Tires are Nova Scotia's biggest U.S. export, and this town runs on them
CBC
After work, Mal Haley likes to watch the sun rise over Nova Scotia's LaHave River — it's a calming routine after 12 hours of intense heat and piercing alarms.
Haley watches the sunlight-tinted water charge toward the Atlantic on her drive home after an overnight shift at the Michelin tire factory.
Once, the river gave the town life. Today, it's Michelin that keeps Bridgewater afloat.
Haley is exhausted. Twenty-four hours before, she roused her three-year-old son William, took him to daycare and got on with the day's chores. She hasn't slept since.
All her life, Haley has called Bridgewater home. She's worked at the Michelin factory for almost 10 years. Now 28, one-third of her life has been spent making tires.
Despite the long hours, Haley likes her job. She even prefers working nights. Making a living at Michelin lets her spend time with friends and family — her best friend and uncle both work there. Inside the factory, she manages a crew of five people and a 4.5-metre-high tire-making machine. The responsibility, though stressful, is satisfying.
But stress has been building since Jan. 20, when Donald Trump was sworn in as U.S. president. He is pressing corporations to move to the U.S., raising concerns that Michelin may go south.
In Bridgewater, 1,270 people work at the Michelin plant. The French king of tires issues cheques to more than 25 per cent of the town's working-age people.
Every company town is an ecosystem, says Dalhousie University economics professor Stephane Mechoulan. If the company falters, the entire town suffers.
The factory — capable of producing 7,500 tires daily — is the centrepiece of Nova Scotia's manufacturing industry. Rubber is the province's largest export, thanks to Michelin's tires. In 2023, tire exports to the United States from Nova Scotia were around $1.2 billion.
That's $139,000 worth of tires exported to the United States every hour, all year round.
When Trump began talking tariffs on Canadian goods earlier this year, it spurred many questions. Will it be business as usual for the world's leading tire manufacturer? Will there be layoffs in Nova Scotia? Or the worst-case scenario — could Trump's belligerence prompt a relocation to the United States?
So far, Michelin tires have been largely spared from Trump's tariffs. But given the fluid events of the past few months, it's not surprising Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston is currently in France to meet directly with Michelin.
Nova Scotia has three Michelin plants. Since 1971, Bridgewater has been home to the company's sprawling complex on the outer side of the town's business park; the other factories are in Granton, near New Glasgow, and Waterville, in the Annapolis Valley.
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