The Town of Cochrane is planning to launch an extensive shop local campaign in response to U.S. tariffs expected to be imposed on Wednesday, April 2.
Mayor Jeff Genung alluded to the forthcoming shop local campaign in his State of Cochrane address at the RancheHouse on March 27,
“What we are planning for is a shop local campaign,” he told the assembled crowd, many of whom were Cochrane Chamber of Commerce members, as well as other local dignitaries. “You will be seeing that coming soon. Economic Development (is) working on a shop local campaign, so we can do what we can as residents of Cochrane, Alberta, Canada, and be part of that Team Canada approach to protect and do what we can within our own communities."
President Donald Trump is expected to impose wide-sweeping tariffs on Canadian goods exported to the United States later this week. While the details are still largely unknown, it is expected those tariffs will include steep levies on the auto sector, and possibly on Canadian softwood lumber, a favourite target of U.S. officials over the years. The extent to which this would affect West Fraser’s operations in Cochrane is not yet known. The Eagle did reach out to West Fraser to seek some insight on the potential threat, but has not yet received a response to our questions.
Other Cochrane businesses dependent on U.S. exports may also be heavily affected. The Calgary Chamber of Commerce released the results of its survey on how Calgary businesses would be affected with 85 per cent of its members saying they would likely be affected to a significant degree, with 41 per cent expecting moderate impact, 33 per cent expecting high impact and 11 per cent anticipating "extreme impact." Cochrane’s business sector obviously differs significantly from Calgary’s, but the results may be indicative of similar impacts coming in Cochrane.
Cochrane Chamber president Dwayne LaMontagne, who also took part in the Q & A session alongside Genung following the State of Cochrane address on March 27, said there are just too many unknowns to be sure of anything at this point when asked about local tariff impacts.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen right now,” he admitted. “I would encourage businesses to be patient unless you know something is going to impact you. I am sure the Province will be there to help. I am sure the Feds will be there to help if businesses are impacted significantly.”
The important thing said LaMontagne was for local business owners to remain calm until more is known about this situation.
“I don’t think it is time to panic now,” he stated.
Mayor Genung applauded LaMontagne for making this significant point.
“I attended a breakfast with a couple of deputy ministers (earlier in March), and we were talking about tariffs, and the chaos that’s being created south of the border,” he explained. “And one of the gentlemen said something that really stuck with me– he said the answer to chaos is not more chaos. And I really like that, because, yes, it’s a terrible time, and it's unknown, strange and (there is panic). Now is not the time to panic. We need to take a breath, and we need to keep moving forward. Really, that’s all we can do.”
Genung stressed it was important to respond strategically and rationally to whatever Trump throws Canada’s way on April 2.
“When we know what we are up against, then we can make a plan,” he said. “Then we can attack, or get our ducks in a row. So until we know what we’re up against, I think we can all talk about it, but meeting chaos with more chaos is not the answer.”
