Looking after Northwestern Ontario first--developing our economic base.

• Author: Pullia, Frank

It was only a few years ago that outshopping was emptying local stores and undermining the retail sector in just about every border town, not only in Northern Ontario but also across Canada.

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Then something happened. It may have been a further drop in our dollar that made shopping in the U.S. more expensive, or just more choices of products and improved service that made the difference. Or maybe a combination of all the above.

One thing is certain, as outshopping declined, our own retail sector improved substantially, making it one of the bright spots of the local economy.

A similar, but less noticeable "outshopping" has also been going on for years and it has had a serious impact on our ability to develop a stronger, more diversified economic base.

I am talking about the need to feel that unless we go outside to get our products or services, we are not getting the best value for our dollars (this includes human resources personnel, consultants, and trades).

There are many large institutions in our region with a lot of purchasing power.

Their procurement policy will dictate that given equal quality and service, the lowest cost will be accepted. In a properly balanced competitive environment, we all benefit from such a scenario.

However, structural changes have thrown the balance out of our economic environment and are having a destabilizing effect in our northern economy.

Signs are evident in continuing youth out-migration and declining tax assessment base (i.e. economic base).

I suggest that the time has come for revisiting a policy that may not be serving the present needs of our region. A good place to start is our municipal government, with its vast purchasing power, that has the potential to play a leading role in this area.

I am not talking about undermining the present procurement policy, but fine tuning it.

The policy should simply state: "everything else being equal (i.e. availability, quality, price, service, qualifications, etc.) we will shop/hire locally first". By locally, I mean within the region first.

Such policy, openly expressed and articulated, would have prevented a lawsuit that was launched against the City of Thunder Bay a couple of years ago when it decided that it would favour a local contractor even though the bid from the out of town one was lower by a very small amount ($3,000).

The contract was worth $1.2 million and the city settled out of court for $210,000. A similar situation was...