Pete Fry would use City purchasing power to support Canadian businesses, B.C. lumber, local jobs, and stronger supply chains amid tariffs and trade uncertainty.

VANCOUVER, B.C., SEPTEMBER 16, 2026 — Green Party of Vancouver mayoral candidate Pete Fry today unveiled Buy Vancouver, Build Canada, an economic resilience and local procurement strategy that would use the City’s nearly $800 million in annual purchasing to support Canadian businesses, strengthen local supply chains, advance Indigenous economic partnerships, and keep more public investment working in Vancouver and across B.C.

“When City Hall spends public money, we should be thinking about the public benefit that money can create,” said Fry. “That means good local jobs, Canadian businesses, stronger supply chains, and making sure more of the value we create stays here at home.”

The strategy would:

• Complete a comprehensive Economic Resilience and Local Procurement Strategy that prioritizes Vancouver and Canadian suppliers wherever legally and financially feasible.

• Reinstate Community Benefit Agreements on major development projects, supporting local hiring, local procurement, and social procurement.

• Prioritize B.C. mass timber and wood-frame construction in City projects and encourage its use in new public and private housing development, connecting the Greens’ housing plan directly to forestry workers, manufacturers, and communities across the province.

• Modernize City procurement to recognize Canadian value in technology, software, data, intellectual property, food, clean energy, and other sectors while maintaining competition and value for taxpayers.

The strategy builds on Fry’s February 2025 motion directing City staff to review Vancouver’s procurement practices and supplier exposure, identify opportunities to buy local and Canadian, and work with business organizations on a Buy Vancouver/Canadian campaign. Council approved the motion unanimously, but ABC later eliminated Vancouver’s mandatory Community Benefit Agreements policy, which had encouraged local hiring and procurement on major development projects.

“As we commit to build more housing and infrastructure, we can use that opportunity to support local jobs and industries, and keep investments circulating in our communities," Fry said. “Vancouver is B.C.’s biggest construction market. We can build housing faster with B.C. wood, support forestry jobs across the province, and use the City’s buying power to back Canadian businesses in every sector. When Vancouver invests, Vancouver and Canada should benefit.”