Castlegar – Large new road signs have been seen all over the West Kootenays that describe the Federal and Provincial government’s partnership with the title “Canada’s Economic Action Plan”. The plan boasts of investing $8 million in infrastructure projects throughout BC. According to the federal government press release, the projects funded are supposed to provide work opportunities for small and medium sized BC businesses.
Ironically, Kootenay West MLA, Katrine Conroy and BC Southern Interior MP, Alex Atamanenko received information that shows that the signs were made by Zumar Industries from Tacoma, Washington. The Provincial Ministry of Transportation has a contract with the American company to supply the signs for the province. The signs are of a standard construction that most local sign shops can reproduce however these local small businesses cannot expect to benefit from this project.
MLA Conroy questioned the Minister of Transportation in the Legislature last week and received no satisfactory reply. Conroy asked “in the last four years, Zumar Industries in Tacoma, Washington has received over a million dollars in contracts from the BC Government-over a million dollars of BC’s taxpayer dollars. We know that sign companies here in BC can produce exactly the same signs as the minister has contracted with them. So how can the minister condone this?” Minister Bond simply replied that the Ministry of Transportation has a sign shop and “wherever possible and whenever possible, we look at the best competitive advantage.”
MP Alex Atamanenko wondered if the Conservative Government of Stephen Harper understood that the signs used to tell the Canadian public about the investment to Canadian small businesses were in fact made in the US.
Both Conroy and Atamanenko have called on the BC and Canadian governments to end the hypocrisy and to start real investment in small businesses by allowing local sign shops to produce these signs.
ORAL QUESTIONS IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS – NOVEMBER 18
Mr. Alex Atamanenko (British Columbia Southern Interior, NDP): Mr. Speaker, a large road sign in my riding describes the federal and provincial governments’ partnership with the title “Canada’s Economic Action Plan”.
According to the federal government, infrastructure projects are supposed to provide work opportunities for small and medium sized B.C. businesses. A million dollars of B.C. taxpayers’ money has gone to a Washington State company, giving us another example of the government’s continuous outsourcing of contracts and jobs, work that could have been done in B.C.
Is the Prime Minister aware of this practice, and if so, is this his response to the buy American policy of the U.S. government?
Hon. John Baird (Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, CPC): Mr. Speaker, we are making investments in infrastructure in every corner of the country. We think it would be disastrous if we reverted to protectionism, something that will kill jobs around the world and lower the standard of living for everyone.
We have had a particularly strong partnership with the province of British Columbia, making investments in the Southern Interior, on Vancouver Island, in metro Vancouver and in the north.
We are very proud of the infrastructure investments that we are making. We are so proud of these infrastructure investments, we have even put a sign up in front of each one of them, showing how transparent, showing how accountable we are to the taxpayers in British Columbia.