Why we must seize this moment to drive transformative change through local action.

As the shadow of the ever-morphing tariff threat darkens our doorsteps, local businesses, workers, and residents continue to brace for rising food prices, supply chain disruptions, plummeting cross-border sales, and catastrophic job losses. This intentional turbulence, which is already impacting people’s lives and our local economy, is galvanizing a movement in our city to stand up and fight back. 

As America’s economic might is wielded like a giant wrecking ball, mounting an effective local resistance might seem woefully asymmetrical and ineffectual. The scale of the threat calls for immediate and coordinated action by all levels of government to protect jobs and livelihoods, and the need for cooperation within the global community. However, as our elected representatives make decisions that will chart an economic course for years to come, we must also use our voices to shape the path forward. To strengthen the resilience of real people, local businesses and our communities to global shocks, we must go beyond traditional, market-centred thinking focused on generating solutions for a modified status quo. Our frame needs to be bolder, more transformative, and harness our democratic power to shape government action.

How will we use this inflection point to catalyze and accelerate the transformative work that needs to be done? For years, TEA and our partners have advocated for our municipal government to invest in local economic activity that generates good jobs and benefits for communities, promotes circularity and environmental stewardship, and addresses pressing priorities such as the need for deeply affordable, climate-safe housing. By harnessing the new momentum to stand together and “buy local”, we have a real opportunity to forge ahead with this work, and get the City of Toronto to use its considerable policy and purchasing powers to build towards a stronger, more inclusive, and greener economy in Toronto.

City Purchasing Power

Governments have significant power to stimulate local economic activity and drive local job creation through purchases and contracts. To provide a sense of scale, the City of Toronto is Canada’s sixth largest government, [1] and procures over $2.5 billion in goods and services annually. [2] This recently came under the spotlight when Toronto City Council debated and adopted the Mayor’s Economic Action Plan in Response to United States Tariffs. The City has previously adopted a number of procurement-related policies and frameworks, which are important for mounting a tariff response and building Toronto’s longer-term economic resilience. 

TEA has long called for the City to direct procurement locally, and invest in a circular economy that focuses on reducing, reusing, recycling and composting. Local circular economies can create up to 50 times more jobs than sending the materials to landfill or incinerator. [3] They also build local resilience by keeping materials and resources circulating locally, reducing import/export dependence and the impact and cost of disruptions in international supply chains. Last month, TEA successfully campaigned to get the City to review how its Circular Procurement Framework could “support the City’s proposed actions to address the US-Canada trade related uncertainties”.

A renewed focus on “buying local” provides an important opportunity for the City to uphold and strengthen existing policy commitments to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, and accelerate work to build a more inclusive economy. To advance Toronto’s social procurement and community benefits goals, it is critical that the City increases support for local small and medium sized businesses, co-operatives, and social enterprises to enable greater economic participation for residents experiencing barriers, and makes its contracting process more accessible to certified Indigenous, Black and diverse suppliers who operate in local communities. [4] As part of the City’s commitment to support Indigenous economic development in its Reconciliation Action Plan, City staff have been directed to co-develop an Indigenous Procurement Strategy with Indigenous businesses and communities. [5]

City Policy Power

According to the Mayor’s Economic Action Plan report: “The Toronto region currently relies on imported US oil and natural gas to fuel our economy. Accelerating electrification would create new jobs and decrease dependence on US energy, while supporting Toronto and Canada’s net zero plans.”[6]

As the report suggests, the current context provides even greater impetus to advance Toronto’s ambitious climate strategy and accelerate the process of weaning our city off fossil fuels. Since Toronto’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions comes from our buildings, this must be a focal point of decarbonization efforts. TEA’s climate campaigns have continuously highlighted the importance of the City’s policies in achieving this aim:

• The TransformTO Net Zero and Existing Buildings Strategies provide hard targets and actions for dramatically reducing emissions from buildings that must be achieved to meet our climate goals;
• The Toronto Green Standard (TGS) ensures new buildings are built to sustainable design standards including energy efficiency and emissions performance requirements;
• The City is developing Building Emissions Performance Standards (BEPS) for existing buildings that would require building owners to meet emissions limits based on building type and size, driving improvements that will move buildings off fossil gas over time. [7]

