An interest in ju-jitsu and kickboxing may prove handy for the new president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, who comes into the role as a second Trump administration looms in the U.S.
“My coach says if you’re going to take a position in a fight, you’ll get punched on your way in, so have a plan to counter,” Candace Laing told OBJ in a recent interview. “We’re dealing with an unpredictable opponent who doesn’t hesitate to play loose. I’m concerned that if we put everything we’ve got into border issues to appease Trump and that makes zero difference, that’s not good enough, we’re still stuck with tariffs.
“We need a game plan and our own set of tactics with leverage points that best equip us to negotiate.”
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It’s tough talk for Laing, who took on the job as president and CEO, based in Ottawa, at the chamber on Sept. 1. The chamber represents more than 200,000 Canadian businesses.
Laing said she has already been sharing advice with a revived Canada-U.S. federal cabinet committee.
“We have tons of Trump’s game tapes to review and my message has been we have one job now. Assess all of our points of leverage because Trump’s mindset is in no way about mutual benefit and being a strong economic block.
“The best interests of Canadians have to be our priority. We cannot be picked apart and fragmented because that’s Trump’s approach to everything. We’re going to have to take him at his word, so we have to be prepared to take some hits,” she continued.
“It’s the time to think counter-culturally about our niceness and take the gloves off when we need to. It’s time to accept that toughness is Canadian. We don’t have to let go of who we are to figure out who we can be.”
Laing came into the top job at the chamber during a period of political, social and economic turbulence. The timing suits her well, she says.
“We live in an interesting time and I knew I was stepping right into a whirlwind. My decision was about wanting to be where I could make an impact. My first 100 days have been fantastic. I made a point of protecting my time so I could spend as much of it as I could with our members.
“I’ve visited just about every region and sat at roundtables with our corporate members, chambers and boards of trade across the country. We’ve always convened leadership to get done what needs to get done. That’s the power of the chambers in this country. We work to leverage its greatness and potential.”
Next year will be particularly important as the Canadian chamber hosts the B7 (Business 7) Summit in May 2025. Several hundred business leaders will gather in Ottawa for the meeting, which comes just ahead of the G7 Leaders Summit in Kananaskis, Alta.
Laing said that Canada has a real opportunity to shine a bright light on its strengths and shape the topics being discussed.
“There are two dominant themes that I think stand out in the current global context. Going back to last year’s gathering in Italy, artificial intelligence (AI) was positioned as an enabling theme for so many other things. Canada has a lot of strength in AI. We can underscore just how much capacity we have as the go-to entity in AI, thanks to the great businesses we have working here.
“On a very different theme that has not been digested in the G7, we need to ask questions about demographics and the future of work when all G7 members face population collapse. We have been somewhat protected in Canada because we have a healthy immigration strategy and a bit of a millennial bubble. But, while the global population will peak in the coming decades, the G7 will follow China into a collapse.
“What does that mean for the future of work? We talk about AI displacing jobs. There won’t be workers for those jobs. The replacement birthrate is 2.1, but the actual rate in Canada is 1.3 and dropping.”
Laing believes Canada should guide the B7 on these two interrelated themes to inform the G7 conversations in Kananaskis.
“What does an economic model based on growth look like in population collapse? What does the workforce look like in as few as five years if we don’t have workers? These questions completely alter the calculus of the onset of technology in the next decade.”
Born, raised and educated in Saskatchewan, Laing spent 10 years at Nutrien, a global leader in crop inputs and services, and its predecessor company, PotashCorp, serving as senior vice-president, chief human resources officer, and vice-president of sustainability and stakeholder relations.
She joined the chamber’s board of directors in 2019 and was elected chair in 2022.
Laing also has a few thoughts about the city she now calls home.
“I live downtown, I can walk to work and the (Rideau) canal, and I packed my skates because I’ve heard about how beautiful it is. I can’t wait. Fingers crossed, please tell me it will freeze this year.
“The other thing I’m thrilled about is I found a mixed martial arts gym before I found a place to live. That’s my new Ottawa community outside the bubble of politics and business. We train ju-jitsu and kickboxing. I’ve already watched two of my girl squad members and I’ve gone to the fights. So, if I use a lot of (mixed martial arts) references, that’s why.”
