Ottawa may weather tariff impact better than other cities: Economist

An Economist says economic impact might not be strong in Ottawa compared other cities as the Canada-U.S. trade war continues. CTV’s Katie Griffin reports.

While no city will be immune from the impact of U.S. tariffs, some economists say Ottawa might be better protected than others because of a workforce dominated by public service workers.

“Nearly a quarter of jobs in the Ottawa region are in public services and that industry should mostly stay intact as government jobs,” said Richard Forbes, principal economist at the Conference Board of Canada.

“Ottawa has a pretty big presence in industry such as professional services, financial services, these kinds of services that should be, at least relative to the manufacturing and resource sectors, be unscathed by the tariffs.”

He said other cities to industries such as manufacturing are more vulnerable.

There is growing unease about the potential impact of the tariffs the longer they’re in place.

“I think it’s insane. I’m in construction so for us it’s going to affect us big time especially the aluminum and the metal tariffs,” said Kevin Levesque of C&L Construction. “I don’t think it’s fair to the Canadian people to be honest.”

Others are watching the stock market and how it reacts to daily developments.

“I’ve just recently retired and I’m not going to lose my job but I may lose my investments, which is what I based our retirement schedule on so that’s a huge concern,” said Pamela DiNardo.