Using both regulatory and incentive-based approaches, these policy instruments can generate significant local economic activity. For example, mandating building requirements is a highly effective way to generate demand for local building sector jobs. Toronto’s plans to spark retrofits in existing buildings alone are expected to create over 18,000 full-time jobs over the next 30 years in local construction, energy services, and supportive work. [8]

In addition, this workforce will be critical in meeting Toronto’s dire need for more green, climate-safe, and affordable housing.

Furthermore, there is an opportunity to accelerate local renewable energy generation and district energy systems initiatives, both of which are key components of TransformTO, while guarding against the narratives pushing so-called “Canadian energy” from the fossil fuel lobby. As a result of TEA’s campaign focused on the Mayor’s Economic Action Plan, Council adopted a motion directing staff to report on how the “City can increase local renewable energy generation, energy storage and customer electrification to reduce dependence on U.S. fossil fuels.”

Democratic Power and Economic Transformation

The City of Toronto has begun work on an Inclusive Economic Development (IED) framework. This nascent work shows promise in highlighting the importance of “City levers” (e.g. policies and procurement powers) in supporting pathways to employment and decent work for residents and communities that have not benefited from economic growth in the past. [9] Notably, the framework recognizes the role of democratic processes in enabling communities to shape, and hold the City accountable, for IED outcomes.

TEA’s work to build an inclusive and green local economy is intrinsically connected to the democratic processes that enable us to speak up and be heard by our local government. We know from many years of experience that local officials take action because we raise our collective voices to create political will at City Hall. Our wins are achieved through exercising our democratic rights by speaking at City Hall, mobilizing the public to voice their concerns to locally-elected representatives, and participating in public rallies and gatherings.

We have watched with deep concern for our neighbours, and the most vulnerable members of the global community, as the current U.S. administration perpetrates illegal attacks on individual and collective rights, and dismantles public institutions. As we build a local movement centred on economic resilience and solidarity, we must also work together to deepen and strengthen our democratic processes and public institutions, and defend against actions that erode our civil, democratic and labour rights. 

We have already begun laying the building blocks for a local economy that will enable us and future generations to thrive in a greener and more equitable city. Now we need to use the power of raising our voices together to get the City of Toronto, and all levels of government, to use this inflection point to catalyze and accelerate the transformative work that needs to be done.

[1] City of Toronto; accessed at: https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/accountability-operations-customer-service/city-administration/city-managers-office/intergovernmental-affairs/city-of-toronto-act/#:~:text=Share,Act%20accordion%20panels%20Collapse%20All

[2] PMMD; Presentation to Aboriginal Affairs Advisory Committee, April 5, 2025; accessed at: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2025/aa/bgrd/backgroundfile-254086.pdf

[3] Zero Waste Europe; accessed at: https://zerowasteeurope.eu/2021/03/job-creation-potential-of-zero-waste-approaches/

[4] TCBN; Community Wealth Building; accessed at: https://www.communitybenefits.ca/community_wealth_building

[5] PMMD; Presentation to Aboriginal Affairs Advisory Committee, April 5, 2025; accessed at: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2025/aa/bgrd/backgroundfile-254086.pdf

[6] City of Toronto; Mayor’s Economic Action Plan in Response to United States Tariffs; accessed at: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2025/ex/bgrd/backgroundfile-253854.pdf

[7] City of Toronto; Building Emissions Performance Standards; accessed at: https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/water-environment/net-zero-homes-buildings/emissions-performance-standards/

[8] City of Toronto: Net Zero Existing Buildings Strategy; accessed at: https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/907c-Net-Zero-Existing-Buildings-Strategy-2021.pdf

[9] City of Toronto; A Partnered Approach to Inclusive Economic Development; November 15, 2024; accessed at:  https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2024/ec/bgrd/backgroundfile-250461.pdf