Advocacy in Action
Trade and logistics
Nearly $100B in freight crosses the border here every year, and almost 80% of the St. Lawrence Seaway’s traffic passes through the Welland Canal. Building on these advantages, over 600 Niagara businesses export a total of over $800B a year. Even amid global uncertainty, we aim to grow these numbers.
Top Initiatives
Create a Canadian Free Trade Portal
While both federal and provincial governments continue to chip away at Canada’s internal trade barriers, Canadian firms still face a morass of regulations which often makes trading within Canada more difficult than trading with foreign countries. Without access to a centralized, easy-to-use data portal, this issue will continue for years.
Invest in biodiesel energy security
While consumption of biodiesel is increasing substantially on both sides of the border, U.S. subsidies for biodiesel are unmatched on the Canadian side, meaning that Canadian-priced biodiesel is uncompetitive. Without matching subsidies to keep Canadian prices competitive, Canadian biodiesel producers may abandon the market, leaving Canada with no domestic source of biodiesel.
Tear down the barriers to inter-provincial trade
There are significant barriers to interprovincial trade in Canada, and it’s often easier to do business with another country than another province.
End economically harmful tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened or announced sweeping tariffs on Canadian exports to the U.S., as well as separate tariffs on metals which might be cumulative. Economists in both countries are unanimous in stating that this policy would be very harmful to both economies.
Develop oil exports via the St. Lawrence Seaway
Canadian crude oil can be shipped by rail as far as Thunder Bay, but a lack of tankers and oil infrastructure prevents it from going further. This necessarily limits Canadian oil exports eastward when markets in Europe are interested in new sources of energy from reliable and ethical trading partners like Canada.
Maintain a Level Playing Field for EV Manufacturers
Chinese-made EVs are attempting to make inroads into the Canadian market, but the price of these vehicles is artificially depressed by lower (and less expensive) Chinese standards for environmental safeguards and labour rights, often undermined further by poor enforcement and corruption. Canadian manufacturers should not be penalized for their higher standards in protecting the environment and workers.
Develop the Niagara Wine Supercluster
As Canada’s largest wine region, Niagara has the potential to develop a “supercluster” of industries that revolve around the wine sector – if given the proper supports to grow.