Yes. I appreciate the question.
Edmonton does export lots of goods primarily to U.S. markets, like the rest of Alberta. With our softwood lumber and oil and gas, 90% of what we export goes to the United States across Alberta. The tariffs are having an incredibly significant impact, especially for us. We're not the corporate office centre. We're the labour centre. We produce the goods. We have the businesses that are actually doing the work. With the slowdown, it's a growing challenge.
On the work I did with other chambers of commerce and calling them, the feedback, I would say, was universal with concerns. The only difference was that some were very open about the negative impacts of the reduction of free trade and having a porous border. They were very open about it. Others said that they couldn't say anything. They were very concerned, but if they ever said something, they were a little concerned about their own viability over the long term—not from us but internally. That just registers that businesses know how critical free trade is to the economy, and they desperately are hoping for a resolution on their side so we can return to work as normal.
