The Current - Tariffs are wreaking havoc on trucking and construction in Surrey

Episode Date: March 26, 2025

Local industries are looking for a leader who will support their business interests. We hear from truckers hauling goods back and forth across the border, plus home builders who say tariff threats are scaring off prospective buyers, about how they hope to see the next prime minister stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump.

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and let your email do the talking. This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway and this is The Current Podcast. It's lunchtime at the Maharaja restaurant in Surrey, British Columbia. The butter chicken and goat courier bubbling, the naan is being pressed into the walls of the oven. And aside from the tasty food, we are here because this is where politicians come to meet this community.

The best thing about us is our food and this is the one place where people generally come because this is one of the busiest plaza in Surrey. In recent months, Conservative leader Pierre Poliev has stopped by, Soha's Liberal leader Mark Carney. They enjoy mingling with the people and taking some opinions from them. This restaurant is in the Pile Centre, very much the hub of the Indo-Canadian community in Surrey. Surrey really is a special place. It's very, very diverse. It's sort of the entry gate for new immigrants, a lot of people that are coming to this country.

This is the door that they come through. It's absolutely blazing in its growth, which is great, and that makes BC a much more major player, let's say, in the federal election. We're here kicking off the current election road trip, talking with people about who they're voting for and why. Surrey is one of this country's fastest growing cities with close to 700,000 people it's on track to overtake Vancouver. People here want to be recognized and want you to know that their vote matters. Those in the running for prime minister certainly know that.

Pierre Poliev will be back on Friday. It's not all about Vancouver anymore, it's about Surrey. We need those investments around housing, transit, workforce and that's what we're going to be looking for in this federal election that's coming up. Issues that matter here are what you'd expect, cost of living and housing, but this community also cares deeply about immigration and foreign interference and as a border city, our new relationship with the United States is unavoidable. So that's where we begin this morning, with an industry

joined at the hip, for better or for worse, with our neighbors to the south. I'm Matt Galloway in British Columbia, and this is a special edition of The Current Crossroads, Coast to Coast, with Canadian voters. The big rigs are rumbling. I'm in an industrial area of Surrey. In this depot mechanics are working, trailers are lined up waiting to roll, and the people here are nervous. Businesses here rely on close ties with the United States. The threat of tariffs is the driving issue

here for people in this election. Amit Kumar meets me outside, sheltering from the rain beside a truck. He runs a trucking company and is president of the Canadian Trucking Association of British Columbia. The companies in Surrey, in this area, do about 80 to 90% of freight going from Canada to the US and bring freight back. But come April 2nd, we don't know what's going to happen.

So it's a lot of uncertainty and it isn't helping anyone. What specifically is going back and forth? I mean, what would be in the trucks that are going from Canada? And then what are you, what's being trucked from the US back here? We have a lot of products like lumber, paper product, plastics. There's a lot of machine parts as well that go. Believe me, in the summer, we'll have a lot of machine parts as well that go. Believe me in the summer we'll have a lot of greenhouse grown fruits and vegetables, Okanagan fruit

that goes into the states. And from the United States to Canada what is that product? There's a lot of finished machine parts, industrial goods. We have a lot of fruits and vegetables from California, Arizona, Mexico that comes from the states to Canada. Bananas that you eat every day. They're all comes from the states to Canada, bananas that you eat every day. They're all coming from the states because they may be growing in South America but they come to the ports in Oxnard or New Jersey and from there they're trucked into Canada. What does the uncertainty mean for the bananas that I eat every day?

Like if there's not enough trucks going down to the states from Canada, who's going to bring your bananas back? If an American truck is going to bring them back, they're going to ask whatever price they want for transporting those goods into Canada. So your banana, which may cost you a few, you know, quarter or 50 cents, may cost you a dollar. So costs will double up. We just watch out here so our man doesn't run us over.

Another trucking company owner joins us as well. So what would be in this truck here, do you think? Some raw product. It's going to be going down in the States, right? So in the midst of, or at the very beginning of a federal election, what do you want to hear from the people who want to lead this country? Probably, I would say, like somebody who's willing to step up and support us rather than the support we've been getting in the past, like which is literally next to nothing. No government's been able to help in specific to like

trucking. Specifically, I would say we would want A, financially, B, we would like support in terms of our workforce. They want to hit that hard on foreign workers, but who's gonna work? Because any of the locals, workforce. They want to hit the hard on foreign workers, but who's going to work? Because any of the locals, they don't want to be driving long haul trucking, right? I haven't seen any father who's been in this industry wanting to introduce his son or daughter into long haul trucking.

