Tariffs, housing and jobs: Barrie’s mayor delivers annual economic statement

Job creation, new housing and Donald Trump were the themes of Barrie mayor Alex Nuttall’s annual economic statement, delivered at the mayors luncheon on Thursday.

Speaking to hundreds of the most influential people in the city, the mayor painted a picture of success over the last year, showcasing ways the city continues to be at the forefront of delivering on economic promises.

Noting key highlights, like the announcement of a new Lakehead University STEM campus or the push for new measures to clear out encampments, the mayor told the crowd that the past year had been a busy one.

Barrie is still performing at a level that is better than anybody else," said the mayor.

That level still saw the city miss its housing target.

According to Nuttall, Barrie came within 84 per cent of achieving its housing target last year.

The mayor lamented current economic difficulties in making potential buyers reconsider as one component to the slowdown.

However, taking a glass half full approach, the mayor said achieving at least 80 per cent allowed Barrie to qualify for more provincial funding this year. In speaking with the rest of Ontario’s big city mayors, Nuttall said that meant Barrie was only one of two communities to achieve that same success.

“We went out to all of the engineers in the area, all of the planners in the area, the builders, the developers and said, ‘what do you need, what’s going to encourage you to move ahead and get more housing built,‘” the mayor said. “They came back with requests, we couldn’t do them all but some of them we did and we’ve been able to work with the market to make sure that we are seeing those projects come online.”

This week, the province aided the city in its housing plan, providing it with close to $35 million for a key infrastructure project in the south end of Barrie.

According to the city, that will help unlock the ability to create over 8700 new homes and over 11,000 new jobs.

“We’ve been hoping to get this area to service for the last 15 years,” Nuttall added. “Finally, we’re able to proceed with that and move ahead. It’s a game-changer.”

A game-changer that the mayor is looking to avoid, is the threat of U.S. Tariffs. At Wednesday’s city council meeting, Nuttall introduced a motion that calls for the newly established Canada-U.S. relations council to take any and all measures to protect the interests of Ontario and allow for municipalities to discount American companies for capital projects and supplies.

“I don’t intend to use this,” Nuttall said. “But if the United States does proceed with tariffs and if they are affecting our economy in a negative way, I want to work with local businesses the best I can to ensure that we have as many local jobs as possible to withstand the pain that would be caused by moves in the U.S.”