Latest news with #TorontoRegionBoardofTrade
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Nearly two-thirds of small biz impacted by trade war: Survey
In trade wars, there are no winners. Especially when it comes to a small business. A survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) reveals nearly two-thirds of small firms are being negatively impacted by the uncertainty of the U.S-Canada tariff war. Based on 1,064 responses earlier this month, the survey revealed 62% of small companies are taking some sort of financial hit, about a quarter indicate no impact yet, while 12% are unsure how it will affect them. Tariffs threatened and imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump on Canadian goods and reciprocal measures by the Liberal government in Ottawa — as well as provincial actions — will hurt the economy across the country, said Simon Gaudreault, CFIB chief economist and vice president of research. 'It will have a negative impact on the Canadian economy, whether you are in Toronto or any other part of the country,' he said. 'We are too interconnected with the U.S.' In Toronto, a large segment of businesses rely on financial services, which Gaudreault calls a barometer of the overall economy. 'You're going to have a lot of investments that are not going to be made,' he said. 'You're going to have a lot things that are going to be put on pause. Jobs that maybe will be lost or new hires won't be made. All of this is going to impact our economy.' Gaudreault said a continuing trade war will plunge the Canadian economy into tougher times. 'Overall, for most businesses, this is going to be a very negative result. Most likely, we're going to see a recession in Canada if the trade war goes on.' While it is early days, Gaudreault said a recent CFIB questionnaire found very few small businesses have decided to close up shop or relocate as a vast majority of entrepreneurs look to pivot away from the U.S. market or American products. 'For a lot of businesses right now, they've been able to mitigate (the effects of tariffs),' he said. 'Certainly (they) have put a lot of things on hold, but they are not yet at a stage where the businesses are closing tomorrow or they're firing or laying off all of their workers.' Giles Gherson, president and CEO of Toronto Region Board of Trade, said in an emailed statement that the 'economic storm is still brewing' after Trump last week signed off on 25% tariffs on Canadian goods entering the U.S. which are not protected by the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement. 'These measures will have punishing consequences for businesses, workers, and consumers on both sides of the border. Governments at all levels must now move swiftly and vigorously with immediate temporary measures to safeguard businesses directly affected by the U.S. tariffs and to buttress the resilience and self-reliance of our economy for the future.' Gherson added that the tariff threat has shown how complacent Canada has become on the country's own productivity. 'We need to go full-bore on economic growth, retool in a way we haven't since the post-war era.' Poilievre wants to impose 50% metal tariffs on U.S. after latest Trump threat Canada's dairy industry says tariffs less scary than threats to supply management Ontario eyes more trade with countries overseas in wake of U.S. tariffs
CBC
20-02-2025
- Automotive
- CBC
Board of trade wants to tackle Toronto's congestion crisis with these 5 solutions
More than five kilometres of the Gardiner Expressway suffer from severe congestion that doubles travel times in Toronto during rush hour periods. The highway is one of a dozen major downtown corridors facing at least a kilometre's worth of congestion that's bad enough to make a trip take one and a half to two times longer at peak times, according to a travel time analysis commissioned by the Toronto Region Board of Trade. The new traffic data, billed as the most comprehensive portrait to date of the city's gridlock, serves as the backbone to the board's congestion action plan, which it released this morning. For more than a year, the board's task force has been digging into the problem of congestion, which it considers a top regional and economic challenge that could be costing the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) $44.7 billion a year in economic and social value. "Despite years of conversation and well-intended short-term fixes, we remain gridlocked," Giles Gherson, the board's president, said in a statement. "In the face of unprecedented economic uncertainty, it is more important than ever to tackle a crisis that is holding us back." Today's report both quantifies parts of the problem — like travel time and the cost of lane closures — and offers five areas of action the task force argues can help alleviate congestion. CBC Toronto explored many of the potential solutions highlighted by the task force in a three-part series, Gridlocked: The Way Out, last month. Here's a look at the five key areas of action the task force is suggesting for Toronto. 