OP-ED: Olivia Chow’s pointless anti-Trump stunt will cost Toronto millions
Sue-Ann Levy writes: "Not to be left out of the Team Canada campaign and all of its manufactured hysteria, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow has a plan to fight President Trump’s proposed tariffs on Canada."
Author: Sue-Ann Levy
Not to be left out of the Team Canada campaign and all of its manufactured hysteria, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow has a plan to fight President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on Canada.
Chow unveiled her “City of Toronto United States Tariff Response: A Strategy to Protect Toronto Businesses, Workers and Residents” in front of Fire Station 334 on Queen’s Quay near the city’s Lakeshore.
The announcement came after Chow appeared on CNN, telling Trump to “stop this nonsense.”
(I’m sure he listened).
Her scheme is to shut out American suppliers from competitive contracts under $353,300 for goods and services and $8.8-million for construction contracts.
Presumably by holding her photo opp in front of a fire station, which includes fire equipment and trucks.
But according to published reports, the amount that comes to Toronto from U.S. suppliers amounts to a mere 10% or $210-million.
Shifting from already signed contracts will take time and money considering there will be fewer competitive bids.
Competition for construction contracts was already impacted in mid-2019 when Chow’s predecessor John Tory and the majority of his council opted to continue with closed-shop tendering, limiting bids to 10 unions only.
That has cost the city upwards of $400-million per year. But Chow has never met a loonie she won’t spend. When asked about the cost of cutting out U.S. suppliers, said it was worth it in principle to pay increased prices.
Dare I suggest, given her gross mismanagement of the city’s fiscal affairs so far, this too will go down in flames as yet another costly exercise in virtue signaling by a mayor and council that is way way out of its depth.
For one thing, it is not the job of a mayor — any mayor — to negotiate or fight tariffs levied against Canada.
That should be the responsibility of our federal government, such as it is right now under the newly unelected narcissistic leader who replaced the old narcissistic elected Prime Minister.
If Chow is so goddamn worried about the Toronto economy, perhaps she should consider reducing this year’s 6.9% property tax hike, which comes on the heels of last year’s 9% hike.
Perhaps she should stop looking for ridiculous ways to spend our money such as putting in place an unelected (but paid) Indigenous councillor or changing the name of Yonge-Dundas square and surrounding area markers.
The tens of millions of dollars spent so far on policing to babysit terrorist sympathizers while they occupy our streets could come to an end if Chow and our weak police chief had the will and the spine to remove them once and for all.
It strikes me, looking at her proposals, that her “Buy Canadian” campaign appears to be more of a giant excuse to extend her diversity agenda to procurement by allowing more Indigenous, black and other diverse suppliers to win bids.
Still, this won’t happen for at least 30 days after council approves it.
As we’ve discovered with Trump, his agenda evolves daily.
At best, Chow’s scheme is just another virtue-signaling exercise.
At worst, it’s yet another opportunity to focus on the latest shiny object instead of actually running our city.