With tariffs hovering over Canadians, the City of Kingston wants its residents to keep their loonies local.
First launched during the COVID-19 pandemic to boost attraction to local businesses, the Love Kingston campaign has been revived as of Feb. 18 amidst tariff threats from United States President Donald Trump. In collaboration with five organizations—including Tourism Kingston and the Downtown Kingston Business Improvement Area (BIA)—the campaign hopes to encourage local spending.
“With tariffs on top of LaSalle Causeway being closed last year, on top of paying back Canada Emergency Business loans, on top of the pandemic, the small business communities and […] some medium and large sized businesses are really reeling,” Executive Director of Downtown Kingston BIA Marijo Cuerrier said in an interview with The Journal.
At the Feb. 18 City Council meeting, Lakeside District Councillor Wendy Stephen proposed reviving the campaign, raising the “Shop Local” motion, which ed by a majority. The motion opposed tariffs and urged federal and provincial governments to remove interprovincial trade barriers.
“What Wendy is suggesting […] is to as a larger linked community, really spread the same message at the same time and really concentrate our efforts specifically on ing the local community, but in particular Downtown Kingston,” Cuerrier said.
For Downtown Kingston BIA, Cuerrier elaborated their marketing strategy has shifted to focus on the stories of downtown business owners through social media, in addition to multi-layered advertising through mail, press releases, and advertising on Main St.
“What we’re bringing to the table is just really focusing on the humanity of downtown and creating an emotional connection to the people that have a choice to shop [downtown],” Cuerrier noted.
Nicolas Lamp, a law professor cross-appointed to policy studies, sees the local campaign as both a psychological and economic response—channeling frustration with the US into renewed appreciation for Canadian goods.
Lamp doubts the campaign’s longevity, noting Kingston’s limited draw compared to destinations like New York or Florida.
However, he sees a long-term fixas unnecessary, questioning how long US tariffs could last amid potential Canadian retaliation. He believes a realistic view of tariffs’ impact on Kingston is necessary, pointing out key sectors like post-secondary institutions, prisons, and the military are “relatively immune” to direct effects.
He acknowledged that, despite direct immunity, the indirect impact of higher costs for American products by potential retaliatory tariffs from Canada would produce less disposable income for Kingston, impacting universities, service providers, and tourism providers.
“The Love Kingston campaign might be able to cushion that [lowered disposable income] a little bit,” Lamp said. “As we have a general reduction of purchasing power, if more of that purchasing power that might’ve gone to the US before goes to Kingston, that would be good.”
Efforts for the Love Kingston campaign are underway for all five organizations.
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