Fighting Back: Small Town Says Turn-Around Fair Trade in ‘Buy America’ Battle

(The Canadian Press)

Tiny Halton Hills, Ont. – population 58,000 – is vying to be the mouse that roared in the battle against big bad U.S. protectionism.

Upset that one of the southern Ontario community’s biggest manufacturers is being shut out of municipal infrastructure projects south of the border under Buy American legislation, Halton Hills is taking matters into its own hands. The town council has unanimously passed a resolution that would have the Toronto-area municipality discriminate against any country that discriminates against Canada.

And the idea is proving so attractive that it will likely be put to a vote during next month’s annual general meeting of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

Mayor Rick Bonnette says his town’s action is not a “Buy Canadian” response, but he does want Canadian municipalities – which will be spending the lion’s share of the federal government’s $12-billion infrastructure program – to shut the door to contract bidders from the U.S. until that country opens its doors to Canadian firms. “We want to push back,” he explained. “There comes a point where you can’t stand by and do nothing when you have people losing their jobs.”

Buy American clauses in President Barack Obama’s US$800-billion stimulus package – meant to ensure U.S. taxpayer money creates jobs in the recession-ravaged United States – have raised the ire of international governments, which are accusing the U.S. administration of preaching free trade, particularly during the current recession, but practising stealth protectionism.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper believed he had exacted the necessary concession from the U.S. administration in February when the president pledged to honour international trade obligations, including those under NAFTA, in the application of Buy American provisions. Read more here.