The Town of Newmarket is introducing new measures to combat U.S. tariffs hitting the local and national economy.
Council gave tentative approval at committee of the whole March 17 to adjust the procurement process to give Canadian-owned applicants more opportunity. The town also plans to add some additional support for local businesses, with the return of a pandemic-era concierge program to help connect them to available government support.
Newmarket Mayor John Taylor said the issue is changing frequently and staff will be monitoring in case the municipality wants to take any other actions.
“We’re doing our part in trying to do everything we can to support Canadian companies and local companies through this time,” Taylor said during the meeting. “We’ll stay tuned to see what the next chapter holds.”
The town’s procurement adjustment will raise its thresholds under Canadian trade agreements to ensure non-discriminatory public access to Ontario and Quebec suppliers. This comes with the town already having few U.S. suppliers, with only 1.8 per cent of payments made last year to U.S. suppliers. The staff report also said it could make wording choices in its procurement to favour Canadian suppliers “where appropriate and possible.”
Taylor said the move is consistent with what other municipalities are making.
“What we’re looking at here is a best practices example of what the consensus is coming across many, many municipalities,” he said.
About 10 per cent of jobs in Newmarket are tied to exports, according to statistics presented by Taylor at his annual chamber of commerce speech event.
Deputy Mayor Tom Vegh said he was glad to see the program reintroduced “to assist and direct local businesses that may have a major impact.”
“This is an incredible, quick turnaround for the report and all the actions that we’d be taking,” Vegh said.
The new procurement process must be approved at a future council meeting.
In a news release after the meeting, the town encouraged local residents to shop local, focus on made-in-Canada product markings, support Canadian farmers by purchasing local produce and researching Canadian brands.
“Now more than ever, it is crucial that we stand together to support Newmarket’s local economy and protect Canadian jobs,” Taylor said in the news release. “We know this may get difficult and challenging, but Newmarket and Canada are strong, and we will stand strong together.”
Further information is available at newmarket.ca/tradesupport.