I haven't seen that. So who's going to be hauling our freight? What is this moment like for you? What does that uncertainty mean for you right now? Basically, everything is on the line. My house, to what I eat, to what I'm gonna do tomorrow, I don't know what's gonna happen. If the tariffs come into play and we're hit harder than expected and there's no government support, what are we gonna do? Well we'll have to shut the doors. There's no other way out

of it. Who do you think would be best suited to help you and help people in your industry through this moment? Right now, it wouldn't matter who it is, but we just want a leader who's supporting and specific trucking. I mean, as you see other businesses, pretty much I've seen everybody's getting support, except trucking is being left behind. And nobody seems to care. Which is the backbone of the industry if you think about it. As we saw during the COVID pandemic, they were saying like truck drivers are heroes. Well where is that patriotism now? Like I haven't seen anybody honour somebody in trucking. When the supply chain is hit hard, yes people remember, but after that they go unseen. So you haven't decided who you're going to vote for yet? No, as campaigning has just started. So let's see how it goes in the next couple of

weeks. What about for you? Right now I think you know I mean there's a lack of plans from both parties and because it's a critical election I'll rather hear them out than you know so I'm undecided at the moment. What I think is needed is, again, they need to make sure that they put up infrastructure in place. We have one highway going through Canada. It's not a four-lane highway. It's shut down, you know, for hours at ends when there's an accident and they shut it down at that accident, but they don't, you know, I mean, clean the highway.

They don't have rest areas on the highway, you go south of the border, all states are very nicely connected by interstate system. So infrastructure is a must. We have to become a more of a manufacturing hub as well as opposed to just getting the raw material out of the earth and then shipping it to whoever pays the best price for that. You know I mean I haven't seen a big factory set up in Surrey or lower mainland in the last 25 years. I've been here for 25 plus years.

That vision has to change. Do you think that there's an opportunity for that? There's a real bi-Canadian moment that's happening right now in the sense of people rallying around the flag and saying we need to build our own things. Do you think that there's a chance to do that here? The chance is there, but people leading the country have to capitalize on that.

If they're sleeping on it, nothing will change. Have you met with any of the leaders? Have you talked to any of them? Have you talked to Pierre Poliev? Have you talked to Mark Carney? Not yet. I've been to Pierre Poliev, I think it was at the Vancouver Board of Trade Convention like two, three months ago, I was there.

And so what did you make of what he was saying? At that time, it was more like, you know, again, bashing the present government, but I want to listen about, you know, what he's gonna do differently. And what do you make of Mark Carney? Too new, so we don't know. So we have to hear more policy speeches.

They're saying, you know, if just the cover has changed, but the book inside, the story's still the same. If all the people running for the party are again the old people. You're looking for change. Change has to happen. It's been 10 years. Most Canadians don't have, unless they are involved in your industry, don't have any interaction with trucking at all.

Beside from, you know, we consume what is in, you know, a truck like the one that we're standing beside now. What would you want Canadians to know about what people in your industry are going through right now? What I can tell every Canadian is that besides the air and probably the water that comes from the municipal system, everything that we put in our bodies, whether it's inside or outside, has been on a truck at some point in, in, you know, from the time that it was manufactured to the time it came to the

plates or on their bodies. So imagine that everything that you have is coming with it, you know, on a truck. So you cannot ignore it. It may be invisible, but that truck is what has made it happen. So keep that in mind. This yard is hopping. A trucker and his wife are walking into the office to get their next destination. Hi, my name is Cory Demars. I'm a long distance truck driver.

Hi, I'm Marie and I ride with my husband Cory. We actually love going out in America. I mean, there's a lot of sights that stay in your mind. It's just the best office view you can have, I'll tell you. So, when it comes to the election, I mean, what are you looking for? Well, to be honest with you, I've never been a liberal supporter. But now that I've heard Mark Carney talk and how he's dealing with European countries and how he wants to have Canada become more independent, I got a man, I'm kind of on the fence post right now, because I was going to vote for Poliev.

