I want to start this newsletter by sharing my gratitude; during my annual Family Skate at Lois Kemp Arena a few weeks ago, I put the call out for donations to the Ottawa Food Bank. The generosity of our community in response did not surprise me in the least, but I wanted to share how grateful the Food Bank team was when I dropped off the resulting donations. While I was visiting their headquarters on Bantree Road, I learned that the most needed items are peanut butter, canned stew or chili, and diapers sized 3 and 6. If you are interested in supporting the Ottawa Food Bank, more information can be found at https://www.ottawafoodbank.ca/.
Switching gears, I felt it important to talk about the elephant in the room. The situation with our U.S. neighbours and the threats from President Trump to our economy are still top of mind for many of us. As a Council and City, we have moved quickly to support our local small businesses during these uncertain economic times. A task force was convened of key economic partners to share best practices and tools and develop an action plan, such as the development of the tariff toolkit and upcoming launch of a Buy Local/Buy Canadian campaign, to support residents and businesses. Information about the tariff toolkit can be found here: https://ottawa.ca/en/business/economic-support#section-7ecea57b-67b3-4028-94ee-de8752e1a16a .
As a Council, we also approved a motion to ensure the City’s procurement by-laws and processes are flexible and support the purchase of local, Canadian, and non-American goods and services wherever possible. City staff have already done some work and, moving forward, any procurement under $125,000 will require that at least one of the three required bids be from a local supplier. Mayor Sutcliffe has worked to improve the ability of businesses on both sides of the Ottawa River to sell their products and services. All these efforts will support our small businesses, the backbone of our local economy, as well as support the residents that run them.
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