U.S.-made pipes are being installed next to Queen's Park as Canadian steel jobs vanish

Look what happened, is this crazy? When Donald Trump swept back into the White House in November 2024, he arrived on a pledge to hammer Canada's major manufacturing industries with tariffs. Trump made good on that promise, Those policies sparked a movement from municipal, adding 50% levies on Canadian provincial and federal governments to pivot away from American goods and to buy local. steel by the summer of 2025. But two years later, the city of Toronto is showing how hard that can be, as workers put the finishing touches on a water main repair that was completed using steel pipes ordered from West Virginia. Those American pipes being installed in Toronto as the Canadian steel industry stumbles, with hundreds of layoffs in both Sault Ste. Marie and Hamilton. It's disappointing to hear, obviously. I know some of the products just aren't made in Canada. So, I mean, that's what happens with free trade, I guess, over the years. You get reliant on different countries making different products. At Toronto City Hall, this incoming local councillor is keen to see aggressive policy change to make sure public money goes to supporting domestic jobs. These are tax dollars. Wouldn't it be great if they were cycled back into the Canadian economy rather than getting moved out of the Canadian economy? Those changes aren't easy, though. The group that represents towns and cities in Ontario says there's enthusiasm to buy local, but... It's hard sometimes to turn a giant ship around and change some of our procurement practices. In this case, the city says the contract went to a local North York-based company that then bought the pipes from the US. A statement from the city pointing out the contract was first tendered before Toronto's anti-tariff policy and that the value of the contract would have excluded it regardless. It's a reality that doesn't change the fact that behind me here on Queen's Park Crescent, workers are putting the finishing touches on a City of Toronto project to install American-made pipes beneath newly fashioned bike lanes directly in front of the building where Ontario Premier Doug Ford works. Isaac Callan, CBC News, Toronto.