North Bay Mayor Vic Fedeli is going on the offensive against the Buy America stimulus funding provisions with a letter-writing campaign aimed at selected U.S. mayors.
On his radar screen are the mayors of DeKalb, Illinois; Cortland, New York; and Brandon, South Dakota; where the City of North Bay purchased a fabricated water tower, a water treatment system and fire pumper truck respectively from companies in those towns.
In his letters, Fedeli states North Bay is a "$100-million company" that chose bids from companies in their towns over a Canadian firm because they accept the best value for taxpayers "no matter where they're from."
The controversial Buy American clause in the U.S. government's stimulus package gives priority to U.S.-made iron, steel and other manufactured products for us in state and local infrastructure projects.
"We are stuck with the ramifications of national decisions, whether they're well thought out or not," writes Fedeli.
Fedeli asks the mayors and their municipal councils to request Washington drop the Buy American provision.
"I do not support protectionism and I do not support retaliation; it's bad for everybody. That's why it's so hard to comprehend this provision," Fedeli wrote to Cortland, N.Y. Mayor Tom Gallagher. "We buy filtration systems made in your city, but you can't buy engineering services or manufactured products from our city. I ask you, Mayor to Mayor - does that sound right?"
This week, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities announced it was going to drop a planned Oct. 4 boycott of U.S. goods and services, encouraged by progress made by trade officials in both countries in seeking an exemption to allow Canadian companies to bid on U.S. stimulus projects.
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