1. Reduce lane closures This year, roughly 10 per cent of all Toronto streets, or 550 kilometres of roadway, will be occupied by construction work zones at some point, according to the report. Given existing demands on the road, the task force argues there needs to be a higher bar for lane closures and the city needs to actively manage how long they last. The board hired infrastructure consultant Steer to assess the cost of lane closures in the city. Toronto charges a maximum of $37,000 per month to close a lane of traffic for construction, and determines the price based on lost revenue from nearby parking meters, according to the report. But the report argues that pricing scheme grossly underestimates the actual cost. Steer's analysis found the social and economic costs (like increased travel times, vehicle operating costs and pollution from congestion) of closing a major arterial lane amount to $1.7 million per month. Those social and economic costs should be part of the decision making process for granting lane closures, the report argues. And closures with the greatest impact should have limits — like not allowing closures on major arterial roads during peak travel hours. Other major cities like Singapore, Sydney and Chicago don't allow lane closures on major streets during peak hours, and New York doesn't allow lane closures on major streets during the day. "By implementing dynamic pricing for closures and encouraging off-peak construction, we can strike a better balance between necessary construction and the flow of traffic," said Alex Avery, CEO of Primaris REIT and a member of the task force's governing council. As CBC Toronto previously reported, the city is working to improve its construction management. Council passed a congestion management plan last fall that includes a levy for builders who block lanes of traffic for construction. The fee would increase based on the size and duration of the closure. The action report also supports 24/7 construction where possible, as was adopted to accelerate the timeline for construction on the Gardiner. 2. Enforce the rules of the road The next piece of the puzzle for the task force is enforcement to correct driver behaviour. Police officers and traffic agents can't be everywhere. So the report suggests adopting automated enforcement, with cameras catching drivers blocking intersections, double-parking and stopping in bike lanes and at bus stops. WATCH | CBC Toronto gets demo of automated enforcement in Seattle: Why Toronto is looking to Seattle to help solve gridlock 24 days ago Duration 10:38 On a quest to figure out how to fix traffic, CBC Toronto travels to Seattle to get a behind-the-scenes look at how cameras seem to be deterring drivers from blocking intersections and driving in bus lanes. CBC Toronto got a first-hand look at what that kind of enforcement looks like in Seattle, where they use it for blocking intersections and bus lanes — and it appears to be changing driver behaviour. Toronto is working on an automated enforcement pilot but it isn't likely to start issuing tickets for blocking the box until sometime in 2026 at the earliest, and aspects of the program still require provincial approval. 3. Unclog the arteries The task force commissioned an in-depth analysis of traffic in the downtown core from Parsons engineering firm. It found that most of the worst-congested corridors downtown are east-west arterials like the Gardiner, Bloor Street and Lakeshore Boulevard, which "no longer serve their purpose to keep traffic flowing." Overall, the analysis identified a dozen corridors where travel times during peak periods took at least one and a half times longer (than in free flowing traffic) across at least a kilometre of the roadway. The report suggests identifying "major connector roads" to plan which ones will absorb traffic when another connector road is disrupted, and moving bike lanes off of those roads to keep traffic moving. It also recommends incentivizing off-peak deliveries. One way to do that, it says, would be to reduce permit fees for night or early morning operations for businesses that receive those deliveries. 4. Clear the bottlenecks The action plan also identifies specific problem areas for traffic flow in the city that it says could be fixed by re-engineering the road design. Those changes include restricting turning movements on Harbour and York Streets to prevent weaving between lane conflicts and restricting lane changes on the Gardiner between York Street and Spadina Avenue for the same reason. The task force also supports implementing traffic signals for Gardiner on-ramps at York and Spadina as a pilot project to maintain traffic flow by controlling the pace of vehicles merging onto the highway. WATCH | The difference between a smart highway and existing highways: How using AI on highway ramps could keep traffic moving 23 days ago Duration 0:57 Baher Abdulhai, an engineering professor at the University of Toronto, demonstrates the difference between a smart highway and existing highways using funnels to represent the highways and rice kernels to represent cars. Last month, the city's director of traffic management, Roger Browne, told CBC Toronto it doesn't have any plans to implement traffic signals on on-ramps because there isn't much space for queuing vehicles off highways. He also said it might not be within Toronto's control, given the city uploaded oversight of the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway to the province in 2023. 