OCTOBER 25, 2025 • WESTMAN BUSINESS • THE BRANDON SUN
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That investment means the city will need to keep growing. Cathcart attribut- ed much of the growth to immigration programs Brandon remains a part of, where skilled workers come to work for companies. Numbers provided by Manitoba Chambers of Commerce President and CEO Chuck Davidson show a sharp drop in trade with the Americans between the start of tariffs, and in May. About 68 per cent of international trade was done between Manitoban businesses and their southern neigh- bours in May, compared to about 73 per cent a few months earlier. The 73 per cent figure equated to about $18 billion in exporting to the U.S. and $22 billion in importing. “That’s significant dollars. What we’ve been able to make it up with is we’ve also seen an increase in terms of market value outside of Canada, but it’s not equal dollar to dollar, but we’re see- ing that there’s opportunities there,” Davidson said. Looking forward to next year, busi- nesses will have to lessen their need to sell and supply product from Canada’s next-door neighbour, he said. Affected businesses had already start- ed shifting to other markets earlier this year, Davidson said, noting they don’t become available immediately.
“It’s not as simple as just finding new markets overnight — it takes time. So, they’ve explored some of that in terms of looking at other markets, whether it’s the EU, they’ve also started to recognize that there might be more trade opportu- nities even within Canada.” Part of that is building relationships with those new international markets. “If you’ve had long standing relation- ships south of the border, in some cases those are going to continue,” Davidson said. “But what you’re doing right now is you’re trying to make sure that you’re not reliant only on that U.S. business model, because it’s a little bit more volatile than it had been in the past.” Organizations and businesses say they’re optimistic for the future, and that, hopefully, their efforts of lobbying and trade talks from governments in Ot- tawa, Manitoba and the local level will help when it comes to both US tarriffs and those from China. “Optimism says that the lobbying is going to be effective in China,” said Burtnack. “That the U.S. is going to be consistent and that we’re going to have a trade agreement in place that is predict- able and reliable and respected. “There’s a lot of work to do to get to that vision of all of the canola market stars aligning, but we’re working hard on it, and there’s been a lot of progress.”
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