Canada’s Minister of International Trade met with local business representatives during a round table discussion in Wallaceburg today.
The honourable Ed Fast discussed what avenues were necessary to push their business from the local, to the international stage.
“Bev (Shipley) invited me today to come here to his riding to talk about Canada’s trade policy, and to get input from local companies that are involved in manufacturing, involved in food processing, involved in agricultural export, involved in the services industry, involved in investment attraction,” Fast said.
One of the biggest highlights stemming from the meeting was the announcement of a request for a “Go Global” workshop coming to the area.
“I would be delighted to come back and do that,” Fast said.
The Go Global workshops are designed to assist small and medium-sized enterprises (called SMEs) to take advantage of international opportunities.
An event like this would bring The Canadian Trade Commission, Export Development Canada, The Business Development Bank of Canada, and members of the Canadian Commerical Corporation to the Chatham-Kent area.
12 Go Global Workshops have taken place throughout Canada since their inception in 2014, and a 13th is upcoming at the end of this month in Uxbridge, Ontario.
Fast said in the meeting today there was a large focus on a variety of exporting opportunities for businesses in the area.
“We had a frank and highly productive discussion about some of the ongoing challenges in the local economy,” he said.
While the Canadian dollar may not be worth as much internationally as it was in prior years, Fast said this may not entirely be a negative.
“Our products and services are relatively cheaper now then they would have been a couple of years ago… which means at least a temporary advantage over some of our competitors.”
Fast said international trading is set to become very important for Canadians in the upcoming years, and is a big platform of Harper’s Conservative Government.
– Story and photo by Andrew Roebuck
