OneBC Leader and MLA Demands Tougher Stance on China as Premier Plans Anti-US Tariff Ads

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Oct 29, 2025 - 11:00 Updated: Oct 29, 2025 - 10:54
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OneBC Leader and MLA Demands Tougher Stance on China as Premier Plans Anti-US Tariff Ads

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As B.C. Premier David Eby plans ads targeting U.S. tariffs, OneBC Leader and MLA Dallas Brodie says the provincial government is adopting a soft stance on Chinese tariffs while taking aim at Washington.

Brodie made the comments during question period on Oct. 27 at the provincial legislature, where she said the anti-tariff ad campaign Eby is planning to launch will further strain relationships between Canada and the United States and impact the provincial economy, which relies heavily on trade with its southern neighbour.
Eby said last week his province will roll out anti-tariff ads “to defend British Columbia and Canada’s forestry workers.” His comments came after U.S. President Donald Trump cancelled trade talks with Canada over a TV ad campaign launched by the Ontario government to oppose U.S. tariffs.
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Brodie said the province has been “retaliating and railing” against U.S. trade measures but taken a soft approach toward China, which has imposed 100 percent tariffs on certain Canadian agricultural products, including canola oil and oil cakes, and 75.8 percent duties on Canadian canola. China’s tariffs came in retaliation for Canada’s levies on Chinese electric vehicles and metals that Ottawa has imposed citing “unfair competition” from Chinese producers, who it says benefit from Beijing’s “intentional, state-directed policy of overcapacity and oversupply, as well as its lack of rigorous labour and environmental standards.”

“He criticizes Trump, but you know who the premier will never criticize? The dictator of communist China, Xi Jinping,” Brodie said. “China interferes in our elections, holds our citizens hostages, and has even imposed 100 percent tariffs on our canola and seafood sectors.”

Brodie said Chinese tariffs have “decimated” local businesses, and questioned whether the province would take aim at China’s trade actions as it has done with the United States.

“Since he is denouncing our biggest trade partner, the United States, will the premier also denounce communist China and its dictator Xi Jinping?” Brodie said.

Brodie’s question was addressed by Ravi Kahlon, minister of jobs and economic growth, who didn’t provide a direct answer but suggested that Brodie was downplaying the impact of U.S. tariffs on the province’s forest industry.

“We continue to make the case to our friends in the U.S. that the tariffs on our forest sector are having a disproportionate impact, not only on workers and families on our side of the border, but also across the border,” Kahlon said. “I think all of us should be standing up for forestry.”

He added that the province is working to reduce trade barriers and noted that the premier has “made several trips to Asia to make sure that we can strengthen our trade opportunities.”

“We are not going to apologize for fighting out for workers in British Columbia.”

The premier’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Brodie’s remarks by publication time.

Brodie said on Oct. 27 that instead of adopting a hard stance toward Beijing, the province “rewarded” the regime with a multimillion-dollar deal between BC Ferries, a publicly owned ferry operator, and a Chinese state-owned company.

Earlier this year, BC Ferries announced it had hired the state-owned China Merchants Industry Weihai Shipyards to build four new vessels—a move criticized by federal and provincial politicians over tariff tensions with Beijing, national security concerns, and the need to prioritize Canadian firms.
Premier Eby has said he will not interfere in BC Ferries’ deal, noting that while the selection of a foreign shipyard was not his preferred outcome, the vessels are urgently needed.
B.C. Conservative MLA and transportation critic Harman Bhangu has called for the cancellation of the deal, saying it involves moral and national security issues, including possible data collection, potential use of forced labour, and Beijing’s record of interfering in Canada’s democracy.

He said that despite ongoing trade tensions with the United States, Canada would be better off doing business with its “biggest and longest-standing ally” than with a “hostile” communist regime he says looks to advance its own goals.

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