To better understand the challenges the local economy is facing because of U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods, Peterborough County is asking local business owners to share information about their businesses.
“We are trying to really understand the local impact of what these tariffs could look like, and there’s no one better to tell us than the businesses firsthand,” says Rhonda Keenan, the county’s general manager of economic development.
“We’re trying to get insight into who’s vulnerable, who needs support, and what kind of support is reasonable. It would help us to advocate for them, try to drive policies that would support them, or create incentive programs that can get them through these times.”
After initially launching the 25 per cent across-the-board tariffs on March 4, two days later U.S. President Trump paused the tariffs until April 2. However, on March 12, Trump placed a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum products, and also plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on all countries — including Canada — that impose higher tariffs than the U.S. does and that have any trade practices the U.S. deems to be unfair.
To assess how U.S. tariffs could affect regional economic development and to identify possible solutions, Peterborough County is encouraging all local businesses to share information about their business through an online business registration form.
The requested information includes business name, address, and contact information, number of employees, products and services offered, products imported or exported and from or to which countries, future plans, types of support needed, and more.
“Let us know how we can help you,” says Keenan. “We want to hear from you and want to understand what’s keeping you up at night. We’re not pretending to have all the answers, but if we start to see themes we can do a better job of talking to our upper levels of government, to inform them of what types of packages and incentives are going to be more helpful or less helpful to them and why.”
The county will use the information to create a business directory that will available to its economic development staff, allowing them to refer back to the businesses and to respond to needs as they are being identified.
Keenan notes this information will help inform the county’s work with its partners and organizations like the Economic Developers Council Of Ontario and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. She adds that the county could also help businesses explore opportunities they may not otherwise be privy to.
“As an example, perhaps businesses are getting materials from the U.S. but there is a trade mission that is going to Germany, and maybe Germany has that same level of product that we should be looking at,” Keenan explains. “Knowing who’s who and what they’re buying will then help us drive some of that information to determine who should be a part of this trade mission and to ask how we can help.”
Given that the current economic landscape is so unpredictable, Keenan says knowing the needs and services of local businesses is key to forming new partnerships that might be essential to help offset the impact of tariffs.
“I think there are going to be some (businesses) that are saying they’re going to want to make connections with other industries across the provinces,” she says. “We can look at this and ask if there is potential for groups of companies here to build a new supply chain, what that might look like, and who already has a strength in that area that we could leverage instead of starting from scratch. There are so many different possibilities.”
Information about local businesses will also help the county’s economic development team to identify solutions from others working in specific industries, whether through a network of economic development organizations or even different municipalities across the province.
“If one community is doing something that’s working really well, how can we bring those good news stories and those success stories into our own community so we could leverage all those networks to make connections?” Keenan says. “We might have somebody in Norfolk County that has already solved a problem that one of our businesses might identify. We don’t know until we know.”
The collection of information from businesses is one in a series of actions outlined in the Peterborough County Tariff Implications and Response Actions Plan, which aims to enhance the county’s purchasing policy and processes to support local, provincial, and Canadian suppliers.
“Municipalities as a rule are big consumers of goods and services, so how can we help educate our businesses so they’re getting more of those contracts?” Keenan says. “Maybe that means having an event on how to sell more effectively to government, and pulling back the curtain on procurement processes because sometimes they just don’t make sense to a business.”
She also adds that another consideration in relation to procurement is the question of whether municipalities have capital projects in the pipeline that local businesses could bid on.
“That could keep everybody going, keep projects happening, and keep employees engaged,” Keenan says. “Those are just some of the ideas that we could be looking at as a result of the feedback we’re getting from businesses.”
Keenan emphasizes the county doesn’t want to “make assumptions without talking to businesses first,” and assures business owners that take the time to complete the business registration form that “we’re not just going to put this information in a database and let it sit there.”
“Peterborough County is made up of small and medium-sized businesses and each one is unique,” Keenan says. “Each one is important, and they all have their own different story. Each story is something that we want to know about.”
Businesses located in Peterborough County can share their information by completing the form at survey123.arcgis.com/share/8d4c1c807beb45e29b5524e7185d0761.
