Amid the ongoing trade tensions with the U.S., the City of Montreal says they’re stepping up efforts to protect its local economy and businesses.
“The context of uncertainty,” said Luc Rabouin, the Executive Committee member responsible for economic development, as well as leader and mayoral candidate for Projet Montréal. “That is very troubling for entrepreneurs, but also for their staff, because we don’t know exactly what’s the future.”
At a press conference Thursday, Rabouin announced the City will invest $1.35 million to support seven concrete projects to help businesses conquer new markets and diversity their customer base.
The City says they want small- and medium-sized business to be able to rely less on a single market.
“We do it with our very rich partners ecosystem, with organizations that have expertise, networks locally and internationally, and they can support our entrepreneurs to face this challenge,” said Rabouin.
The new projects will begin as of Sept. 1.
The City is also working to reduce its dependence on U.S. companies at this time.
“We’ll have a few contracts that were coming from American companies, especially in IT, water infrastructures, and some sort of tools that we use at the City of Montreal,” said Alia Hassan-Cournol, Associate Councillor for Economic Development, Commerce, and Design at the City. “Those contracts, we know for sure that we can switch them for Canadian or Quebec companies and that process is being done right now. At the City of Montreal, we have to have some sort of processes that are quite long, sometimes to change the companies.”
Last year, 40 per cent of suppliers to the City were local. Over the last months, the number of contracts from Montreal and Quebec companies is now at 44 per cent.
City of Montreal officials at a press conference on Aug. 7, 2025, announcing funding for businesses impacted by U.S. trade tensions. (Jonathan Nudell, CityNews)