THUNDER BAY — An engaged crowd of just over 100 people gathered to learn more about the ongoing tariff uncertainty and possible upcoming trade war between Canada and the United States Thursday evening.
The slightly over one-and-a-half-hour public forum at the Thunder Bay Public Library’s Waverley branch brought in four top minds from the city in the economic, business and political fields to answer questions, both from library CEO Richard Togman and from the crowd.
The discussion covered multiple angles including what tariffs are and how they’re used, the place they have had in history and in the current political climate with Donald Trump’s return to the White House and Ontario provincial and Canadian federal elections looming, the potential impact on local residents and businesses should heavy tariffs be imposed, how the current climate affects young people just entering the workforce and many others.
Overall, Togman said he was pleased with the turnout and the conversation, saying that the library is a space for providing information and that he wanted it to be accessible to anyone. “Part of what I was trying to do is set that stage and give an equal playing field for everyone to participate in the sense of ‘what is happening, what's driving this?” he said. “And at the end of the day, what does it mean for people in Thunder Bay.”
The panel included two Lakehead University faculty: Toby Rollo, the chair of political science and Karl Skogstad, an associate professor of economics. They were joined by Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce president Charla Robinson and Sarah Lewis, the senior manager of economic advisory at Deloitte, a large financial consulting firm.
Among the arguments Rollo made during the discussion was that tariffs were essentially used to build Canada and remained in place until the 1970s and onward. He argued that strategic use of them on Canada’s part could be beneficial, but only if supported by proper planning by senior levels of government.
“Tariffs, in the short term, impose economic uncertainty and harm,” he said. “Things get more expensive, they’re inflationary.”
“So, what you need is a federal government, especially, but also provincial governments which are ready and willing to help out those industries and citizens through that hardship.”
He cited a longstanding 300 per cent tariff Canada imposes on American dairy to protect the Canadian dairy industry from imports from places like Wisconsin.
During the debate, that was countered by Skogstad, who cited the sheer size of the American economy and asked “is it good to push back and push away from that?”
“Or is it an opportunity to lean in?”
On the local front, Robinson promoted that shopping local can keep more dollars closer to home, but added that there is the potential with the recent push to buy Canadian, that it could unintentionally hurt small businesses who ordered product from the U.S. well prior to the recent uncertainty.
And Lewis argued, in part, that such times of uncertainty have spurred bettering Canada internally, even down to the local level. In Thunder Bay, she cited the revitalization of the north-side waterfront which “came from a time of difficulty.”
“How do we build stronger transportation systems, how do we build stronger communities through these difficult times,” she said. “We don't actually have to have the tariff happen in order to take the initiative to do these things, but maybe the potential of the tariffs happening … gives us a bit of a push.”
Togman said he was also happy to see some young people in the audience.
“I think for a public library event on trade wars, I saw a lot of young people, which was really encouraging,” he said.
