By Jacqueline M. St. Pierre, Local Journalism Initiative reporter, The Manitoulin Expositor NORTHERN ONTARIO — Bill 72, Ontario’s Buy Ontario Act arrives wrapped in the warm language of resilience, its promise simple and seductive: keep supply chains close, keep dollars at home, keep Ontario strong. But in the North, where distance is a fact of life and economies grow along different fault lines, some hear a colder echo beneath the rhetoric. The Anishnawbe Business Professional Association (ABPA) has filed a formal strategic review, warning that the Buy Ontario Act, 2025 risks systematically sidelining First Nations businesses. At issue are definitions that appear neutral on paper yet tilt the field toward southern, urban, non-Indigenous firms. Employee thresholds, permanent headquarters requirements and corporate governance criteria may read like standard procurement language. In…
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