Voters in Waterloo region say they're just trying to survive U.S. tariffs

With more U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods expected to take effect Wednesday, businesses and residents in Waterloo region are voicing growing concerns about the economic impact it could have.

CBC Kitchener-Waterloo put out a survey asking people in the region and surrounding area to share what they care about most in this upcoming election. Concerns over tariffs and the suggestion Canada should become the 51st state in the U.S. were some of the most frequent responses.

Just as the election was called on March 21, CBC K-W visited farmers' markets in St. Jacobs and Cambridge to speak to people about their top election issues this federal campaign and most overwhelming said tariffs.

Karen Bramble is an interior stylist who sells wellness products and dried floral arrangements twice a week at the St. Jacobs Farmers' Market.

Bramble is feeling a direct impact on her business because she sources eucalyptus from California. It's a big part of her business and she says she may have to raise prices of each floral arrangement by about $3 on average.

"This is my bread and butter so I need to do what I need to do to survive," she said.

Impact on local community

Ian McLean, CEO of the Greater Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber of Commerce, said tech, auto manufacturing and auto supply chain manufacturing are likely to take the biggest hit locally.

"It's across the board," he said.

The tariffs, which U.S. President Donald Trump announced as part of his 2024 re-election campaign, were scheduled to take effect earlier this year but were repeatedly postponed. Now, with the latest deadline set for Wednesday, local business leaders are already beginning the action plan process.

But outside of the region's manufacturing industry, McLean said the impact on smaller businesses can be harder to gauge.

"It's very individual because it really depends on where your input costs are going and where your final market is for your product," he said.

He said organizations like his, alongside the Business Economic Support Team Waterloo Region (BESTWR), which is the culmination of five large local economic development agencies, are working to try and mitigate the issue as much as possible.

They're helping small businesses find substitutions where materials come from and where products go.

This is part of BESTWR's work to create a tariff action plan for the Region of Waterloo. Modelled after their COVID-19 measures, the plan gathers information from businesses and then creates a support plan to bring to higher levels of government.

The chamber has also reactivated chambercheck.ca, a pandemic-era website that has been redesigned to help businesses navigate the new trade environment.

Action from the region, cities

Waterloo region isn't the only municipality getting ahead on tariff action.

The cities of Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and Guelph have passed their own "Buy Canadian" motions.

These detail plans to work with city staff to seek local alternatives for goods and services that may been purchased from U.S. suppliers in the past.

Cambridge Mayor Jan Liggett also proposed tax-related measures to ease the impact of tariffs on local businesses. 

"We were already seeing the repercussions of the economy on our industrial municipal tax base," Liggett said in an interview with CBC News. 

"So I've also directed staff to look at deferring some of the notice fees based on how they're going to be hit."

Liggett said the preliminary plan would see Cambridge businesses that are able to demonstrate significant losses directly related to a tariff receive more time to pay their municipal taxes.

She added that a similar plan for residential taxpayers could follow if the impact becomes severe enough.

Tariffs and Canadian sovereignty

For many of CBC K-W's survey respondents, the concern isn't just economic, but political, too.

Public remarks and social media posts from U.S. President Donald Trump about Canada becoming the 51st U.S. state has people worried that tariffs could be part of a larger strategy to weaken and even annex Canada.

Richard Gold, a professor of law at McGill University and a senior fellow with the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) in Waterloo, dismisses that possibility.

"I believe it's between nil and zero," Gold said. "The U.S. may be our friends, but we don't want to be them."

Gold said the differences are too great for many Canadians.

"There's lots of concern over guns, over the divisive culture, the lack of support for those of us who are less well off," he said.

Gold said he hasn't seen a groundswell of support for joining the United States, either. He also doesn't believe the U.S. military would want to put their army in Canada.

"I think it's quite limited to Donald Trump and a few other people. So I just don't see it as a real option."