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Posted by: paulsoucy on 10/23/2009 09:26 AM
Updated by: furlong on 10/23/2009 09:26 AM
Expires: 01/01/2019 12:00 AM

Council reiterates importance of Buy-American push

With U.S. protectionism dominating the news, the City of North Bay has been making a lot of noise about its intention to buy American goods.

By Paul Soucy
theclaw.ca

At Monday Night's council meeting, Councillor Dave Mendicino put forth a motion that North Bay buy a page in a national email newsletter urging other communities across the province and country to 'buy American'. The page would cost roughly $300, a small sum considering the money cities across Canada could make if cities south of the 49th parallel in turn decide to 'buy Canadian'. This would be in addition to the already ongoing letter campaign by Mayor Vic Fedeli (who was not present at the council meeting due to an engagement with an American client) to U.S. cities with which North Bay already does business.

"We just want to springboard that into involving all Ontario municipalities... that do business in the states to adopt the same strategy and send a similar letter," Mendicino explained.

Mendicino said Camada's national media attention can only help matters.

"Any publicity is good publicity," Mendicino admitted. "Especially when you're coming out with a campaign like this. We're basically fighting for Canada."

Media attention is one thing, but a personal message is another; Mayor Fedeli has already sent letters to American cities explaining his intent to keep buying American -- and so far the feedback has been positive.

CHINA AND INDIA...

"They were actually quite taken aback by some of the things that were discussed, because they really didn't know that the Buy-American campaign extended to Canada," Mendicino admitted. "A lot of the feedback that the Mayor has been getting has been that they thought the Buy-American strategy only applied to China and India."

Mendicino cited the fact the city will spend more than $3-million on new water meters from a small town in Alabama. Mayor Fedeli will be sending that town a letter explaining how important his strategy is, and that they should return the favor.

"If Canada had adopted the same policy that the Americans have about only buying American then we would not have done business with that City," Mendicino explained. "In recessionary times, I think every city is looking for as much business as they can get their hands on."

Council would have liked to have purchased the water meters from a Canadian company but all five bids they received were from American companies. Mendicino explained that's just how the cookie crumbles, so to speak.

"Sometimes that's the case," Mendicino said. "The product that you need -- whether you're in North Bay, Toronto or Ottawa -- can only be bought in the states."

Mendicino claims this has been an eye-opener for some American mayors, and they're taking further action to make sure they don't keep with their current ways.

"They are taking that one step further, and going to their Congress, or their Senate or wherever they have to go to lobby to say 'Listen, this is not something that is good for us.'"