London mayor meets with businesses ahead of CUSMA review
CBC
London Mayor Josh Morgan met with local business and community leaders on Friday morning in hopes of preparing a coordinated response ahead of this year's review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
Morgan gave a presentation on the impact of the ongoing trade dispute with the U.S., along with Ontario's Representative in Washington D.C., David Patterson, and a roundtable discussion was held between local businesses.
"It was a really great, frank and forthright conversation about both challenges being faced and, on the positive side, opportunities that present itself," Morgan said.
"London's got a lot of competitive advantages. We've got a lot of things that we can bring to the table."
CUSMA is up for review this year, and the Trump administration has already imposed a raft of tariffs on Canadian exports, including on steel, aluminum, softwood lumber and the auto sector.
The three countries must indicate by July 1 whether they want to extend the agreement, renegotiate its terms or let it expire.
Businesses at the roundtable included Trojan Technologies, Trudell Healthcare Solutions and the Forest City Film Festival.
London's economy has a lot going for it, Morgan said, and it can diversify, support efforts toward interprovincial trade and look at opening new markets globally. But the city remains effectively positioned to access the US market, he added.
"That's why the the renegotiation of CUSMA is so important to the London region," he said. "Ultimately a stable North American trading relationship is to the benefit of Londoners and London businesses."
Morgan was a city councillor during the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement from 2017 to 2018. This time around, he finds that higher levels of government are actively engaging with municipal partners and business associations in a "Team Canada approach," he said.
The grassroots feedback provided by London's businesses will be relayed to the provincial and federal levels, and should help inform decision-making during renegotiation, he said.
Romel Mostafa, an assistant professor at Ivey Business School and the director of the Lawrence National Centre for Policy and Management, moderated the roundtable discussion.
"I always say good policy starts with listening," he said. "This was a forum to hear our local leaders that are on the ground and facing it on a day-to-day basis.
There's a lot of uncertainty for businesses to navigate as the trade war with the U.S. continues, Mostafa said, especially in the manufacturing sector, where businesses are affected by tariffs on steel and other inputs not covered under CUSMA.
People who use the Indigenous-led overnight shelter on the edge of downtown Winnipeg are weighing their next steps after learning the facility is set to shut down, but Manitoba's premier says nobody will get left behind.
An 81-year-old man from Prince County has died after a single-vehicle crash on Route 14 near Christopher Cross, police say.
The B.C. government has raised the ceiling to $75,000 for potential damages over intimate-image abuse.
A man was found dead inside a house on Elm Street in Niagara Falls after it caught fire on Wednesday night, police say.
It’s been eight days since Suncor’s Sarnia refinery reported an oil spill into the St. Clair River, and it remains unclear what caused the pipeline leak, how much got into the water — and where cleanup efforts are at.
A joint operation involving Edmonton police has led to the deportation of two men, over what police say is a wave of extortions targeting the city's South Asian community.
Red Lake is hoping a petition will help it land federal funding for a new arena.
An N.W.T. MLA says the territory needs to fiercely protect treaty rights and territorial waters, amid Alberta’s merger of two major river basins, and the proposed treatment and release of oilsands tailings into the environment.
The Supreme Court of Canada will hear arguments against the Liberal government's deeply controversial decision to outlaw certain firearms.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is rejecting Opposition accusations of entitlement for using a private jet last fall courtesy of the Saudi government.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s department of Transportation and Infrastructure is promising policy changes after a Conception Bay South family spoke out about the expropriation and resale of the land where their home once stood.
Nova Scotia’s seniors and long-term care minister is calling on administrators at nursing homes to make direct appeals to their employees amidst protracted contract talks with the union representing workers at more than 50 sites.
A pair of Saint John poverty researchers have told N.B. Power's rate hearing that rising electricity prices are a serious affordability problem for low-income households and the utility or provincial government should match programs in place elsewhere that would help.