Mayor Olivia Chow on Thursday made good on her promise to ban American companies from bidding on city contracts.
Chow’s first step is to bar U.S. companies from all contracts valued below $353,000, which will now go exclusively to Canadian firms.
Next, she plans to bring a motion to the city’s executive committee to shut out American suppliers from all city contracts.
If passed by the executive committee after being presented on March 19, the motion would then go to council for final approval.
In the event of a full ban, companies from other countries, excluding the U.S., would still be able to bid on contracts and do work for the city. This is due to obligations under existing trade agreements, like the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union.
“Unlike Americans, we like to obey our trade agreements,” Chow said on Thursday.
CETA allows municipalities to give domestic firms preferential treatment for products and services valued under $353,000, as well as for construction contracts under $8.8 million.
Chow acknowledged that cutting out American suppliers could result in the city paying more for certain goods and services because of reduced marketplace competition.
“We haven’t had the financial analysis at this point but I think it’s important we stay strong,” she said. “As proud Canadians, I think we are united in saying that we will never back down.”
U.S. firms only account for about 10 per cent of Toronto’s annual procurement, according to city manager Paul Johnson, who previously said a ban “wouldn’t be prudent for the City of Toronto.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford recently barred U.S. companies from bidding on provincial contracts and encouraged all municipalities to do the same, even though U.S. President Donald Trump paused his latest round of tariffs on goods covered by the U.S.-Canada free trade deal until April 2.
The March 19 executive committee meeting is expected to focus heavily on the city’s response to Trump’s roller coaster tariff policy.
Aside from the procurement motion, Chow earlier this week promised to present a full rundown of steps the city could take in response to American tariffs.
Chow and city council have taken some small steps to hit back since Trump began threatening the longstanding trade relationship between Canada and the U.S.
Last week, the mayor convened the “economic action team,” which includes representatives from Toronto’s business community, labour leaders, senior civil servants and auto-industry veterans.
The team will meet semi-regularly over the next few months to help Chow shape her response.
Also in February, council voted to approve a campaign spearheaded by Eglinton-Lawrence Coun. Mike Colle to encourage residents to buy more local goods and a separate measure banning new Teslas from participating in the city’s taxi and limo licensing discount program.
