Can someone make this make sense? With the Carney government having raised tariffs on imported steel, some Western Canadian users of steel now find that they’re uncompetitive. Rather than instantly resolve the problem by dropping the tariffs, taxpayers will instead be forced to cover half the shipping costs of steel orders from mills in the east.

Under a new Commodities Sectoral Support Program announced on Monday, steel shippers can apply for a rebate that will offset 50 per cent of the costs to ship domestic steel by rail or marine transport across provinces and territories.

“There’s no rebar business in B.C. that’s flourishing right now,” Michaud said. “Everybody is doing the work, just at a massively reduced profit margin. Shipping it from the East is just not very good financially.”