Prince Albert businesses may have to lean harder on local customers and Canadian markets as the latest Canada-U.S. trade dispute creates another round of uncertainty, according to Prince Albert and District Chamber of Commerce CEO Patty Hughes.
Hughes said Monday there had been optimism while negotiations appeared to be moving forward last week, but businesses are now preparing for more pressure after the talks broke down.
“We’re going to have to really show some resilience,” Hughes said, comparing the situation to the pressure businesses faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For Prince Albert and northeast Saskatchewan, Hughes pointed to honey producers as one example of how a smaller industry can still be exposed to the U.S. market.
She said about 20 per cent of their market is in the United States.
“What can we do here locally?” Hughes said. “I can’t again emphasize enough how important it is to shop local and support local.”
Hughes said increased consumption of local honey could help producers offset some of their U.S. market, and encouraged shoppers to look for locally produced honey on store shelves.
Her comments connect with a question the Daily Herald put to Premier Scott Moe during a media availability at the Lake Country Co-op Leisure Centre in Prince Albert last week.
Asked what the province was doing to encourage Saskatchewan residents to buy more Saskatchewan-made food and grocery products amid the tariff uncertainty, Moe said the government supports both local production and local purchasing.
He encouraged Saskatchewan residents to buy locally produced goods, but said the province cannot depend on its own consumers alone.
“We export seven out of every $10 that we produce,” Moe said.
He said Saskatchewan still needs access to markets elsewhere in Canada and around the world to generate wealth in the province.
Forestry is another area where that access has become particularly important.
Hughes pointed to pressure facing the sector, including the planned curtailment of Carrier Forest Products’ Big River sawmill, which is expected to affect about 117 workers.
She said tariff effects can also reach businesses outside the industries most commonly associated with the dispute.
Hughes said a local retailer recently told her even the cost of electronic components has increased over the past year.
“It’s just not producers or aluminum and steel, it’s components as well,” she said.
Hughes said reducing barriers to trade between Canadian provinces could help businesses find alternatives.
“I do think that we can make a significant impact by reducing our interprovincial trade barriers,” she said.
The Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce made a similar call Monday. The provincial chamber warned the tariffs could have “devastating” consequences for some sectors and called for support for affected businesses, reduced interprovincial trade barriers and continued diversification of Saskatchewan’s international markets.
The political response has also hardened since Moe’s Prince Albert appearance.
At the Leisure Centre last week, Moe said an agreement in principle had emerged and told reporters the threatened 50 per cent tariffs on $28 billion of Canadian goods were “not coming into effect.”
Within days, the negotiations collapsed and the tariffs took effect.
Moe has since said the new U.S. tariffs violate CUSMA and that the current U.S. administration “cannot be trusted to live up to its own trade deals.”
He backed Prime Minister Mark Carney’s decision not to accept what he called an unfair and unreliable agreement and supported Canada’s decision to respond with targeted dollar-for-dollar counter-tariffs.
The Saskatchewan NDP is calling on the province to go further.
Opposition Leader Carla Beck said Monday Saskatchewan should remove American alcohol from provincial shelves again as part of Canada’s response.
Hughes said she believes that decision should remain with consumers.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s the thing of honey, or if it’s a bottle of alcohol,” Hughes said. “I believe the consumers can make that choice, and we are the ones that should have the power to send that message.”
That position also mirrors what Moe told reporters in Prince Albert last week, when he said Saskatchewan had allowed consumers to make their own choice when it came to American alcohol.
Hughes said the chamber network expects to play a role in making sure available supports reach businesses that need them as the dispute continues.
arjun.pillai@paherald.sk.ca