But now I'm not sure, I'm just going to listen to post right now because I was going to vote for Poliev, but now I'm not sure. I'm just going to listen to what all the leaders have to say here. I'm still kind of undecided, but I don't know. I might just go liberal. I'm really watching carefully these next 35 days of what Mark Carney can say to Trump. I mean, he's a businessman, so a businessman to businessman, maybe it'll be okay. I just want us to become a stronger country.

And I just want a better life for us than what it is right now. Here's a question for you. What's your email address saying about your Canadian business? First impressions matter and your email says a lot. It's your customer's first look at your brand. A custom.ca email shows you're credible, professional and proudly Canadian. It signals you do business in Canada. For Canadians, show you mean business from the get-go. Get your custom.ca email now at yourcustomemail.ca

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and contact Desjardins today. We'd love to talk. Business. I'm Matt Galloway in Surrey, British Columbia. Just a few minutes down the road from the truck depot, this construction company is building duplexes in a subdivision overlooking the highway. It's a rainy day. Good morning.

Okay, my name is Jitendra Pal Gill. I'm a designer myself, and also we do the construction as well. So this is... See, we saw all the signs coming here. You're right close to the US border, right? Oh, yes. Yes, we are. We are just like three, four minutes.

Do you go back and forth a lot? The border? I used to, but not right now. It's like from almost since the... After December, I didn't make even a single trip over there. Really? Oh, honestly, why not? The way they are sort of you can say, indirectly threatening or love 51st state and all those things. We don't feel comfortable. We don't we don't like this. These type of things. We love Canada, we love American people, but with the politics we don't like it. The framers are over there, we can go in there. Let's go. Yeah? Yeah, we can go in there. Yeah. So we're on a

construction site, we just came down these rickety stairs which could have ended up with me in the drink, but I survived. And now we're gonna walk into this house that is being framed. It is a husk of a house. There's a roof on it which is good because it's pouring rain. You can hear the construction workers who are busy cutting wood and nailing together some of this house and we're going to step inside. So because of the economy and affordability we decided to build a duplex instead of single family here. So this is to attract the more buyers.

Just go through here. I mean, the framing is just underway. We'll squeeze through this hole in the wall here. This is the one house, the living and the kitchen we are standing right now. This house is one of the front one is sold actually. It had the completion in June. So we are trying, our trades are trying to finish it before

end of the June. How much did it sell for? Do you mind me asking? This is sold for roughly million plus. How are you thinking about the election and who to vote for? We were thinking and thinking as business community or as a construction community we were thinking towards the conservative honestly but there are a few points which have been affected especially our own community like the recently you can say international transaction in threats from the international company from India and all the star right those Those have affected our community. Let me ask you about that.

When you say our community, you mean the Sikh community? The Sikh community. What has alarmed you in that community that would help shape who you would vote for? Our main concern is when there was a threat going on, our agencies were saying, take a security clearance why Mr. Pierre Poliev didn't get the security clearance other two leaders did that why that was that is a big question in our community there what is your

question about that why what do you wonder about when when Pierre Poliev does not get security clearance because there was a clear evidence that the other countries have been involved in this country. So every CESA and all the other, they were saying that you should get a security clearance. So what was the wrong? If there was nothing wrong, then why, what was the wrong with Mr. Poliak to just take a security clearance and take a look and then what is there? And so do you think that is the kind of thing that would get people to change their votes?

That he's not getting, him not getting that security clearance? Yes, that is a big concern. That is a question in our community. Since he refused it, after that, like the people from our own community, they try to switch away from there and they are toward, lean towards the liberal nowadays. And now after Mr. Carney came in the totally situation had changed economy wise his experience and resume it speaks a lot so that's why they are leaning towards I would say more towards the liberal people talk a lot about uncertainty in the era of tariffs worrying about what

this is going to mean for the economy in the future worrying about a recession for example how do you see that uncertainty in the work that you're doing? This is a big concern because you see the last weekend the interest has been dropped off but after that even we didn't see any of the action there we have a lot of showing here people looks like people the first time buyer they have the money they want to buy it but the way we are getting the statements from the cross the border every day one day he's saying 25% second day is a 50% so those things are putting scariness in the people's mind so everybody's scared. So people aren't

spending money they're not willing to to invest in a house because they don't know about the future of the economy. Exactly. Yeah. What does that mean for you when the market slows down and when people say, you know what, I'm going to wait? What does that mean for you personally? Its meaning is right now we have the holding cost.

