THUNDER BAY — The continued threat of whether the United States will impose tariffs on Canadian imports and how Canada could retaliate has local business development officials eyeing more opportunities to promote shopping locally.
“It's a little bit of both, the ‘Made in Canada,’ supporting Canadian jobs, as well as the Thunder Bay support and all the economic benefits that you see from shopping local,” said Charla Robinson, the president of the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce, on what the current uncertainty has them promoting.
“So, we're trying to blend the two into one campaign and (we’re) really excited to have this new angle, especially right now when Canadians are so focused on wanting to support Canadian producers as much as they can."
That means efforts by local business leaders will not only be promoting the local businesses themselves, but also the Canadian-made products they sell.
After a call between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Donald Trump on Monday afternoon, the U.S. agreed to pause the imposition of any tariffs for at least 30 days. The federal government, as well as the provinces who were also threatening retaliation, similarly agreed to hold off.
Still, local business leaders, individual business owners and consumers appear to be taking nothing for granted.
“I think if you open any of your socials, everyone's talking about … products, where are they coming from and how they can buy things that are made in Canada,” said Jamie Taylor, the CEO for the Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission. “We also want to encourage people to buy as much as they can locally.”
The chamber launched their “Choose TBay First” civic pride campaign to highlight local businesses and the benefits of shopping locally nearly 10 years ago, Robinson said. The CEDC and other local business stakeholders have always been collaborative in its promotion, she added, but the benefits of multiple organizations working together on it now are especially significant.
“It's really an online campaign and so we're really pushing out to the retailers to say, you know, tag us so that we can help to amplify your message,” Robinson said. “It's very much driven by retailers who want to get that message out.”
And it’s not just what the businesses are selling. The CEDC, Taylor said, is also fielding a lot more requests from local merchants who want to know about options for making their own operations more Canadian-based — whether that means questions about where they procure their own supplies or advice on exports.
“I think it's top-of-mind for everybody right now,” she said. “I know that some are waiting to see what will actually happen, but others are looking proactively to try to be able to pivot now.”
“So, in this week we have seen a number of calls specifically on this issue, and we're trying to direct them the best that we can.”
