DARTMOUTH — When Ace Machining Ltd. president Ron Wallace needed a new piece of equipment for his Dartmouth, N.S., shop, he knew for certain it wouldn’t be coming from the United States.
“Our normal procurement process would have involved American manufacturers, but given the first wave of tariffs, we decided to remove them from consideration,” the company co-owner told reporters during a news conference Wednesday.
“This is a small move … in the big picture, it will have very little effect. But if more Canadians look to their day-to-day purchases, together, we can make a difference.”
Wallace went with a Japanese-made computer numerical control milling machine, designed to automatically remove raw material with precision as the company creates parts and products for clients in industries including the defence and marine sectors. The company employs 54 people and is proud that 25 of them are either new Canadians or the children of immigrants, said Wallace.
On Wednesday the federal government announced Ace was the recipient of a $400,000 federal grant, one of 27 Nova Scotian companies to receive $14.1 million in combined funding from the Regional Tariff Response Initiative. The $1.5-billion program is part of a $7.5-billion federal package designed to help Canadian businesses deal with the impacts of U.S. trade policy.
Last month, the U.S. introduced tariffs of 50 per cent on $28 billion worth of Canadian goods after trade talks between the two countries fell apart. Canada’s reciprocal tariffs on a similar amount of goods are set to come into effect on Tuesday.
Justice Minister Sean Fraser, also the Nova Scotian MP in charge of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, made the funding announcement Wednesday and thanked the company for excluding U.S. firms from its procurement. He said other business owners should do the same because the success of Canada’s trade war efforts won’t be decided in closed rooms on Parliament Hill, but by the decisions of Canadians across the county.
“People are not just buying Canadian, but they’re making sure that we’re not supporting someone who is actively attacking our economic well-being by buying an American product,” Fraser told reporters.
“What gives me a great deal of optimism is not just this one example, but that this one example is being repeated in communities big and small across Canada in every aspect of life.”
Fraser said Wednesday’s grants were among the first tranche of projects to receive tariff relief. He said another round of applications, with a greater dollar value, is expected to open in the coming weeks. He said similar funding is available in every region of the country.
The minister said in a perfect world Canada would preserve its trade relationship with the U.S., and business would be conducted purely on commercial terms.
“But that’s not the world we live in,” he said.
Fraser said Nova Scotia has certain trade vulnerabilities, pointing to the Michelin tire plant in Granton, N.S., about 10 minutes away from his home. Fraser said three-quarters of the plant’s products are shipped to the U.S., with other components shipped across the border and made into industrial tires that are then sold back to Canadian consumers.
“There are 300 households in my community who are at risk with one employer, this is a strategic vulnerability,” he said. “We have relied on the United States for too long … This goes back three-quarters of a century or more, based on the way that we have historically, extracted our resources, shipped them across the border, allowed the value-add to be done somewhere else and often buying those same products back at a higher price.”
Wallace said Ace Machining is seeing a lot of volatility in the price of materials. He said the company’s pricing quotes used to be valid for 30 days, but now that’s down to just seven. Meanwhile, shipping charges are up, budgets are strained and companies are struggling with an uncertain business climate that seems to change every day.
“I have lots of friends in the U.S. and they’re not happy with what’s happening either,” he said. “They’re like cousins and brothers. It’s just an unfortunate situation that decisions were made way, way, way above my pay grade and the working people have to suffer the consequences.”
In a statement, Conservative critic for Atlantic economic development, Richard Bragdon, reiterated the party’s call for the federal government to release details of the U.S. trade deal it walked away from and called on Prime Minister Mark Carney to recall Parliament. ”Today’s announcement is a temporary Band-Aid without a long-term solution. Local businesses in Nova Scotia are hurting and facing massive uncertainty. They need more than a renouncement of a short-term government program,” said Bragdon.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 2, 2026.
Devin Stevens, The Canadian Press
