The Canadian Federation of Independant Business is urging people to shop local this holiday season, especially tomorrow, as it is Small Business Saturday.

Tyler Slobogian, CFIB Senior Policy Analyst for the Prairies, says Small Business Saturday “is an annual event that encourages Canadians to support their local economies by shopping at a small business.”

He adds that according to a recent Angus Reid poll, 53 percent of small businesses are experiencing low consumer demand during a usually busy holiday shopping season.

He says despite often providing unique high-quality products and great customer service, 48 per cent of small businesses say it’s hard to keep up with large online retailers.

Slobogian adds that to make matters worse, the poll suggests only 26 per cent of Canadians expect to do their shopping in-store, compared to the 34 per cent that will do it online.

“The average Canadian will spend about $900 this holiday season, with the majority going towards gifts, so if we can encourage people and consumers to shop local if they can, that would be awesome.”

He explains that shopping local not only benefits the businesses you visit, but the entire city, as 66 cents for every dollar you spend stays in the community.

Low consumer demand isn’t the only thing troubling Canadian small businesses. Slobogian says President Trump’s threat of 25 per cent tariffs on Candian and Mexican imports is a large concern for Canadian business owners.

In Saskatchewan alone, business owners rely on $15.4 billion worth of exports to the United States.

“We encourage the federal government to get involved and hopefully we can mend this relationship.”

Slobogian says the Canada Post strike is another matter that is impacting small businesses.

“Many Canadians maybe don’t rely on Canada Post as much as they once did, but small businesses often rely on the postal system to ship goods, send marketing materials to consumers, invoices, and so on.”

He says 80 per cent of small businesses rely on Canada Post services to do business, and it is very crucial for the federal government to step in and use all of its powers to keep the postal system working, especially as the holidays approach.