So just talk us through the challenges Canadian small businesses are facing right now.

Yeah, look, this is very serious right now, what's happening, and while, of course, We have the U.S. to blame for this problem.

The government has not been particularly helpful in addressing some of the challenges it's creating for small companies.

So, yeah, the trade war is having a huge number of impacts.

Obviously, the 50 percent tariff from the U.S. is massive.

And I've got about 40 percent of my small exporting members now in the grips of that particular tariff.

And then the retaliatory tariffs are going to bring their own hell for a whole bunch more small businesses, and that's likely to start in early September.

So what's, what's the reaction been from government? Like, do you sense they're going to fix this?

Yeah, it's crazy

... pages long of new items for, for tariffs.

Uh, antiques, jewelry, uh, all sorts of micro products that, uh, that Canadian companies do sell into the United States.

It's smack in the center of my membership, of what they produce and what they sell.

Uh, so yeah, it is the, you know, the other rounds of tariffs have had, uh, some direct effects, a lot of indirect effects on business, small business.

This one is very much targeted at small Canadian companies, and, and I'm glad government finally seems to be recognizing that.

Right.

So that's obviously a much, much larger list.

In this case, do, do you think they have moves, or, or are we out of moves?

So a lot of the moves have already been made, though, in response to the trade war and even just the threat of the trade war.

Look, i- it doesn't take...

Uh, I had members that were calling us even in advance of the announcement saying that their US sales were drying up because customers were aware that their product might be subject to a 50% tariff when it's delivered, and they didn't want any ti- they didn't wanna do that.

So this has already had an impact on many small businesses.

But with this new 50% tariff, uh, the, there are gonna be many, many more that are facing some just brutal choices.

Uh, a good...

Okay, so what about prices? Could they go up?

And are there, is there one particular group of businesses? Like, what, where's the biggest concern when it comes to this?

Yeah.

Look, the, the...

Look, to this point, most Canadian trade, as we all know, has continued across the border in both directions, uh, tariff-free.

85% of Canadian exports heading to the US, still tariff-free because of the CUSMA agreement.

This new round of tariffs hits really hard a ton of categories where small and medium-sized companies are kind of the leading exporters into the US.

Uh, I've had jewelry store, uh, jewelry makers that, that, uh, sell things online and, and ship them direct to consumer in the US.

How do businesses even keep going in light of all of this uncertainty, Dan? [laughs] Like, I have so much admiration for this.

Is there a wage at which he would say yes, or is this really not about the money?

money?Uh, I don't think it's about...

Well, look, it's, it's never, never about the money, but it's, I would tell you that it's, it's largely, uh, not an issue of money.

Kids are not going to go and move to small town Saskatchewan even if the pizza restaurant pays you 30 bucks an hour.

They're, they're just not gonna do it.

Uh, that's not what they're looking for these days.

Uh, maybe they go to Banff or Jasper but, uh, but gosh, it is really hard, and we've got lots of rural resort... rural, uh, and remote and resource communities where wages are really high, uh, cost of living is really high.

No matter how much work you put into coming up with this report.

Mm-hmm.

But we, we generally took a different strategy.

So Tin Shed was definitely always about working with local growers, um, and using, um, a shed t- literally to start with.

We've outgrown the shed a little bit now, so we, we crush our fruit at our good friend Damien Sharkey's.

Um, and um, yeah, we, we have, uh, three families that grow for us.

We have an incredible family up in the, up in Eden Valley, um, the Sanders family.

Uh, they're actually Adelaide people.

Mm.

How bad a deal would that be for Canada?

Yeah, that would be, of course, the nuclear option, one that we're hoping doesn't take place.

You know, my casual observation is that the president does proceed with one out of every 10 threats that he makes in any area of public policy.

And so it's not a zero chance that we could end up with a pullout of the Kuzma agreement.

But we still have lots of things that the U.S. really wants and needs.

And, and so it, you know, there are some natural forces that would hold the president back from that.

It would have a negative impact on the U S economy, not just on the Canadian economy.

has, for

What do you think?

I think this upcoming year we're going to show some diversity.

Once you get Kraft back so you have the tight end being strong, if Jacobs will see what happens there or whatever happens in the backfield, but I think the wide receiver crew will provide some diversity with the type of skill sets that you got with Reed and Savion, and then you got Golden and then Christian.

So you mix in that with the tight end, I think you're going to have some options.

But we've been around about the same time, and it's amazing to see how much more of this has grown than our show

has.

Well, this is the 10th year of the tournament, and it's really been a fun thing to participate and watch it grow.

Community impact has been great.

Mm-hmm.

And I think that that is a bigger problem.

Uh, to, to get at that, to tease that out, we did some public opinion polling of young people.

Uh, and here's what we found.

Half of young people will not consider a job that has any kind of physical labor involved in it.

40% will not consider a job that has any outdoor work.

Uh, and a third of young people will not consider, not even look at a job that pays at or near the minimum wage.

If it's outdoors, is, do they end up changing their mind about that?

Um, but before we get, uh, I suppose, like further into it, uh, you know, what is it about those waste streams that you, uh, were just kinda mentioning there that present an economic opportunity for more sustainable waste management?

Sure.

Absolutely.

Let me, let me talk about, which might seem a little odd, but let me talk about the worst case scenario and why someone would use ADAR.

So the worst case scenario for someone to use our technology is for someone to throw away something cheaper.

Now, of course, this is not our objective.

Our objective is to create circular economies where ultimately there's a zero percent impact, and the net effect is, quite frankly, we're carbon negative, which is the vast majority of our, uh, use cases that we engage.

Can you give us a rundown of how it works?

Do you see this as an actual option for the federal government raising the GST?

Well, I sure hope not.

It is a worrisome idea.

Let's start with the fact, does Ottawa need more revenue? We, of course, know that there is a giant deficit right now, and that's expected to be even larger when the government releases its budget on November the 4th.

But I can tell you the main driver of the challenge has been that we have just ramped up government spending over the last 10 years like crazy.

expanding the size and scope of the civil service, not just the number of positions, but the wages, benefits packages, federal transfers are massive.

And that is the reason why we're under such deficit pressure.

I know that's something that gets tossed out all the time, but is that an option at all in your mind?

Do you see this as an actual option for the federal government raising the GST?

Well, I sure hope not.

It is a worrisome idea.

Let's start with the fact, does Ottawa need more revenue? We, of course, know that there is a giant deficit right now and that's expected to be even larger when the government releases its budget on November the 4th.

But I can tell you the main driver of the challenge has been that we have just ramped up government spending over the last 10 years like crazy.

expanding the size and scope of the civil service, not just the number of positions, but the wages, benefits packages, federal transfers are massive.

And that is the reason why we're under such deficit pressure.

I know that's something that gets tossed out all the time, but is that option at all in your mind?