We have the mortgage with the bank. So if the house is in the market two months and sell it, our holding cost is going to be only for two months. If the house is in the market for a year or eight months that holding cost end of the day it's going to go to the consumer. So right now we got eight homes right now ready to go two of them are only sold so if we are getting the the house to be sold quickly then we are ready to go the start the other construction too right. So it's it's slowing down everything. One way the governments are saying that we want to speed up the construction.

But the other way the way this market is going on right now, I think it's going to slow down in the future. You'll see the result in the future coming months. Everybody is very concerned and very scared about it. What do you want to hear from those people who want to be prime minister? I want to hear first of all we need the stability. We should look at the immigration policy. We need the immigrants here because this country is run by the immigrants. But we need the strong leadership. Again, this is the main thing is right now, 70 of the country threats or you can say 51st

day, nobody like we don't want to listen that again and again, there should be some sort of a strong leadership from our country who can tell them whoever it is, stop it shut your mouth. We don't want to listen it. Who are you going to vote? Yes. And who are you going to vote for? I can't disclose right now. Sorry. Have you made up your mind yet? Yes. That's great. Thank you very much. No problem. Thank you.

Thank you. My name is Gopri Singniger and I'm an electrician and I own a development company. I do construction as well. And so how are you going to decide who will you vote for in this election? What are the issues that are going to be top of mind for you? I have few issues. There's economy and there is, I have little kids so I want to make sure my kids grow up in an environment where they're equal and where they can decide whoever they are. I have 10 year old, 7 year old and 3 year old.

They can decide who they are and who they want to be. And so how will you decide who you vote for? Well, I can see the rhetoric from the right. Like all there is is fear mongering. They're bouncing ideas off of Donald Trump pretty much. It's a mirror, right? That's what you hear from the conservatives you're saying? Yes.

They were going a little bit far right as long as it's benefiting them. They're willing to go there. They're willing to go to these far right podcasts and say whatever far right people want to hear. Like, what have you heard that has worried you? Like a few days ago about gender, oh there's two genders. Tell me if there's any other gender. Like just let people who they're however they want to be, right? And it's just now for a month when Trudeau was

resigning, for a month they didn't say anything because they were coming up with a plan because they have no plan. All he had was ex the tax and Trudeau is bad. You're in the building business. I mean, you as an electrician, you're involved in home building. Have you seen the slowdown in the economy as people worry about the impact of these tariffs and what it's going to mean for them? Yes, it's slowed down quite a bit. It's putting strain on our businesses and it's already tough enough. We have so much red tape in construction.

Pierre Poliev has been out here talking a lot about that, saying that there's too many processes, that it's slowed down the system, that it's too difficult to get houses built. Do you think he's right? I think that's just talking points because he's been around, he's a career politician. He goes in the previous government. What he's done then? I'm not saying liberals perfect. They did some really, really, not bad things, but not really good things in the last 10

years. But there's some good things in the last 10 years. But there are some good things they did as well. We were talking earlier about security clearance and the importance of Pierre Poliev getting security clearance and the role of foreign interference. People will hear your name, and you're not related, but people will hear your name and think of Hardy saying Pidger and what happened in the wake of his death

and the investigations and Justin Trudeau standing up and accusing India of being involved in that is that an issue that issue of security clearance is that an issue for you in this election definitely it's issue i'm i'm a canadian and i want to be canada to be a better society. That's why we left our countries and came here. I'm not related to Hardeep. I'm not that religious either. And I want religious freedom for everybody. But I want him to take security clearance so he knows what.

Is it China who's interfering with our elections? Is it Russia who's interfering with our elections? Or is it India who's interfering with our elections? We need to know it. How old are you? I'm 39. Do you talk to I mean, I don't know if you talk to your friends about voting whether people are paying attention Are they engaged are they gonna vote as well? Are they are they kind of dialed into what's happening? I think this time around everybody's dialed in I think people who didn't care about elections this time around because of Donald Trump I think everybody's dialed in and they they want

to show they're we're strong and we're here for each other right we're Canadian we're we're here for each other so everybody's dialed in right now. Even my 10 year olds dialed in right now. Even my 10-year-old's dialed in. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.