This item is part of Watching Washington, a regular dispatch from CBC News correspondents reporting on U.S. politics and developments that affect Canadians.
What’s new
A long-awaited announcement from U.S. President Joe Biden is going to make some Canadians unhappy.
Biden released updated highlights of his key budget plan Thursday and it includes language Ottawa has been worrying about: a Buy American-type provision for the auto sector.
It involves a tax credit for U.S.-made cars that the Canadian government describes as potentially damaging, and also illegal under international trade law.
It came in an announcement from the White House of its list of priorities after months of negotiations among Democrats resulted in a smaller version of its original multi-trillion dollar budget package.
One idea that made the cut was a maximum $12,500 US tax credit for people who buy electric vehicles, with some conditions: “[The] tax credit will lower the cost of an electric vehicle that is made in America with American materials and union labour,” said the White House.
Then, later in the day, congressional Democrats released the full text of their 1,684-page budget bill; it confirmed new details of a tax credit favouring U.S. vehicles.
The plan would grow in two phases.
At first, a part of the $12,500 credit — $4,500 of it — would be reserved for vehicles assembled in the U.S. Then, starting in 2027, only U.S.-assembled vehicles would qualify for any of the $12,500 credit.
What’s the context
Ottawa has been fretting about this idea for months. It’s worried about the effect on a Canada-U.S. auto industry that has long been integrated, with parts repeatedly moving back and forth across the border.
Those concerns were publicly voiced in a letter last week to nearly a dozen U.S. officials by Canada’s Trade Minister Mary Ng.
Its stated concerns are threefold: Potential future job losses in Canada, alleged violations of international trade agreements and disruptions to cross-border supply chains that could also hurt Americans who supply parts to Canadian plants.
Minister of International Trade Mary Ng, seen here at a conference last year, sent a letter outlining concerns about a Buy American-type provision for the auto sector in the budget bill to nearly a dozen senior U.S. officials. (Justin Tang/CP)
The move comes as the auto sector is making long-term decisions about where to build future electric fleets and the fear in Ottawa is that the tax credit creates an unfair incentive to invest in the U.S.
Biden unveiled the nearly $2 trillion suite of programs Thursday before leaving for G20 and climate summits in Europe.
This budget package forms the heart of his domestic legislative agenda — touching on climate change, child care, health care and corporate taxes.
However it’s a much more modest package after some democratic senators insisted on trimming numerous ideas from Biden’s plan. Among the ideas nixed was his most important climate policy forcing utility companies to go green.
Eager to have a policy to show at the UN climate summit in Glasgow, and to make progress on some priorities before a batch of state-level elections next week, Biden revealed his remaining priorities for the budget bill; the vehicle tax credit included.
The Buy American vehicle idea was initially championed by Michigan Democrats in both chambers of Congress.
What’s next
There’s still no guarantee this will become law. Progressive Democrats are deeply disappointed in the reduced scope of the bill and it’s unclear if it will receive the votes required in the House of Representatives and Senate.
Representatives of the Canadian auto industry have hinted that they envision lawsuits if the measure goes forward.
The Canadian government did not make that explicit threat in Ng’s public letter, but it did describe the idea as contrary to international trade rules.
Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., said on Thursday evening that it’s “too soon” to speculate about how Ottawa would respond if the bill becomes law.
WATCH | Ambassador says ‘Buy American’ will cost jobs:
Biden’s proposed tax credit will ‘cost jobs’ on both sides of the border: Ambassador
6 hours ago
U.S. President Joe Biden’s massive spending plan includes a proposed tax credit for U.S.-made electric vehicles. Canada’s Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman tells Power & Politics that provision will disrupt the auto sector supply chain and “cost jobs” on both sides of the border. 9:48
She is instead arguing that the policy will harm businesses in both Canada and the U.S.
“We’re emphasizing that trade is not a zero-sum game. It’s not a question of winners and losers,” Hillman said during an interview on CBC’s Power & Politics.
“Working together creates jobs on both sides of the border. Breaking down those supply chains loses jobs on both sides of the border.”
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia’s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
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