Kitchener launches action plan to support local businesses and protect jobs

The City of Kitchener has launched a new action plan to support local businesses, protect jobs and help the community respond to ongoing tariff and trade uncertainty.

Kitchener’s Plan to Support Local and Protect Jobs focuses on five key areas of action: supporting local and Canadian businesses through City spending, making it easier to choose local, helping businesses adapt and grow, turning local evidence into advocacy and action and opening new markets and attracting investment. The plan reflects Kitchener’s strengths in advanced manufacturing, technology, healthcare and exports, as well as the exposure of those sectors to changing trade conditions, North American supply chains and U.S. tariffs.

“We can’t resolve an international trade dispute from Kitchener City Hall, but we’re not powerless. In fact, we believe some of the most meaningful work is being done right here at home,” said Mayor Berry Vrbanovic. “This plan puts the tools we have to work. We’ll use City spending more deliberately, make it easier for residents to choose local, help businesses access practical support and ensure Kitchener’s voice is heard by provincial, federal, and international decision-makers. Behind every economic statistic is a person wondering whether their job is secure or whether their business can absorb another increase in costs. They deserve a City that pays attention and acts where it can.”

The plan includes five key areas of action:

1. Put City spending to work for local businesses
The City will continue to prioritize eligible Ontario and Canadian suppliers, look for practical Canadian alternatives to U.S.-supplied goods and create more opportunities for local businesses to compete for City contracts. Approximately 98 per cent of the City’s current spending on goods, services and construction already goes to Ontario-based businesses.

2. Make it easier to choose local
The City will build Support Local into a year-round effort that helps residents, organizations and businesses find products, services and experiences made in Kitchener. This work will include business features, community partnerships, local markets, pop-ups and supplier showcases.

3. Help businesses adapt, diversity, and grow
The City will work directly with businesses in manufacturing, technology, healthcare and other trade-exposed sectors to connect them with funding opportunities, investment, and growth supports. Through direct consultations, a central online resource, practical advice, workshops and referrals, businesses will be better equipped to identify Canadian alternatives, strengthen supply chains, pursue new markets and adapt to changing economic conditions. The City will also monitor local economic impacts to help guide future action.

4. Turn local evidence into advocacy and action
The City will meet directly with businesses facing the greatest trade-related risks, identify gaps in existing programs and advocate for solutions that respond to Kitchener’s business and workforce needs. This will include working through municipal associations and with Canadian and U.S. partners to communicate the local impacts of tariffs.

5. Open new market and attract investments
The City will use its convening power, partnerships and international relationships to bring buyers, investors and new business opportunities directly to Kitchener companies and to position the city as a competitive place to invest and grow.  We’re starting with two events next month, co-hosted with Senator Sandra Pupatello. The Canada Buys and Defence Shift sessions on October 13 and 14, will connect Kitchener businesses directly with federal and provincial procurement decisionmakers, prime contractors and tier-one suppliers in the defence sector.

The action plan builds on the work of Kitchener’s Tariff and Trade Task Force and the City’s ongoing collaboration with businesses, industry associations, economic development organizations and other levels of government.

We are also encouraging residents to choose Kitchener businesses and Canadian-made products whenever possible, explore neighbourhood restaurants and retailers and share local business stories.

Choosing local is not the only answer to global trade uncertainty but it is one direct way residents can support local jobs and the people who have invested in Kitchener. Every purchase builds Kitchener.

Residents and businesses can learn more about the action plan, available supports and ways to choose local at Kitchener.ca/SupportLocal.

Quick facts

• The City of Kitchener Tariff and Trade Task Force was reactivated on August, 26, 2026. 
• Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo (KCW) is ranked as the fourth most vulnerable Canadian region to the proposed U.S. tariffs, according to a recent study on exports by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
• More than 90 per cent of exports produced in the KCW go to the U.S.
• $17.8 billion or 46.5 per cent of KCW gross domestic product (GDP) is generated from exports to the U.S.
• KCW's top 30 highest-ranking export industries account for 81,500 jobs.
• The City purchases approximately 98 per cent of its goods, services and construction from Ontario-based businesses.
• The City has relaunched the LoveLocalShop.ca so Kitchener residents can show their Kitchener pride and support a local business. 

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For more information: 
Corporate Communications and Marketing 
City of Kitchener 
Media@kitchener.ca