A notice of motion from the Deputy Mayor of LaSalle has resulted in Essex County Council taking a closer look at how it does business.
At last week’s county council meeting, Michael Akpata brought to the attention of his fellow municipal politicians that in order to combat tariffs from the United States, that something has to be done locally.
Akpata specifically wanted to know what the county can do when it comes to a “Buy Canada” approach and went on to explain that when he goes into grocery stores, he has an app that helps him identify Made in Canada products.
“This is something other Canadian citizens are doing,” said Akpata.
The deputy mayor acknowledged that there are trade agreements in place that the county is bound to but wanted to formally begin the process of seeing what can be done to ensure more Canadian products and services are used when possible.
“If we don’t, we can see what will happen world-wide. The world has changed and we need to align with what our folks are telling us,” said Akpata.
There was general consensus around the county table that some action needs to be taken. Both Amherstburg Mayor Michael Prue and Deputy Mayor Chris Gibb were in agreement with Akpata’s intentions.
“This is an excellent motion from Councillor Akpata. I think we all have to start thinking about what we can do to support our county, our region, our province, our country,” said Gibb.
Prue did have a bit of cautionary advice and while he did agree that tariffs, if implemented by the United States could be harmful, he said that relations with other countries including Mexico need to remain in place and no trade agreements are violated.
“I am reluctant to go down this road,” he said of Akpata’s motion to investigate a more Buy Canadian approach. Canada has become rich, and prosperous and worldly because we trade with everybody,” said Prue.
Prue said he was recently in an Amherstburg drug store and noticed that some of the products had a maple leaf sticker indicating they were developed in Canada.
Kingsville Deputy Mayor Kim DeYoung said it would be difficult to change any policy that the county is bound, by legislation, to uphold and Tecumseh Mayor Gary McNamara said that trading relations with European and Mexican partners needs to remain in place.
However, he did state, “be educated on what needs to be done. Like the old saying goes, charity begins at home.”
As far as any changes to how the county currently does business when it comes to such things as putting out tenders for services and construction work, CAO Sandra Zwiers said that the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) is looking at this issue closely.
A report could be coming from county administration in the future.
County council wants to investigate “Buy Canadian” approach
By Fred Groves
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