INNISFAIL - On Tuesday, March 4, U.S. President Donald Trump enacted sweeping 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian products imported into America -- the so-called “fentanyl-related” tariffs -- and in response, Canada implemented tariffs on American products coming into Canada.
Next week on March 12 new American ones on steel and aluminum are supposed to arrive, and in early April we could see reciprocal tariffs.
If they come there will no doubt be a full retaliatory response from the Government of Canada.
But there could be more Trump postponements. Maybe not.
The moment U.S. tariffs came into effect this morning, so did the Canadian response.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) March 4, 2025
Canada will be implementing 25% tariffs against $155 billion of American products.
Starting with $30 billion worth of goods immediately, and the remaining $125 billion in 21 days’ time.
In the meantime, the Town of Innisfail has been busy doing its best to prepare itself.
At the regular town council meeting on Feb. 24 Todd Becker, the town’s chief administrative officer, briefed council on what he and his staff have been doing to prepare for the American tariff onslaught.
“Administration is taking the approach of attending tariff-related learning opportunities to learn both the macro and micro impacts to the community and town as an organization,” said Becker from his report to council.
Becker told council that while recent Canadian Chamber of Commerce research shows Red Deer, Lethbridge, Edmonton and Calgary are considered tariff-vulnerable cities, Innisfail and the region “proportionately” can automatically be considered tariff vulnerable.
“The current research indicates that until tariffs are modelled out it is difficult to respond or react,” said Becker. “The 2025 capital projects will assist in determining the financial impacts the tariffs will have.
“Town management are having procurement-related discussions in the forthcoming weeks to ensure the procurement of goods and supplies have additional scrutiny.”
In a later interview with the Albertan Becker said if the tariffs arrive as repeatedly boasted by Trump they could have more of a direct impact for the town when it comes to large-scale projects, such as the planned $12.2 million Aquatic Centre Modernization Project that was unveiled by administration in January.
“We're anticipating tariffs will have an impact on the aquatic centre project and it will be determined as the design is complete,” said Becker. “Right now, we’ve gone out to tender and we’re pulling together the validation report.
“We're hoping to bring that to council in the next six weeks or so, and the result of that tendering process and the validation report will demonstrate what that looks like,” said Becker. “We have a target budget of $12 million, and we'll see what the end result comes to.
“That's going to be one of our biggest measures, that project I’d say.”
The Town of Innisfail has retained Chandos Construction and Group2 Architecture to complete the project.
A validation report will be completed this spring to refine and finalize project costing and scope. A report will be presented to council prior to issuing any construction contracts.
In the meantime, mayor Jean Barclay has been busy discussing the tariff threat with mayors from across western Canada and beyond.
Barclay was on a 90-minute call on Feb. 19 that was hosted by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and included scores of mayors from across the prairies and territories.
The call was hailed as a virtual listening tour for attendees, as far away as Yellowknife to Brandon to Innisfail, to get their insights into the Trump-led tariff threats.
The key message was “the ground has shifted”, noted the mayor.
“It's top of mind for everyone because it doesn't matter what community you are from there will be an impact,” said Barclay of the pending tariffs. “It’s hard to chart any kind of a path at this point in time because we don't exactly know until that the day comes.”
As for the prospects for the Aquatic Centre Modernization Project, Barclay said there are just too many unknowns at this point to predict with any degree of accuracy.
“I know that there's been discussions with administration and Chandos on procurement, and we know that Chandos will procure responsibly,” said Barclay. “But you know, when you think of almost everything you need for equipment and material, and you know there's going to be an element of maybe steel in it and aluminum, and so, is there going to be an impact on pricing?
“Certainly, administration's eyes are on how this is going to impact procurement and the pricing we have budgeted for,” added Barclay. “Time will tell, and we really don't know at this point in time.”
