When the two sides could not come to an agreement to settle the dispute that closed the Port of Vancouver earlier this summer, observers were saying this would hurt the Canadian economy which is so dependent on trade.
And Vancouver, as our gateway to the Pacific, is a big player in connecting us to our international business customers and suppliers.
Well, we now have the numbers and it did indeed crimp our style with Saskatchewan offering one of the few bright spots in a story of declining trade for this country.
Both imports and exports fell in July. That’s when the west coast port was tied up with tentative contract settlements that were rejected several times before the workers finally accepted the proposed deal. Total exports were down 10 per cent in July when compared to last year and imports from China dropped by more than 30 per cent.
One of the few commodities that helped improve the picture was canola as exports more than doubled in July with customers in China and Mexico taking our shipments were not affected by the port disruption.
