REGINA - With the news of tariffs seemingly shifting by the hour, Regina Mayor Chad Bachynski said the city is monitoring the situation very closely.
On Wednesday, after the city council meeting, Bachynski said the city is looking to be a good partner and take that team Canada approach.
He also mentioned "examining our spend, which is very little in terms of U.S. spend from a municipal point of view."
Roughly 1 per cent of Regina's spend is in U.S. dollars or from U.S. companies., which Daren Anderson, the city’s chief financial officer, noted yesterday during the budget presentation, is mostly from U.S. software costs.
However, Anderson also pointed out, "it's hard for us to tell when we buy goods and services from other Canadian entities [regarding] how much they're reliant on things that are coming from the U.S."
The city is working on translating that data through the province so they can better understand what those impacts could be.
A reporter asked Bachynski if Regina would exclude U.S. companies from procurement contracts like and Ont. have.
He mentioned the city has a pretty local approach, so he doesn’t believe there needs to be a change in that.
In terms of the economy, last month, Chris Lane, Economic Development Regina CEO, said the city could lose around $175 million worth of business immediately if tariffs were imposed.
Lane also mentioned businesses already had cost worries with inflation, and tariffs being implemented could have a knock-on effect.
In terms of inflation, workers at the House of Paws in Regina told Â鶹ÊÓƵ that even before the tariffs, they saw an increase in costs for the products they imported from the U.S. because of inflation.
With 25 per cent tariffs, the store mentioned it could be too expensive to import products from the U.S. when you factor in shipping and duties.
Looking at the tourism side, Regina could take a hit in their economy with Americans choosing to stay south of the border.
This comes after Regina saw a 24 per cent increase in tourist spending between Jan. and Oct. of 2024 compared to last year, while the total visitor spending in 2024 is expected to surpass $625 million.
Bachynski said Regina will always welcome their American counterparts to the city.
As for other cities, Moose Jaw U.S. citizens to the area, where he mentioned with the lower CAD dollar sitting at 70 cents currently, Americans can save on shopping while enjoying the goods only Canada has to offer.
Bachynski said Regina themselves haven’t explored looking at that option to attract tourists.
