Fort Erie, Niagara urged to find competitive edge amid U.S. trade war

Fort Erie and Niagara need to seek out every competitive advantage as Canada’s neighbour to the south attempts to wage economic war on Canadian businesses, the executive director of the Niagara Industrial Association says.

Jordan Sherlock gave a presentation to Fort Erie councillors at Monday’s council meeting, where he outlined the work his organization performs and some of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for the industrial sector in Fort Erie and Niagara at large. And while he suggested some reason for optimism, he said there’s also plenty of uncertainty ahead.

“More than ever I think we need to find competitive advantages here in the region for attracting new business but also encouraging the folks who are here to stay here,” Sherlock said.

“There will be competition, especially in the U.S., and opportunities for our manufacturers to expand there. We need to have competitive advantages.”

Sherlock’s association has roughly 300 members across the region, including about 25 in Fort Erie. He said the town has been a fantastic partner as they work to advance the interests of Niagara’s varied industrial sector.

In fact, Sherlock said the wide breadth of subsectors in the region has positioned it well to weather the ongoing trade and economic issues.

“I think that gives us some advantages because when disruptions do happen we’re not necessarily decimated because there’s one huge impact that is going to decimate an entire subsector. We have breadth across a whole bunch of different areas,” Sherlock said.

Locally, Mayor Wayne Redekop suggested a mix of optimism and uncertainty from the local business community in light of the most recent trade war escalation between Canada and the U.S. Redekop said he checked in with a couple of the larger businesses in Fort Erie to gauge their mood.

“They’re both fairly optimistic in terms of where this goes but certainly a little uncertain about how long their business and other businesses can maintain successful operation in view of the uncertainty going on. Is that pretty typical of most of your members as far as you can gauge at this stage?” Redekop said.

Sherlock said while it is early, his members have expressed a similar attitude.

“I’m happy to report that I’m not hearing too many horror stories, or I have not heard many since about 18ish months ago,” he said.

An increased focus on east-west trade, along with the Canadian government’s increase in defence spending could benefit Niagara’s industrial base, Sherlock said. He said he recently talked to the owners of Fort Erie’s Canada Perforating Inc., who have focused on trading within Canada and who he said “are up to their eyeballs” in work.

However, Sherlock cautioned the longer this drags out, the more uncertainty can creep in.

“The longer the uncertainty goes on, the more that folks kind of pause their growth plans. And when they pause their growth plans that gives them a chance to look at other options. And one of those options is 10 minutes that way,” he said, pointing to the Canada-U.S. border.

Beyond the trade war, Sherlock outlined some other challenges and opportunities the region’s industrial sector faces. A limited labour pool continues to hamstring businesses, though Sherlock said it appears more people, and especially young people, are seeing skilled trades and manufacturing careers as viable options. A lack of succession and business transition planning is also a challenge.

On the bright side, provincial and federal governments have signalled a willingness to invest. And specific to Niagara, the region is increasingly being seen as the “final frontier” of opportunity in Southwestern Ontario, Sherlock said.

“There’s not a lot of places left for businesses to expand, so Niagara’s kind of had the spotlight on it the last couple years,” he said.

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