5. Implement accountability mechanisms The report advocates for a new reporting structure at the city when it comes to congestion, which would include a cross-departmental czar who would review all city business through a congestion lens. But the action plan argues fixing congestion can't all be up to Toronto. It impacts the entire GTHA, and so there needs to be regional coordination to fix things. The solution for that, the report says, is creating an intergovernmental table for congestion management, chaired by the province. The task force hopes the city and provincial governments act on those five action areas immediately. But in the future, the report emphasized the need for increasing transit ridership, building even more rapid transit lines than those already planned and expanding water-based transportation. Finally, the report advocated taking a look at ways to implement targeted congestion pricing once more transit alternatives, like the Ontario Line, are operational. That's a strategy that has been deeply unpopular in Ontario despite helping ease traffic in other major cities.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
In the news today: Premiers travel to Washington amid tariff threat
Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed... Premiers travel to Washington amid tariff threat Canadian premiers are taking up the Team Canada mantle in Washington this week for a joint mission to convince U.S. President Donald Trump to drop tariff threats for good. The Council of the Federation, which includes all 13 provincial and territorial premiers, is undertaking the diplomatic push after Trump put a month-long pause on his plans to slap Canada with 25 per cent tariffs, with a lower 10 per cent levy on Canadian energy. Trump delayed those levies until at least March 12 in response to border security commitments from both countries. But Monday, Trump announced that on the same day in March he will impose 25 per cent tariffs on all aluminum and steel imports to the U.S., with no exemptions. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who is chair of the council, will be speaking to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce today, while other leaders will join the Washington mission Wednesday. Here's what else we're watching... Canada businesses seeking response to U.S. tariffs Canada's business advocacy groups are calling for government action following promised American tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to levy 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to his country beginning March 12. Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Candace Laing said in a statement the move is "wrong on so many levels." A similar sentiment was echoed by Toronto Region Board of Trade president and CEO Giles Gherson, who said in a statement immediate action must be taken to "shore up our economy and Canada's economic sovereignty." Gherson's statement included a to-do list from the Toronto Region Board of Trade for the Canadian government in response to the tariffs, with one item being to impose counter-tariffs on the U.S. in order to protect Canadian steel and aluminum businesses' home market. Eby heads to U.S. to meet lawmakers about tariffs British Columbia Premier David Eby says he believes the recent tariff friction with the United States will fundamentally change the way Canadians approach trade with their southern neighbours, and things "will never go back to the way that we were before." Eby says Canadians were "way too reliant on the decisions of one person in the White House" and "took our relationship for granted," adding that he believes the province and the country will emerge stronger from this experience because "the world needs what we have." The premier made the comments before he flew from Vancouver to Washington, D.C., where he will be joined by other provincial leaders to meet with U.S. lawmakers about trade and tariffs as the threat of a steep levy on more Canadian goods looms. The trip comes just after U.S. President Donald Trump slapped 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum. Previously, Eby had called the U.S. threat of tariffs on Canadian goods a "declaration of economic war against a trusted ally and friend" and "a complete betrayal" of the historic bond between Canada and the United States. Bar ambassador while Trump talks annexation: prof Ottawa should block Donald Trump's chosen ambassador to Canada until the U.S. president stops questioning Canada's sovereignty, says one expert. "We could potentially use (this) as a way of signalling the seriousness with which the Government of Canada is viewing this unwelcome talk," said University of Victoria international relations professor Will Greaves. Trump has said repeatedly for weeks he wants to make Canada a U.S. state and has threatened to do so through economic coercion, prompting his officials to make similar comments. