Bruce County executive leading Ontario’s ‘high road’ tariff trade mission

Bruce Power COO James Scongack was in Washington Thursday, leading discussions with American business leaders. CTV London’s Scott Miller reports

James Scongack said Canada and the United States are at a crossroads.

“We’re at a fork in the road where we’re going to go down what I call the low road, which is tariffs and high inflation, or the high road where we can bring inflation down and have a strong partnership together,” said Scongack, the chief operating officer and executive vice-president of operational services at Bruce Power.

Scongack was in Washington Thursday, leading discussions with American business leaders as co-chair of Ontario’s Green Ribbon Panel, and Ontario’s Business and Trade Leadership Coalition, put together by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. Scongack said the goal of the new group is simple, to convince U.S.. business leaders that “the high road” is the best path forward for both countries.

“The receptivity to Ontario and Canada is really promising. It really is. There’s no guarantees with that. But I can tell you that American families are as concerned about inflation and the cost of living as we are here. And we know tariffs just drive inflation,” he said.

Scongack said energy production is a big part of the connection between the two countries, and while Bruce Power doesn’t currently send any of its Ontario produced nuclear energy to the U.S.., increasing the movement of energy trade between the two countries is a much better path forward than turning off the taps, as was suggested in the early days of Donald Trump’s tariff threats.

“We have the energy that the U.S. needs, and the potash and the uranium and the list goes on and on and on. This is a partnership that’s been going on since 1867. And, all of a sudden this comes along, it just really disrupts the two greatest countries in the world,” said Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

“Energy is a key part of what Ontario can bring to the table. And, frankly, there’s a lot of areas of alignment between what they’re trying to achieve in the United States, and what we’re trying to achieve here in Ontario and Canada, from an energy security perspective,” said Scongack.

Scongack said there will be more meetings with U.S. business leaders leading up to the March 4 tariff deadline, in hopes of averting disaster for both economies.

“You know, there’s no guarantees of success with this high road offense. But, you know, whether it’s businesses engaging with their counterparts in the U.S., or Ontario delegations going down, my big concern when big decisions are getting made is that sometimes, they’re absent facts. And the best thing we can do working across the border, is get these facts out,” said Scongack.

You can learn more about Ontario’s Business and Trade Leadership Coalition by following this link.