Graeme Roustan, the owner and operator of the last wooden hockey stick factory in Canada, is a Canadian entrepreneur. This one-of-a-kind factory is located some 60 miles southwest of Toronto. This factory comes with a colorful past. It traces its roots back to 1847 as an agricultural implement shop, two decades before Canada became a country. Today, it has a staff of 15. It highlights that impressive manufacturing base and the long-term commitment to the game of hockey in our country.
Lately, positive trade developments have turned that factory’s future dark. In late August, the Trump administration nixed a popular customs exemption for international shipments under $800. This alteration has since ushered in greater unknowns for Roustan and his colleagues — most notably, how it will affect cross-border trade with the United States. Factory exports fell by 7.5 percent. This drop serves to underscore the broader impact of tariffs on the entire industry.
The factory’s specialty is producing finely crafted wooden hockey sticks. These sticks account for about 10 percent of the estimated 5 million commercial hockey sticks manufactured annually worldwide. Even with its artisanal manufacturing processes to bolster it, Roustan admits the industry is in rough shape. He understands the market for wooden hockey sticks isn’t expanding.
Along with wooden sticks, Roustan manufactures goalie pads at another factory located in Toronto. Just recently, imports of these pads were hit with an unforeseen 200% tariff. This development has prompted increasing alarm about restrictive trade actions. The plant’s general manager, Bo Crawford, said he was exasperated by the volatile trade environment.
“You just have to roll with it and the president of the U.S. can change his mind day to day, week to week, hour to hour. So yeah, we have to deal with it the best we can,” – Bo Crawford.
All the uncertainty around tariffs has left Roustan’s U.S. customers terrified, he says. He commented that even low-value purchases of one or two sticks, typically under $100, could now be subject to these tariffs. This new rule has the potential to benefit millions of homebuyers.
“The jury is still out on how that’s going to impact business,” – Graeme Roustan.
In Canada, the overall economy shrunk by 1.6% in the second quarter of this year. Inflation adjusted investment in industrial machinery and equipment fell to record lows since the series started in 1981. Experts further caution that over regulation has devastated Canada’s manufacturing sector. They argue that successive governments have been supremely unambitious in their approach to tackling it. In a recent op-ed, Stéfane Marion and Matthieu Arseneau made the case that this downward trend has undermined Canada’s position within global supply chains.
“That failure has eroded Canada’s manufacturing base and left us at risk of becoming irrelevant in global supply chains,” – Stéfane Marion and Matthieu Arseneau.
Roustan especially stresses the need to keep a strong manufacturing base in Canada. He argues that making the things that people use every day is the key to any country’s economic prosperity.
“It’s important to any country to have a manufacturing base of products that you consume on a regular basis,” – Graeme Roustan.
Receiving this great news Roustan’s factory is an amazing success story. It is a cultural landmark where rich heritage of hockey in Canada is being preserved. The factory employs old-school, artisanal techniques that link buyers to the cultural roots of the sport. This practice has helped increase the sport’s importance and relevance within the local community.
Roustan has been weeks and months trying to get through the limbo created by tariffs and trade war worries. During this period, he has had to maintain constant communication with his U.S. clients. The factory’s resilience reflects not only his commitment to preserving hockey’s legacy but to supporting local manufacturing.
