Three weeks ago, the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade were on track to host an event discussing the election of Hilary Clinton and how it would impact the BC economy in the years to come. They had projected a 60% attendance rate. Yet, when results started pouring in on November 8th, plans had to be changed.
On November 18th, the Vancouver Board of Trade hosted the “President Trump: What it means for Canada?” luncheon at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel to a sold out audience and with a waitlist of more than 100 people.
Now, I won’t say anything more about the election of President-elect Donald Trump because we have all been stuffed with political talk for the past 2 months. At the luncheon we got to hear some very valuable and very comforting words from 2 very qualified individuals on the impact of this election on Canada and the British Columbian Business Community.
Gordon Giffin, former USA ambassador to Canada and Gary Doer, former Canadian ambassador to USA joined us to discuss the 2016 election cycle. To start off the chat, ambassador Giffin was burdened with the question that we have all been wondering: “What happened?”
He echoed what many journalists have pointed out: the media took Trump literally, but not seriously, whereas the voters took him seriously, but not literally.
As someone who has been following this election religiously, I was as shocked as anyone else at the election of Trump. Watching the S&P 500 futures fall 800 points as Trump took the lead, gave me déjà vu of Brexit when the stocks went crazy. I remember waking up and hoping, thinking that it was a dream. I wondered how his protectionist policies would affect my future, as I want to move to Silicon Valley when I graduate.
I was reminded, during this discussion, that this election doesn’t mean the end of our trade partnership. 1 in 5 Canadian jobs, as highlighted by Gary Doer, rely on trade with the USA. Bilateral agreements are still on the table, even if Trump puts NAFTA into the shredder. With infrastructure on the top of his 100-day plan, there will be an increase in spending that could positively impact our economy and projects like the Keystone XL pipeline would give our dollar a much needed boost.
The truth is that our two countries are interdependent and we have leverage on our side due to our multi-lateral trade agreements with Asia and the European Union. “You don’t offend your biggest customer,” said Doer, “and Canada is their biggest customer.”
So what does this election mean for Canadians and our economy? Well, Gordon Giffin offered us this piece of advice: “Take a breath and change the channel, watch some hockey. Let us figure out what it means for the US, and we will get back to you.” We’ll be anxiously waiting for your update, Mr. Giffin.
Jessica Tsai is a senior student at the Beedie School of Business studying marketing and management information systems. Jessica is passionate about unconventional communication and being the bridge between idea and consumer. She plans on using the tools from her undergraduate degree to take on marketing in the technology sector. As the 2015/2016 President for the SFU Student Marketing Association, Jessica was one of the cofounders of their annual marketing competition, SMAckdown, where she helped develop, plan and execute the event for the very first time. Now, as a Beedie Ambassador, Jessica is looking forward to broadening her horizons during her final year at Beedie.