Wayne Gates, president of CAW Local 199 and Bill Murninghan, in charge of national research for the union, said Canada is unique among nations in not pushing buy-local policies.

The presentation to regional council on Thursday is the second time in six months that Gates has asked the region to get on the buy-local movement. He said Ontario is in the midst of a "manufacturing crisis," with thousands of decent paying jobs disappearing.

"With the economic crisis we face, it is even more important to spend Canadian tax dollars in Canada," he said.

Murninghan said governments in Canada spent $544 billion last year, representing a third of every dollar in the economy. Yet at the same time, the British Columbia government is buying ferries from Germany, the City of Toronto tried to buy transit vehicles made in China, and the federal government recently spent $14 million buying 30 buses made in Germany instead of from Canadian companies, he said.

Even Canada's uniforms worn at the Beijing Summer Olympics were made in China, he said.

Other countries in Europe, and the United States, have strict buy-local government policies, while countries such as Japan simply refuse to allow foreign companies to bid on things such as transit vehicle contracts, Murninghan said.

Contrary to what some people believe, international trade agreements do allow governments to put in place such buy-local policies, he said.

"It's absolutely within your rights," he said. "It's time for municipal officials to show leadership" by buying local and urging the provincial and federal governments to so the same.

The CAW is asking for policies such as requiring a minimum 50 per cent Canadian content and domestic final assembly for public transit vehicle purchases -- something the United States already requires -- and requiring that vendors identify Canadian content as part of the tendering process.

Regional politicians asked the region's purchasing department to report back on the issue.

"We'll give it the very substantial attention that it deserves," Regional Chairman Peter Partington said.