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau initially characterized those comments as jokes. But he told business leaders last Friday that the idea of absorbing Canada "is a real thing" for Trump, because of Canada's resource wealth. Trump said Sunday that he could easily enact economic policies that "would not allow Canada to be a viable country," such as shutting down Canada's auto sector. Ford in D.C., other Ontario leaders stay on trail Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford is heading to Washington, D.C., today to meet with U.S. lawmakers and business leaders in his capacity as Ontario premier, while other party leaders continue campaigning in the province. Ford is making the trip with other premiers as chair of the Council of the Federation, in a bid to promote economic ties between U.S. and Canada amid President Donald Trump's tariff threats. Opposition leaders have argued that Ford's trip to Washington is inappropriate during an election, but the PC leader has maintained that he can simultaneously campaign for re-election and take anti-tariff actions as premier. NDP Leader Marit Stiles will be making an announcement in Kitchener today, while Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie is set to make another stop in Toronto. Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner will also be in Kitchener before attending a local candidates' debate in Guelph. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2025. The Canadian Press
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Here's the latest as Canada faces steel and aluminum tariffs from the United States
OTTAWA — U.S. President Donald Trump said over the weekend he will formally announce 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports today, including for Canada and Mexico. Here's the latest news: ——— 4:23 p.m. Toronto Region Board of Trade president and CEO Giles Gherson calls on the government to take immediate action to "shore up our economy and protect Canada's economic sovereignty" in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threat. The board of trade says its "emergency to-do list" includes imposing targeted counter-tariffs on U.S. products to protect Canadian steel and aluminum businesses and providing immediate financial support for Canadian steel and aluminum producers. It says there is "little doubt that these crushing steel and aluminum tariffs may be the proverbial canary in the coal mine for a country pitching towards a serious national emergency." ——— 2:30 p.m. The White House says President Donald Trump's executive order signing has been moved to 5:30 p.m. It was previously scheduled for 1 p.m. No reason was provided for the delay. ——— 1:25 p.m. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is travelling back to Washington, D.C., along with her provincial counterparts to lobby U.S. lawmakers and industry amid continued tariff threats from the U.S. president. Smith says she will embrace a "Team Canada approach" to convince Americans the levies will harm workers and businesses on both sides of the border, while also highlighting the "significant" role Alberta energy exports play in the U.S. At the same time, Smith is demanding the Canadian government reverse what she calls "soft-on-crime" federal law as part of its response to U.S. President Donald Trump's concerns about border security. The premier says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government must reintroduce mandatory minimum jail sentences for drug offenders, or offer up federal funding for Alberta to take over drug prosecutions. ——— 11:17 a.m. Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford says he has spoken with the CEOs of Canadian steel companies Stelco and Dofasco this morning about looming U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum. Ford says he will wait until Trump's formal announcement this afternoon before reacting to the tariffs, but notes Ontario is prepared to react 'hard' and 'fast.' Ford, who is heading to Washington, D.C., this week in his role as Ontario premier, says his team is in 'constant communication' with federal officials and other premiers on the issue. ——— 10 a.m. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he would implement matching tariffs on American steel and aluminum if he was prime minister. Speaking in Iqaluit, Poilievre says money collected by counter tariffs would go back to Canada's steel and aluminum industry, with any surplus used for broader tax relief. However, when asked about high food prices in the north, Poilievre says he'd put 'every penny' collected by counter tariffs into lowering taxes. ——— 7:40 a.m. The head of the Canadian Steel Producers Association says she is "deeply concerned" about the latest tariff threat by U.S. President Donald Trump. The U.S. president said on Sunday that he will formally announce 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S. on Monday, including those coming from Canada and Mexico. Catherine Cobden, CEO of the association, says when Trump implemented tariffs on Canadian steel in 2018, there were massive disruptions that hurt both Canada and the U.S. She called on Ottawa to act again to fight the threat and be ready to retaliate. ——— 6 a.m. Canadian ambassador to France Stéphane Dion says Canada and European countries are working on a cohesive strategy to address tariff threats from the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump said again Sunday that he wants to see Canada become a U.S. state, after being asked about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's recent comments saying Trump is not joking. Trudeau is in Paris to attend the global summit on artificial intelligence. Late Sunday evening following a dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron, Trudeau did not answer reporters' questions about Trump's statements. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 10, 2025. The Canadian Press Sign in to access your portfolio
