Canadian Content Petition
Save Local Jobs!
Whereas Bombardier Canada has announced the lay-off of up to half of its 1100-member workforce at its Thunder Bay facility;
Whereas the impact on the Thunder Bay regional community will be significant;
Whereas the provinces of Ontario and Quebec currently have legislative capacity to impose local content requirements of up to 25%, though at no time have they enforced this;
Whereas countries such as the United States have enacted legislation such as the Buy American Act which enforces a 70% local content requirement;
Whereas a recent $989 million VIA Rail contract, paid for with our tax dollars, was awarded to Siemens, a German conglomerate, who will manufacture their products at their Sacramento, California facility;
Whereas good sustainable jobs are essential to support local workers, communities and economies;
Therefore, be it resolved that we call on all three levels of government to immediately prioritize all efforts to enforce and enhance the local-content requirements, ensuring procurement policies that promote local-content requirements;
Be it further resolved that federal, provincial and municipal governments immediately commit in policy and action to putting Canadian local content first for all taxpayer funded projects;
Be it further resolved that federal, provincial and municipal governments immediately commit to effective legislation that holds corporations accountable to ensure the transparent and true delivery on Canadian local content through in Canada production and manufacturing;
Be it further resolved that the federal and provincial governments take all necessary steps to expedite contracts with Bombardier with a clear direction to end layoffs in Thunder Bay.