Changes to the federal government's procurement policy with a "Buy Canadian" focus could create opportunities for local businesses.
Senator Sandra Pupatello is working with the local Chamber of Commerce to highlight how businesses can better position themselves to take advantage of those opportunities.
"Job one is to make sure you register. Go on the Buy Canada site and register the company it gives this procurement business number (a PMB) and once you have that number you get to procure, so that's step number one," said Pupatello.
The site also gives companies the ability to register for notifications when a new procurement request is opened in their field.
Pupatello said many local businesses like construction, manufacturing and agri-business could benefit from the government's shift in procurement process.
"The environment has changed, and a lot of our companies, like our manufacturers, could do business in other sectors; they've just never looked at it cause it's never been so dire. But, given that the Americans started a trade war with Canada, we now need to look at other opportunities for our Canadian companies," said Pupatello.
Richard Janik, with the Canadian Tooling and Machining Association, attended the information session hosted by Pupatello to outline how businesses can apply to the federal government's procurement process. He believes many local businesses could take advantage of the government program.
"Those skill sets and those methods of designing and building tooling and automation, those apply to numerous industries, so it's just parlaying that work into new opportunities," said Janik.
To find out more about the government's procurement process, businesses are encouraged to reach out to their local Chamber of Commerce.
