Latest news with #RyanDonally
CTV News
25-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Windsor Chamber weighs in on recession warning, rising unemployment
With new forecasts predicting a mild recession for Canada later this year, Windsor business leaders are keeping a close eye on how things might play out here at home. Deloitte Canada and the Royal Bank of Canada both released reports this week suggesting the country could avoid the worst-case economic fallout from the current trade tensions with the U.S. — though some short-term pain is still expected. 'We do think the economy really is going to be considerably slower,' said Dawn Desjardins, chief economist at Deloitte Canada. The Windsor-Essex Chamber of Commerce said that slowdown has already been felt locally, especially since tariff concerns started to dominate headlines earlier this year. 'It does highlight that there is the uncertainty that's continuing to exist in the Canadian economy,' said Chamber President and CEO Ryan Donally. 'That uncertainty we've been feeling in Windsor-Essex probably since late January, early February, when this tariff issue started to rear its ugly head.' Donally said there have been some layoffs in Windsor's manufacturing sector, but not as widespread as originally feared. 'One of the key things that has maintained some of the stability here in Windsor-Essex is the fact that products underneath the CUSMA (the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement) relationship between Canada [and the U.S.] have still been able to move freely across the border,' he said. 'That's been, let's call it, a bit of a saving grace.' Unemployment steady — but high Windsor's unemployment rate sits at 10.8 per cent — the highest in Canada. But Donally said even that shows some signs of resilience. 'When I reflected on that, I think it's actually perhaps a little bit better than I thought it may come in,' he said. 'Recognizing that it is a three-month moving average for unemployment in our region... It encapsulates essentially the months that have been part of this trade tariff war.' 'I don't want to say it's a silver lining because it still is near the top in Canada — if not the top — but if we can weather this storm and we can maintain that type of unemployment rate… I think come fall, we're probably in a much better spot.' A slower summer — then a bounce-back? Donally said manufacturers on the Chamber's trade task force expect a quiet summer but are optimistic for what's next. 'They did identify that it might be a bit of a slow summer, a bit of a lean summer,' he said. 'But they did expect that fall would perhaps ramp back up.' He added: 'There is this pent-up demand in the market. 'It's not that Windsor has been necessarily hit harder than all areas — the whole manufacturing sector has really slowed down globally. But cars still need to be built, and cars still need to be purchased.' Looking ahead, Donally said Windsor's large-scale projects — including the Gordie Howe International Bridge, the new acute care hospital and the NextStar EV battery plant — could put the region in a strong position for recovery. 'If we do manage to get through this and we don't hear that R-word... I think it positions this entire economy to do extremely well coming out of it,' he said.
Daily Mail
02-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Detroit hit hard by US-Canada tensions
By Detroit has become one of the hardest hit cities in the fallout of America's deteriorating relationship with Canada. The Michigan metropolis on Canada's border has seen traffic from neighboring Windsor drop and suffering businesses slash jobs. Business leaders and elected officials are concerned that the White House's policies are forcing the sister cities into an unwanted 'break up.' 'It's a border that exists, but it's not anything that culturally has ever been an issue,' Ryan Donally, chief executive of the Windsor Essex Chamber of Commerce, told the Financial Times. 'So for this trade war... to start breaking down the social fabric between Detroit and Windsor, it's even more hurtful, because quite frankly, it's not just business, it's not just a tax,' Donally explained. 'This has damaged the cultural relationship between two best friends.' One of the most critical links between Detroit and Windsor is the car industry, which is currently under a 25 percent tariff . Detroit, known as Motor City, has long been a destination for auto manufacturing and has welcomed substantial industry investment in recent years a fter suffering decades of decline. However, the industry relies on cross-border collaboration. Companies such as Stellantis and Ford build car parts in Windsor and thousands of Canadians travel over the border every day to work in plants in Detroit. Trump's car tariff has already led to layoffs in Windsor with some members of the Canadian Tooling & Machine Association cutting half their workers. Among them is Louis Jahn, owner of Jahn Engineering in Windsor, who has cut his 70-person staff by 20 percent after his orders from American carmakers disappeared due to the cost of tariffs. Jahn told the FT that like many businesses he will be forced to raise prices. 'In the end, consumers are going to pay for it,' he said. As well as the car industry, 6,000 Canadian healthcare workers cross the border every day to work in Detroit's hospitals and doctors offices. 18 percent fewer people are arriving in the US via the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel compared to the same time last year, according to the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel Corporation. While commuting remains consistent, those traveling from Canada to Detroit to visit family or friends or for leisure has dipped. Deteriorating relations also led Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens to cancel funding for an hourly bus service between the cities. It would cost the Canadian city $1.4 million a year to run, and Dilkens said Trump's rhetoric - including threatening to annex Canada into the 51st state - has made it impossible to ask for taxpayer money to fund it. 'We feel like we're under attack by the president of the United States,' he told the FT. Detroit is not the only border city that is feeling the sharp end of Trump tariffs. Buffalo and Niagara have both been hit by large downturns in Canadian visits.
Daily Mail
01-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Thousands fear for their jobs as major city is forced to break up with 'best friends' across Canadian border
Detroit has become one of the hardest hit cities in the fallout of America's deteriorating relationship with Canada. The Michigan metropolis on Canada's border has seen traffic from neighboring Windsor drop and suffering businesses slash jobs. Business leaders and elected officials are concerned that the White House's policies are forcing the sister cities in to an unwanted 'break up.' 'It's a border that exists, but it's not anything that culturally has ever been an issue,' Ryan Donally, chief executive of the Windsor Essex Chamber of Commerce, told the Financial Times. 'So for this trade war... to start breaking down the social fabric between Detroit and Windsor, it's even more hurtful, because quite frankly, it's not just business, it's not just a tax,' Donally explained. 'This has damaged the cultural relationship between two best friends.' One of the most critical links between Detroit and Windsor is the car industry, which is currently under a 25 percent tariff. Detroit, known as Motor City, has long been a destination for auto manufacturing and has welcomed substantial industry investment in recent years a fter suffering decades of decline. However, the industry relies on cross-border collaboration. Companies such as Stellantis and Ford build car parts in Windsor and thousands of Canadians travel over the border every day to work in plants in Detroit. Trump's car tariff has already led to layoffs in Windsor with some members of the Canadian Tooling & Machine Association cutting half their workers. Among them is Louis Jahn, owner of Jahn Engineering in Windsor, who has cut his 70-person staff by 20 percent after his orders from American carmakers disappeared due to the cost of tariffs. Jahn told the FT that like many businesses he will be forced to raise prices. 'In the end, consumers are going to pay for it,' he said. As well as the car industry, 6,000 Canadian healthcare workers cross the border every day to work in Detroit's hospitals and doctors offices. 18 percent fewer people are arriving in the US via the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel compared to the same time last year, according to the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel Corporation. While commuting remains consistent, those traveling from Canada to Detroit to visit family or friends or for leisure has dipped. Deteriorating relations also led Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens to cancel funding for an hourly bus service between the cities. It would cost the Canadian city $1.4 million a year to run, and Dilkens said Trump's rhetoric - including threatening to annex Canada into the 51st state - has made it impossible to ask for taxpayer money to fund it. 'We feel like we're under attack by the president of the United States,' he told the FT. Detroit is not the only border city that is feeling the sharp end of Trump tariffs. Buffalo and Niagara have both been hit by large downturns in Canadian visits.
