Ask Louis Lafleur how he feels about US invoices and his answer is coming quickly.
“Ask me how I feel Canadian Price! ”
Lafleur is the president of Les Boisés Lafleur, Victoriaville, Que., 140 kilometers northeast of Montreal. The company makes wooden veneer: thin leaves of a wide variety of species – maple, ash, eucalyptus – then applied to plywood used for countertops and furniture.
When the US invoice debate began shortly after the presidential inauguration last January, Lafleur began to lose sleep. It exports three -quarters of its finished product to the US and were terrifying tasks.
Initially, its US customers, who were convinced that invoices would not remain in their place, said they would pay a little more to help absorb the blow.
US invoices for its exports have not been implemented, but in February, before leaving the post, Justin Trudeau announced a counterattack on $ 30 billion in goods that entered Canada from the US-including the Wood Lafleur category.
It introduces all its wood from the US and pays a 25 % of these imports from March 4.
“My customers say,” now complain because your government [adds] an invoice? “We look a little stupid,” says Lafleur.
Quebec12:51Quebec manufacturers feel pain by Canadian counterattacks
When Canada did not appear in the list of countries hit by US invoices, the consent was that we had avoided a bullet. But there are owners of business in Quebec who still feel like they are on the line of fire … from their own government. The journalist Susan Campbell has the story of a manufacturer who says Canadian counterattacks could have a devastating impact on his business.
‘Band-aid in broken bone’
Lafleur says he should be eligible for a duty of duty-a return for at least part of the money spending on counterattacks. But the information is not easy to find. He does not know how long he can count or how long a request will be needed. In the meantime, it plays it safe.
Les Boisés Lafleur would normally enter six and a half wood trucks per month. Lafleur only bought three from February.
“If I buy the wood and I don’t get the money back, I’ll lose a huge sum of money,” he says.
Fewer wood traditions will mean reduced production for Lafleur. It has begun to reduce the workforce with a different number of workers each week, usually between three and six.
Lafleur has applied for assistance under a federal program that was implemented in early March to help companies maintain their staff, allowing employees to share work and meet the conditions for the EI. But he calls “a band-aid in a broken bone”. He does not see logic in the production of Canadian companies paying a price in this trade war.
“When Trump’s administration said we were going to put an invoice, everyone agreed that it would be very, very bad for them, and our reaction to it?
Lafleur believes that the placement of counterattacks is more for a political demonstration than what is good for businesses.
A production economy aside
Victoriaville Mayor Antoine Tardif is chairman of the Council of Regional Economic Development, Destination Businesses.
He says the local economy has been developed by the Covid-19 pandemic. But from the beginning of the duty war, government services that fund local projects, such as the Canadian Development Bank and the Investissement Québec, are taking a step back.
“They have a lot of work waiting because of the uncertainty that creates this,” says Tardif. “Investments do not continue for the city and the revenue will not come.”
The invoices have been the top of the beginning of the current federal campaign federal campaign, and the leaders of Canada’s major political parties have maintained a common front of the need for controversy in response to the US administration.
- This Sunday, Cross Country Checkup asks: Market upheaval, invoices and possible recession – What are you standing for? What questions do you have for your survival? Leave your comment here And we can read it or call you back for our broadcast on April 13.
But entrepreneurs like Lafleur are not alone in questioning the government’s response. Speaking to CBC Quebec, Concordia’s economist Moshe Lander emphasized how the trade war plays during a federal campaign.
“You must constantly go in front of a microphone and express your anger, expressing your frustration and think you are doing something,” says Lander.
“And this idea of” let’s get back “is unfortunately the best political thing to do, but it’s not good financially.”
Economic concerns for voters
Talks with voters at Richmond -arthabaska, where Boisés Lafleur operates, suggest that financial issues are top.
In a break from his job at a local grocery store, Maxime Gagnon says it is taxes and the cost of living he thinks – and has made a choice.
“Pierre Poilievre seems more accurate when talking about financially,” Gagnon said of the Conservative Party leader.
Jean-Yves Houle says he will vote on the federal leader who talks about his concerns.
“It’s poverty. We have to find a way to make it easier for people,” says Houle.
Horse riding is currently represented by independent MP Alain Rayes, who abandoned the Conservative Party in 2022.
Lafleur, for his part, is not willing to wait until the election day to see how the parties respond to his current company status. It puts responsibility at the government’s feet.
“We have Mark Carney, who is prime minister who is not elected and runs to be an elected prime minister,” says Lafleur.
” If there is a 25 %invoice until April 28, I know who I will not vote for. ”
