With the U.S. and Canada trade war in full swing, many local businesses in Midwestern Ontario continue to brace for the potentially long-lasting and damaging impacts that the tariffs are already having and could continue to have.
Paul Stewart, owner of PBJ Cleaning Depot in Listowel, says as a business owner, when word of the tariffs was circulating, he was totally confused by the notion.
"I think a lot of it is confusion. You're not sure what's coming next, what's going to happen and why they're even doing this. You feel bad for other businesses, employees of these businesses, so yeah, I think the first thing that came to my mind was confusion," Stewart shared.
Stewart says while his business in Listowel mostly stocks nearly 90 percent Canadian made products as is, there is still roughly 10 percent of its stock that has had to shift to other companies, and Stewart says they're tapping Canadian companies to do so.
"Manufacturers in Canada are working well with us and pricing isn't even an option here, it's about bringing a whole community together and I think it's going to be good for Canadian made products," said Stewart.
Despite not having a ton of U.S. products in stock, Stewart says he and staff started considering how to replace the U.S. products they do stock with those from Canadian companies months ago.
"We started this maybe just after Trump came into office when we started hearing rumblings that this might be going on. We have been reviewing things and making new contacts and as I said, the manufacturers here have been more than grateful and it's been great getting to know some of these new companies," added Stewart.
PBJ Cleaning Depot stocks cleaning and office supplies, and Stewart points out that while their stock may not be overly affected, their clients' bottom lines will be, which could in turn affect theirs. He says it's important to buy local and support Canadian companies and goods made here to send a message.
Disclosure: PBJ Cleaning Depot is an active advertiser with Blackburn Media Inc