While Donald Trump being elected as the President of the United States raises some uncertainty, Mayor Randy Hope says it may be beneficial for Chatham-Kent.
Hope told the Sydenham Current a Trump presidency isn’t all doom and gloom north of the border.
“What it did is help us a bit with the election,” Hope said.
“I know most people are very concerned with his criticism about foreign direct investment, about different nationalities… there wasn’t a comfort level. Many were looking at the Democrats being elected. Now that that has changed… with the political uncertainty, the markets are your true indicator. If you want to move your business forward, it would be best to move it in Canada and here in Chatham-Kent.”
Hope said there are new selling points they can use to attract investors and people to Chatham-Kent.
“I’ll get a better understanding as I was invited to the (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)’s CEO) Summit in Peru with world leaders, with heads of corporations and others. So I’m going to get a better sense of what the outcome and the outfall will be from the Presidential election,” he said.
Hope said the election had an immediate impact on the markets.
“We can see that the stock market, the futures dropped dramatically. There is people moving money around, foreign direct investment is now saying ‘what do I do in the next coming year, two years with the political instability that is there’. Not only is he the President, he also has control of the House with the Republicans,” Hope said.
“Those who are very concerned about it are the conversations prior to this Election Day, him being elected, a lot of uncertainty has been created.”
Hope added: “Now we’re trying to maximize it to our benefit. We’re saying if you want stability, if you want good government, if you want not to be worried about trade arrangements and stuff like that, than your best location would be in Canada, but especially here in Chatham-Kent.”
Hope said Trump being elected with no prior political experience is unprecedented.
“That’s what is getting everyone the jitters,” he said.
“Some people say ‘we love change’ and I can remember that back in 1990 when I was part of a government that got elected in through a sweep that occurred and made a lot of promises, and then reality kicked in and then the economy went into the trash.”
Hope said sweeping changes cannot be made by Trump right away.
“The trade arrangements are binding agreements that stand today. It is not something that you’ll snap your finger and its going to be gone.
Hope said he thinks there is going to be a lot more damage control and players on the international stage trying to maneuver themselves around the White House.
In a close battle with Hillary Clinton, Trump captured (unofficially) 289 electoral votes across the country, while the Democratic candidate won only 218.
The winner needed to gather 270 electoral votes to be declared the winner.
Here is more of our coverage:
– Trump motivated the voters en-route to Presidential win
– Trump wins, world’s reaction, Canadian immigration site crashes
– PM Trudeau congratulates President-elect Trump
– Photo credit: Max Goldberg, Submitted photo
