Cbc News: City Hall

cbc news: Not about handouts' "It not about handouts, it about partnerships," Tory said. "Partnerships that I think will stand the test of time, because people in these diverse businesses who don't think they have a chance will have a chance to show what they can do, and will do so well that they will be hired again and again and again." Margaret Eaton, executive director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council, called the initiative "a terrific boon" in her comments to CBC News. "There are many newcomer businesspeople who would've felt there was no way in to city hall, according to CBC. It can be a real monolith," she said. "They've opened the door." However, she said there could be a steep learning curve at city hall. By 2018, the city is promising to have hard-and-fast rules in place that will mean companies must be able to prove their workforces or sub-contractors are diverse before they can bid on city projects worth more than $5 million, Mayor John Tory said Wednesday. Margaret Eaton, the executive director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council, called the city plan to award a quarter of its contracts to diverse companies "a terrific first step." "Hearts and minds need to be changed at the city among people who are doing the procuring, rather than using your standard list of suppliers" she said. That company was hired by the much larger engineering firm Black and Veatch earlier this year to do its printing. As an example of how contracts could be awarded in the future, the mayor held his news conference Wednesday at the Aboriginal Printing Corporation, a storefront operation near Union Station. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.