Liberal leader Brian Gallant made a campaign stop in Saint John on Wednesday with a focus on trade and softwood lumber.
Gallant said a re-elected Liberal government will keep working with the federal government to strengthen our trade relationship with the United States.
“We will also ensure we go directly to Washington ourselves,” Gallant said, “making sure there are more influencers within the Trump administration and more decision makers within the Trump administration that understand the importance of trade with our country as a whole but also trade with New Brunswick.”
Gallant also vowed to defend against the Trump administration’s softwood lumber tariffs imposed on New Brunswick.
Brian Gallant’s Liberal bus pulling into #SaintJohn for a platform commitment announcement. #nbpoli pic.twitter.com/VbniopULqi
— Brad Perry (@BradMPerry) August 22, 2018
He said they have made progress in Washington explaining to decision makers and key influencers about the importance of softwood lumber getting into U.S. markets, but he will not be satisfied until New Brunswick is excluded from the tariffs.
Gallant said a Liberal government would also keep focusing on diversifying our international export markets.
“Several years during the Progressive Conservatives mandate previous to ours, exports actually went down in our province,” he said. “Since we’ve been your government, the exports have grown every single year.”
New Brunswickers will head to the polls on Sept. 24.