-Sharing programs to help businesses avoid layoffs by spreading hours evenly among employees.
• Eliminate the one-week waiting period for EI benefits and extend coverage duration to 50 weeks.

2. Safeguard Jobs Through Strategic Investments

• Launch a massive building plan focused on shovel-ready infrastructure projects like roads, bridges, transit, and health facilities—using Canadian materials like steel and creating unionized jobs.
• Build an East-West clean energy grid with Canadian products to deliver affordable, secure energy while creating thousands of green jobs.
• Rescue at-risk home-building projects impacted by tariffs to stabilize housing markets and create jobs in construction.

3. Ensure Families Don’t Bear the Cost of Tariffs

• Use every dollar collected from retaliatory tariffs to directly support impacted workers in industries like auto manufacturing, steel, and aluminum.
• Remove GST from essentials like home heating and from Canadian-made vehicles, saving families hundreds annually while boosting domestic industries.
• Cap grocery prices on essential items while cracking down on price gouging by corporate giants.

4. Stand Up for Canadian Workers Against Corporate Greed

• Ban American companies from federal procurement contracts if Canadian workers can do the job until Trump removes his reckless tariffs.
• Stop U.S.-based corporations from stripping valuable assets from Canadian plants after receiving taxpayer-funded bailouts.
• Incentivize value-added processing in Canada—like refining raw materials domestically—to reduce reliance on exports and create local jobs.

5. Protect Public Services from Privatization Threats

• Ban U.S.-style private health care clinics and corporate takeovers of public services.
• Strengthen Medicare by expanding pharmacare, dental care, and mental health supports for Canadians.
• Resist cuts to public services that working families rely on—ensuring Canada remains strong in the face of external threats.

6. Defend Canada’s Sovereignty with a “No-Trade” Clause

• Protect essential Canadian industries like public hydro, critical minerals, and cultural sectors from being sold off or exploited by foreign interests.
• Ensure Indigenous Treaty rights, Charter rights, French language and labour protections, and environmental safeguards are never sacrificed in trade negotiations.

“Trump’s trade war is driving up costs for families while threatening thousands of good-paying jobs—but we won’t let you pay the price,” Singh said. “We will fight like hell for your job, your wages, your home, your health care—and we’ll build a Canada that puts working and middle-class people first.”