Canadians cry foul as Buy American policy hits home

[CHIMO]

OTTAWA–As the poster boy for Buy American, steel industry executive Dan DiMicco is a leader in the campaign that is keeping Canadian companies from bidding on highly valuable urban renewal projects south of the border. But his North Carolina-based corporate giant continues to sell millions of dollars of structural steel in Canada every year with no problem.

The advantage enjoyed by Nucor Corp. and other huge U.S. companies has Canadian manufacturers up in arms, saying they are being barred from bidding on contracts in the U.S. even as American companies with free access to the Canadian market are beating them out for business here at home.

"The whole purpose of your stimulus package, and it's the right purpose, is to stop the bleeding of jobs and create new jobs here in America, not overseas," DiMicco, whose company is the biggest steel producer in the U.S., said during an interview on CBS's 60 Minutes.

Besides Nucor, angry Canadian business people single out McWane Inc., a Birmingham, Ala.-based company with subsidiaries in Canada and other nations. A major supplier of pipe for Canadian construction projects, McWane is also in the forefront of the Buy American charge.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/usstimulus/article/725301--canadians-cry-foul-as-buy-american-policy-hits-home

Where are our politicians on this.

Maybe the Bloc will pick it up and promise to make other provinces part of Quebec?