Although the topic of tariffs and the prospect of a continued trade war with the United States was top of mind, it was the conversation about the Canadian response that offered a glimmer of hope at a Calgary Chamber of Commerce panel on Thursday.

Deborah Yedlin, CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, said that while the Calgary business community was still in a “wait-and-see” mode when it came to the passing over of Canada by the Trump administration for wide scale tariffs on April 2, the question of how companies will get their goods to market remained.

The discussion nationally about reducing the inter-provincial trade barriers was a welcome change in response to the trade war, she said.

“Bring it on. I mean, this is something we’ve talked about for far too long. When I referenced in the conversation there is a system already of mutual reliance when it comes to securities regulation, why can’t we just look at that across the board and make sure that we can have the flow of goods and services from coast to coast, and not be having things be subject to what I call transactional friction?” Yedlin said.

“Time is money. We have to figure this out.”

She said that despite no tariffs that were likely to directly impact Calgary businesses having been imposed, the prospect of other nations being tariffed is prompting a global reality check.

“We are a global, interconnected world in the context of markets, economy, and investments. And whatever happens as a result of the tariffs, we are going to feel the impact close… so I think we will feel it in Alberta,” she said.

“Global investors are absolutely saying to the United States, ‘stop this madness.’ We are a globally interconnected economy. The supply chains are connected. They’ve been working on that in the post-war world, and to deconstruct them overnight makes absolutely no sense, and it is going to have an impact on every country on this planet. Stop the madness.”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said that dodging the so-called bullet of the tariffs wasn’t something to be exuberant about.

“We have our friends who are heavily invested, obviously, in steel or aluminum or the auto sector… the vast, vast majority of the goods in Alberta are now going to be tariff-free, but we have about 5,000 jobs impacted by aluminum and steel,” she said.

Getting goods to market means building up local capacity

Yedlin said seizing the opportunities presented by the trade war meant building up Canadian capacity to get goods and materials to different markets.

“We need to seize that opportunity, and sometimes that’s what a crisis does. It’s not the best way to do it, but I think that we have the right mindset to really push forward because we don’t give up very easily. Other countries do, Canadians don’t,” she said.

“Elbows up. I’m waiting for my T-shirt.”

Shaun Stevenson, CEO of the Prince Rupert Port Authority, speaking on the Chamber panel, said that what was being worked on in Calgary as part of the inland port was very complementary to the work that has been done to build capacity at tidewater to get those goods and materials to market.

“You can look at distribution centres and creating those economic clusters inland to support both Alberta trading, but also the goods that Albertans are dependent on is only complementary to more robust supply chains. I see the merrier, and fantastic news to see the Calgary project,” he said.

That sentiment was echoed by Mayor Jyoti Gondek, who spoke to the media after the conclusion of the panel.

“It was really interesting to hear from different sector experts what we should be doing to strengthen our nation, and frankly, what we should be doing to strengthen our province and our city as well. It’s very encouraging to hear Gary Mar say, ‘if you can’t move it, you can’t sell it.’ That just really identifies the fact that building Canada’s strongest inland port here in Calgary is an important move,” the mayor said.

“It was also very interesting to hear from Shaun Stevenson… saying that he’s very interested in what Calgary is going to be able to do with this inland port, and they want a strong partnership with us. So, our future is very bright. People are bullish on our city, and I’m optimistic that we’re making the right moves right now.”

She said that the strategic challenge right now was to be nimble enough to be responsive to the needs of industry, and that they were attracting the right tenants.

“We need to get serious about manufacturing, and we need to be wooing the world to come here and have a look at what’s possible. So we need to move right now. We needed to move 10 years ago, but right now is a pretty good option.”