Robin MacLennan
Ontario Construction News staff writer
The City of Toronto will ban US firms from bidding for public sector contracts, locking American contractors, engineers and consultants out of infrastructure projects.
A staff report will be considered by the city’s executive committee on today, March 19, followed by Toronto City Council at the end of the month. If approved, American suppliers will be defined as a companies whose headquarters is in the U.S. and has at least 70 per cent of its employees there at the time of the bid submission.
“Only Canadian companies can bid on construction work that is worth under $8.8. million, and goods and service under $353,000,” Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said at a news conference on Monday. “U.S. based suppliers will no longer be able to bid on city contracts.”
Key changes would include:
- New competitive contracts under $353,300 for goods/services and $8.8 million for construction will be awarded exclusively to Canadian suppliers, in line with the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the terms to which the City is bound
- American-based suppliers may be deemed ineligible to bid on new competitive contracts when it is in the “city’s best interest”
- Increased supplier outreach programs to find local alternatives for key goods, such as construction materials, technology, municipal water equipment and paramedic supplies
- Expansion of procurement opportunities for Indigenous, Black and diverse suppliers to increase participation under the City’s Social Procurement Policy.
“Toronto’s Economic Action Plan will protect businesses and workers while building a more resilient economy,” Chow said. “We stand united as proud Canadians.
“Toronto will emerge stronger than ever.”
Chow appeared on CNN over the weekend, calling President Donald Trump’s tariff plan “senseless.”
“Right now, Toronto, the city, we are just really upset. We are the fourth largest city in North America and we have a $79-bilion budget, which is about the size of Florida,” Chow told CNN’s John Berman. “And we are saying we will not allow any American companies to bid on our contracts anymore . . . worth about a billion dollars over 10 years.”
Toronto’s plan ncludes an industrial property tax deferral program that would allow eligible industrial Industrial property owners to defer tax payments from June 1 to Nov. 30, 2025 without incurring late fees or interest charges. Key details of the program include:
- Eligibility for industrial property owners experiencing significant financial hardship due to tariffs
- No penalties or interest on late payments during the six-month deferral period
- Estimated program cost of $300,000 to $750,000, offset against budgeted tax revenues
- Application-based process with approval criteria based on financial impact assessments.
CBC Toronto reviewed data on $3.2 billion in competitive contracts awarded by Toronto over the last two years and found 10 per cent were secured by American-owned companies. The 76 contracts are worth a total of about $210 million or six per cent of the funds Toronto doled out through competitive procurement between Dec. 6, 2022 and March 11.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced a provincial ban on American contractors March 4, in retaliation to US President Donald Trump’s trade war against Canada.
“US-based businesses will now lose out on tens of billions of dollars in revenues. They only have President Trump to blame,” Ford said.
At a news conference Monday, Chow announced initiatives including a tax deferral program for industrial properties and a “love local” campaign to encourage residents to choose Canadian-made goods and services.
