WATCH: Eby opens tariff-day presser with a rapper and new border signs

PENTICTON — BC Premier David Eby opened a Victoria news conference Tuesday with a music and dance set from Alberta parody rapper OGR-Scintilla before, again, calling on British Columbians to buy local in response to new US tariffs on Canadian imports..The outdoor news conference outside the legislature building, which also unveiled new border signs as an additional response to the US tariffs, began with a rap performance. The performer, OGR-Scintilla is Shane Kimber, a parody rapper from Oyen, Aberta, who styles himself "Canada’s greatest rapper." He closed the availability as well. The Western Standard has emailed the premier’s office asking what the performance cost taxpayers. .The main stated purpose of the news conference was to discuss Canada’s 15%, 25% and 50% duties on about 700 US product lines, matching US Section 338 and Section 232 rates dollar for dollar. They cover $27.6 billion of American imports. Eby said "nobody wanted the trade war" and argued that Canadians did not start it. “When our workers, our businesses, our economy, is targeted, standing up for Canada is not a choice. It is our responsibility,” he said. “And here in British Columbia, we have a plan.”That plan, as he described it, is defending public services, standing with workers hit by the tariffs, working with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government on supports for firms with receipts under $1 million a year, and telling shoppers to be “our own best customer.”He said a refreshed "Buy BC campaign" is coming and that his government is looking at expanding the logo program past produce into processed food, professional services, software, bikes, apparel, vacations inside the province, and BC materials for schools and infrastructure.“Every purchase is a choice. Every dollar we spend is a choice. And right now, our choices matter,” he said.He also previewed new welcome signs at border crossings. The text reads: “Welcome to BC, Canada. Strong, proud, and never the 51st state. Sorry.”.“This is a uniquely Canadian message. It’s confident, good humour, and it’s unmistakably clear,” Eby said. “British Columbia is part of Canada, and Canada is not for sale.”.Eby added he will not lift the ban on US alcohol in BC liquor stores and said ministers have also been asked to find more countermeasures that “send a message to the American people about how pissed off Canadians are” while shifting purchases to BC firms.“The road ahead is not easy,” he said. “There is no getting around the fact that people will lose their jobs, and businesses will close on both sides of the border. That is the unfortunate reality of Trump’s trade war.”A Canadian Press reporter asked how the premier can promise extra business support and intact social services when the provincial books are already strained and more than half of BC exports go to the United States.Eby responded by noting US imports from Canada, including from British Columbia, have gone up “despite the efforts of the president.”Asked for job-loss numbers and a timeline to pivot off the US market, he said BC had added “about 30,000 jobs” since May and was “up about 20,000 jobs” from August last year to this year.Statistics Canada’s August Labour Force Survey, released Friday, shows a different snapshot. BC employment fell 5,500 in August. Full-time work dropped 26,000.Eby admitted forestry families are “really hurting” and that the industry is amongst one of the worst-hit sectors in the country.When a reporter asked for the status of an issue closer-to-home — the government’s promised DRIPA fix this fall — Eby said the government is “still at the table with First Nations Leadership” and turned the answer back to the tariff fight.Intriguingly, no questions from reporters were asked, and no comments from Eby were offered, about BC Conservative Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay or her upcoming byelection in Abbotsford-Mission later this month.

WATCH: Eby opens tariff-day presser with a rapper and new border signs

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