People agenda tied to business strategy in Canada

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes · Last updated: 21 September 2026

Three Canadian HR leaders said the people agenda is now integrated into business strategy as Ottawa and industry respond to a tariff fight that targets $27.6 billion in U.S. imports, and the federal government unveiled a $7.5-billion employer-and-worker support package in August, as first reported by Canadian HR Reporter. HR teams are being asked to convert scenario planning and workforce flexibility into operational priorities: HR leaders are joining strategic planning, aligning organisation design with business goals, and working to preserve critical skills through retraining and work-sharing where possible.

From an HR perspective, we are focused on maintaining the flexibility to respond to different scenarios while continuing to invest in the critical skills and talent we need,

Stephanie Shaw, vice-president of human resources, Eldorado Gold

Scenario planning is now mandatory for HR

HR leaders describe scenario-based workforce planning as table stakes in a tariff environment that has stretched into 2026. Stephanie Shaw, vice-president of human resources at Eldorado Gold in Vancouver, says the tariffs have not produced “material impacts” for her company but have increased global uncertainty that requires disciplined planning and flexibility. Employers are building capacity to shift staff, redeploy skills and pause non-essential hires while they model outcomes.

Andrew Bratt, partner at Gowling in Toronto, says employers are more comfortable tolerating prolonged uncertainty than in early 2025 and are using the interval to assess exposures and contingency-plan. That attitude reduces the likelihood of immediate, broad layoffs and increases reliance on staged responses: hold, redeploy, retrain, or use temporary work-sharing arrangements where appropriate. This approach keeps critical skills available should demand recover.

People strategy is business strategy

HR leaders stress that people decisions are inseparable from strategic choices about growth, productivity and transformation. Shaw frames her role as “increasingly as a strategic business partner that is helping shape the strategy and then making sure we can execute it through our people and organization.” That description underlines a simple mechanism: decide what to achieve, map the organisation you need to achieve it, then match talent and capability.

Tammy Sergie, chief HR and privacy officer at EHN Canada, calls people and culture interchangeable with business strategy because execution depends on frontline and leadership behaviours. The practical consequence is that HR must sit in on commercial planning, risk assessment and capital-allocation conversations rather than being consulted only after those decisions are taken.

Cost containment, communication and retention trade-offs

When business confidence retreats, leaders typically pivot from investment and innovation toward cost containment, and those choices reverberate through engagement and retention. Sergie notes that tightening costs can undermine mission-critical efforts if employees are not kept aligned. Employment lawyer Stephen Shore says clear, adult-to-adult communication is one of the most effective tools employers have: explain exposures, be transparent about uncertainties, and outline contingency plans so key staff do not assume the worst and leave.

Bratt points to work-sharing and retraining as ways to preserve relationships with skilled, long-tenured staff. If employers dismiss experienced workers during a temporary downturn, replacing them when conditions improve is costly or impossible. That calculus explains why some employers prefer temporary reductions or redeployment over outright layoffs where regulations and programs permit.

Support programs and where they fit operationally

Ottawa consolidated supports in the Workforce Retention and Retraining Program, which merges EI Work-Sharing and the Worker Retention Grant and offers employers up to $1,000 per participant for training and administrative costs. Provincial measures supplement federal aid: Ontario has expanded eligibility for a $1-billion tariff support program aimed at affected employers and workers. HR teams are integrating awareness of these programs into staffing contingency plans and training budgets.

Practical HR steps include assessing which roles are tariff-exposed, prioritizing redeployment to less-affected business lines, and documenting training pathways when grants cover part of the cost. Employers with complex cross-border supply chains may combine program support with scenario planning to stagger decisions and protect critical skills until demand visibility improves.

How this could unfold

The bottom line

Interviews and analysis sketch a single outcome: HR has shifted from a downstream role to a central one in companies' responses to tariffs and heightened uncertainty. Practical steps — scenario planning, transparent employee communication, redeployment and targeted use of retraining grants — reduce the risk that temporary shocks become permanent capability losses. When provinces and the federal government provide timely program support, employers can choose options to retain skilled staff; where that support is absent, HR must make hard choices and document paths to recovery.

What to watch

• Watch for federal implementation details and guidance on the Workforce Retention and Retraining Program; no completion date has been set.
• Watch for provincial rollout updates from Ontario on expanded eligibility for its $1-billion tariff support program; no date has been set.
• Watch for follow-up employment data or sectoral reports from RBC or Statistics Canada measuring post-tariff labour changes; no date has been set.