The Manitoba government is set to unveil the 2025 provincial budget Thursday, and the impact of tariffs is a top-of-mind issue.
Manitoba Chambers of Commerce CEO Chuck Davidson told Global Winnipeg other provinces have programs in place to help businesses impacted by the ongoing trade war, while companies in this province continue to struggle.
The uncertainty surrounding tariffs, he said, means many businesses have held back on growth and making investments.
“The businesses are having sort of a shortfall of cash… they’re having to make decisions in terms of either increasing costs, laying off staff, those kinds of situations,” Davidson said.
“What we’re hoping is that the situation can be resolved sooner so they’re not going to have to go through that… but in the meantime, there is going to have to be some supports for those businesses.”
Davidson said he’s hoping for clarity on whether Manitoba will follow other provinces in providing support or rebate programs.
“I think both the provincial and federal governments need to play a better role in terms of providing information to businesses, in terms of, ‘Here’s what the current climate is, here’s what is currently taxed at the border, here’s what is not, here are resources to help businesses through that.’
“Those are some of the gaps that we’re really hearing from businesses right now, because they’ve never had to go through this before.”
