David Graham, owner of Bursan Pins in Pickering, may lose most of his long-standing contracts to supply Canadian flag pins to the federal government once they are outsourced to Chinese companies.
The federal government spent $224,497 this year on Canadian flag pins that were made in China, passing over a frustrated pin manufacturer in Ontario headquartered just two blocks from Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's riding office.
Dave Graham, president of Bursan Pins in downtown Whitby, Ont., said he occasionally drops off samples of his red-and-white pins at Mr. Flaherty's office and can't believe Ottawa is opting for imports.
"If I was competing with another Canadian, I'd have no problem with that. But I have a real issue with our flag being made somewhere else," he said, adding that the government should be buying domestically made products to help the economy.
"Especially stuff that's representing our country," he said. "It's just ridiculous."
A contract of that size would have created about eight to 10 jobs at his company's manufacturing plant in Pickering, Ont., he said.
The small manufacturer has long supplied Canadian flag pins to the gift shop on Parliament Hill, and also sells pins to the departments of Veterans Affairs and Citizenship and Immigration. Mr. Graham said he has called Public Works, which manages government contracts, every few weeks over the past year to obtain information about the next big pin order from Canadian Heritage. When he called about two weeks ago, he said, no one mentioned that a contract had been awarded in February.
The job went to a numbered company based in L'Île-Perrot, Que., and the contract is posted on a federal government website. A separate website that tracks overseas shipments shows the company imported 375 kilograms of plastic flag pins from China through Tacoma, Wash., and on to L'Île-Perrot, on the western edge of Montreal.
New Democratic MPs have been asking about the contract in the House of Commons since last Thursday.
At first, Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore pointed to the all-party board that manages spending on Parliament Hill.
"Here are the facts of the situation," he said last Thursday when asked about Chinese-made pins. "Anything that is sold on Parliament Hill in the gift shop is the decision of the Speaker of the House of Commons on the guidance of the Board of Internal Economy."
However, the contract is to supply pins for the government and MPs, not the gift shop. The manager of the gift shop told The Globe and Mail yesterday that he has always bought his pins from the Whitby-based company, and his boutique has nothing to do with the government contract.
Mr. Moore offered a different response yesterday.
"The contract for the pins that are purchased by the government of Canada that are distributed to members of Parliament went to, wait for it, a Canadian company in Montreal," Mr. Moore said in response to a question from NDP MP Charlie Angus.
"This government has always stood up for this country, always stood up for our symbols, in spite of the noise from the NDP," he concluded, before flashing a wink and a smile across the aisle.
Mr. Moore did not mention in the House that the firm's pins are made in China. A spokeswoman for the minister later acknowledged that fact in an e-mail.
"The contract that was awarded to provide pins for MPs and the government was awarded through a fair, open and competitive process and represented the best value for taxpayers," said Mr. Moore's spokesperson, Deirdra McCracken. "The contract was awarded to a Canadian company, and that company does manufacture their pins in China."
After Question Period, Mr. Angus said he found the minister's answers frustrating.
"He refuses to take responsibility for what's happening in his department," said Mr. Angus. "Don't blame the staff of the parliamentary boutique."
Bill Curry