Task force working together to tackle tariffs

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on March 6, 2025.

Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman Peter Casurella, executive director of SouthGrow Regional Initiative and Trevor Lewington, CEO of Economic Development Lethbridge have joined forces with other community partners to create the Lethbridge Region Economic Resilience Task Force.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

A growing list of community partners are coming together to organize an Economic Resilience Task Force for the region to help deal with what are being referred to as “the Trump Tariffs” introduced this week.

Trevor Lewington, CEO of Economic Development Lethbridge told media Wednesday that the Lethbridge Region Economic Resilience Task Force is made up of nine organizations, including EDL and SouthGrow Regional Initiative, that are looking to find a way to navigate the impact of the tariffs imposed on Canada by the United States and provide support to local businesses.

“Our role will be to gather information, make it Lethbridge specific and get that to industry, hear from industry what their concerns are so we can look for solutions, advocate will all three levels of government for changes in policies that could help businesses navigate this crisis,” said Lewington.

Due to dynamic nature of the current situation, as it changes sometimes on an hourly basis, they have to be responsive and try to figure out what is going to make the biggest difference.

“That’s why we have the Regional Economic Development, the construction association, the polytechnic, the university,” said Lewington. “So, I think we got all the right brains and partners around the table. If it’s a training solution, we got people that can deal with that, if it’s a policy or advocacy, we’ve got people that can do that.”

He said it is a matter of looking at the whole picture and trying to figure out Lethbridge-specific solutions, what is the best way they can support Lethbridge and region and how to move forward through the next six months, a year or however long it takes.”

Headded that one of the steps is staying connected with politicians.

“I’ve had a number of meetings in the last number of days with MLAs and with MPs from both sides of the political spectrum, understanding what they are thinking and what they are hearing,” said Lewington. “We are also staying connected with our industry associations, and one of the partners in our coalition is the Lethbridge Construction Association.”

The Lethbridge Construction Association is a member of both the provincial and the federal body, and they can bring information back to the task force.

“Interprovincial trade and advocating for removal of some of those barriers is a key part of the work. Now here is the frustration: in Canada we have been talking about this for decades.”

Lewington said he hopes the situation acts as a wake-up call that motivates change to take place.

“Interprovincial trade is complex,” he pointed out. “It’s everything from trucking regulations, like we do you have to have a different configuration of your axle in Alberta versus when you are in Saskatchewan, that doesn’t make sense. Take credentials – why does a journeyman electrician (in Alberta) not qualify to do work in another province?”

He said there have been other provinces already taking action, and one example he gave to media was New Brunswick, which introduced legislation on Tuesday to allow for exemptions.

“I hope this is the opportunity for Canada to come together and do a better job at trading with ourselves first,” said Lewington.

Estimates suggest that removing all inter-provincial trade barriers will boost GDP and will lift the economy by four to seven per cent. Lewington said that is as much as we stand to lose from the impact of tariffs.

“So, if we just did a better job at trading amongst ourselves within Canada, we could potentially navigate this storm far easier,” he said.

When it comes to sending a message to residents and business owners within the region, the main message the task force wants to send is “don’t panic.”

“We have been through various crisis before. In southern Alberta we survived mad cow in the early 2000s, which had a devastating economic impact, we survived Covid, and we will get through this together as well.”

He said locally, people need to be mindful of how they spend their money. He referenced what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said about vacationing in Canada and the strategies of removing American alcohol off the shelves.

“And I will challenge all of us to think about how we are investing our dollars,” said Lewington. “Is it a locally owned business, are these companies that invest locally, where is the money that you give them over the counter, is that going to another country?”

We all have a role to play in supporting the Canadian economy, making sure we invest locally first and within the southern Alberta region, he said.

Peter Casurella, executive director of SouthGrow Regional Initiative, said SouthGrow is the economic alliance for the region, and it works with 29 communities across southern Alberta It was also involved in the Covid task force, which led to joining this new task force.

“This area is a common economy,” said Casurella. “That’s why we work together, because economic impacts affect the region and the small towns and counties around Lethbridge as much as they affect the city of Lethbridge.”

He pointed out they are natural partners and the more they do together, the more support they can marshal in response.

“Individually our towns and the counties are quite small by population size and economic strength, but together the region I represent is about 100,000 people with an economic impact that rivals the city of Lethbridge,” said Casurella.

Together, they’re a large and loud bloc, and they can do a lot that they wouldn’t be able to do otherwise.

On inter-provincial trade, Casurella said the problem is that Canada has become over-reliant on trade with the United States as a substantial amount of the commodities coming from rural areas are sold directly to the U.S.

“The reality is that is harder to do that (interprovincial trade), than it is to continue doing business as usual. And with a friendly neighbour to the south with large markets, it’s been easy to sell into the United States and frankly, we have become over-reliant on that.”