Kitchener, Waterloo mayors to make ‘buy Canadian’ pitches to their councils

The Mayors of Kitchener and Waterloo are both making pitches to their city councils, Monday, to do everything they can to buy Canadian and fight back against the threat of U.S. tariffs.

Berry Vrbanovic has a motion on the agenda at a Special Council meeting for Kitchener, Monday afternoon.

It calls on city staff to explore “where it legally permissible for the municipality to pursue a Buy Canadian preference in the procurement of goods and services.”

And, to “encourage residents and businesses to Buy Canadian, and Buy Local where possible.”

It would also have Vrbanovic, Dan Chapman, the city’s Chief Administrative Officer, and the city’s economic development staff work with local businesses and organizations to have a shared action plan.

The municipality would support the Team Canada approach taken by the provincial and federal governments.

If passed, the motion will have staff reporting back to council as soon as possible with updates on those actions if the American tariffs are imposed.

Dorothy McCabe’s motion to Waterloo council, on Monday night, has very similar goals, particularly to support the “team Canada” message that tariffs are not in the best interests of Canadian or American residents and businesses.

If passed, city staff would review current city purchasing processes for opportunities to increase buying from Canadian sources.

And council would call on the federal and provincial governments to better enable cities to explore procurement opportunities within trade agreements other than the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.