Sutcliffe warns of ‘historic challenges’ with Trump tariffs

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Ottawa faces an “historic challenge” in 2025 as the federal government sheds jobs and office space in the capital and the United States threatens a trade war with Canada, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe warned in a “State of the City” address Tuesday to the Ottawa Board of Trade.

Sutcliffe’s speech came the day after the federal government announced more than 3,000 job cuts are coming at Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada, which has many workers based in Ottawa, and incoming U.S. President Donald Trump mused about imposing a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods as soon as Feb. 1.

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“We do face some pretty significant challenges, and I don’t want to be dramatic, but I would say a few of them are historic challenges,” Sutcliffe said.

“The federal government has already said it intends to reduce its office space by as much as 50 per cent — that has never happened before in our city.”

The mayor, who has long complained that the provincial and federal governments are short-changing Ottawa in funding, particularly for its runaway transit costs, said it’s imperative that the federal government work with the city to ease the impact of the changes.

He cited an initiative from the 1990s, the Regional Economic Development Opportunities program (REDO) that helped retrain government workers let go during the public service budget cuts under former prime minister Jean Chrétien.

“Whether it’s that or something else, we need to work with the federal government on a transition plan for federal workers,” Sutcliffe said.

Meanwhile, the American tariff threat could create enormous uncertainty and even economic damage.

“I’m pleased Donald Trump has his sights set on the Panama Canal and not the Rideau Canal,” Sutcliffe quipped.

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Despite the darkening storm clouds over the economy, Sutcliffe took pains to stress the importance of immigration and welcoming newcomers to the city, just as his mother’s family had been welcomed when they fled Communist China in the 1950s.

In a tone markedly different from the caustic rhetoric from the incoming Trump administration, Sutcliffe said Ottawa “has always been a kind and compassionate community. A welcoming community.

“You know my story,” he told reporters after his speech. “I feel very passionately about welcoming people to our city because my family was welcomed here. I wouldn’t be here if my father and my mother’s family hadn’t been welcomed to this city and not been given the opportunities that they were.”

He spoke of the arrival of Vietnamese boat people in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and, more recently, the influx of refugees fleeing war in Syria and Ukraine.

“Unless you’re Indigenous, every person in Ottawa is either an immigrant or a descendant of immigrants, just like me,” he said.

“I understand and respect that the decisions around people seeking asylum and where they’re going to be housed, what services we’re going to provide are not easy decisions and sometimes people are going to have a reaction.

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“What I don’t want to see happening in Ottawa is the same kind of polarization that we’ve seen happening in other places. I don’t think that’s what Ottawa residents want. I don’t think that’s who we are.”

The turmoil, both economic and political — in Canada with the recent resignation announcement by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and in Washington D.C. with the return of Trump — made Tuesday’s Economic Outlook “maybe the most interesting of all time,” joked Sueling Ching, president and CEO of the Ottawa Board of Trade.

“There’s only so much we can control, but we have to advocate for our government to make sure we have as much notice as possible, as much support as possible, she said.

The board is encouraging its members with connections to the American market to stress the importance of Canada-U.S. trade, Ching said.

“There are so many economic, cultural ties between our two countries and we want to continue to see that flourish,” she said. “Having said that, the No. 1 priority for us is to continue to build the economy in Canada and in our communities the best way we can.”

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