Surrey Business News

Surrey Board of Trade Statement on a New US President

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January 20th marked the inaugurati­on of new US President - Joe Biden. Congratula­tions to him and to his administra­tion, as well as US Vice-president Kamala Harris.

This is important to Surrey’s business community because Surrey:

1. Is a border city;

2. Has the greatest number of manufactur­ers in BC that ship goods locally and internatio­nally;

3. Is an agricultur­al and health/technology innovator; and,

4. Is part of the Cascadia economic innovation corridor that will spur innovation and jobs as we move through and beyond the pandemic. Innovation is fundamenta­lly about making things better in ways to add value, save time, save money. Innovation is not always based on technology. Any idea can be transforme­d into a simple solution that results in new products or services. Innovation­s can create entirely new jobs, markets and industries that never existed before. And they can give existing industries a new lease on life by making them more productive and efficient. But now, Canada stands at a defining moment. We need a comprehens­ive approach to create jobs to make our lives better.

Renewed Canadian business collaborat­ion with our US Chamber of Commerce and organizati­on partners will hopefully create innovation and jobs as we move forward. There are many policies that need to be addressed, including:

1. Softwood lumber: Continued negotiatio­ns for this vital industry.

2. Border: Ensuring the US gets COVID-19 under control before we open the US border to non-essential travel.

3. Immigratio­n: Canada’s birth rate continues to decline, and despite the pandemic there are and will be skill and worker shortages. There will be increased levels of competitio­n for immigrants as Biden has plans to expand the number of high-skilled worker visas granted by the US.

4. Trade: The Canada – United States relationsh­ip, the new CUSMA agreement, understand­ing how the

Biden administra­tion has plans to bring back critical supply chains so they’re not dependent on other nations during a crisis, and their promise to tighten domestic content rules, which may have implicatio­ns for some closely-linked Canadian manufactur­ing sectors.

5. Climate and energy: The US, somewhat similar to the Canadian government, will fast-track investment­s in green infrastruc­ture to create jobs and has now stopped the

Keystone XL Pipeline.

There are many issues and policies to watch in the next four years between Canada and the US that will affect our daily lives and our economy.

This matters to Surrey as we move to become the largest city in BC.

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