Windsor's federal New Democratic Party (NDP) candidates say they will stand firm against tariffs by the U.S. government.
Windsor West candidate Brian Masse and Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore candidate Alex Ilijoski were joined by union members Thursday afternoon at Masse's campaign headquarters. They were responding to plans by Stellantis to shut down its Windsor Assembly Plant for two weeks in response to the 25 per cent auto tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Masse said it was the NDP that had fought to get the issue addressed on Parliament Hill.
"There were 119 Liberals. None of them fought to bring forth this debate," said Masse. "No Conservatives wanted to bring forth this debate in terms of the House. They finally actually had a letter in after ours was actually submitted to the Speaker. So we've had the only debate ever in the House of Commons."
Ilijoski said that within the time frame, the NDP came up with a plan to keep new auto prices low despite tariffs.
"We've known for the last three months that this was coming, so one of the things that the NDP wants to advocate is to remove the GST from Canadian-made vehicles," said Ilijoski. "It will encourage domestic purchases."
Ilijoski also said the NDP will bring back an electric-vehicle purchase incentive, starting at $5,000 for foreign-made EVs, and $10,000 for Canadian-made EVs, with Tesla excluded.
Also on Thursday, the federal NDP announced the creation of Canada Victory Bonds, a tax-free savings bond to help invest in shovel-ready Canadian infrastructure, like the Ojibway National Urban Park, thus creating good-paying jobs in the city of Windsor.
Ilijoski is running in the newly-redrawn Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore riding against Liberal incumbent Irek Kusmierczyk, Roxanne Tellier of the Green Party, Helmi Charif of the Centrist Party of Canada, and Beth St. Denis of the Christian Heritage Party of Canada.
Masse is running for re-election against Conservative candidate Harbinder Gill, Liberal Richard Pollock, Louay Ahmad of the Green Party, and Jacob Bezaire of the People's Party of Canada.
The election is Monday, April 28.