Erie County Aiming to Recruit More Canadian Subsidiaries

Canada is already the No. 1 international trade partner for New York, but officials say there is plenty more that can be done to strengthen that relationship.

That’s why Erie County is poised to approve a joint initiative with the state to recruit companies to open U.S. branches in Western New York.

The $250,000 project will rely on PSD Global, a Canadian economic development consulting firm, to identify Canadian companies that could locate U.S.-based subsidiaries in Western New York, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said today at City & State’s New York-Canada Summit in Buffalo. 

The county, working with local partners, has already had some initial success on this front with companies like TLC Pet Food, Green Tower Industries and Welded Tube, a steel manufacturer. But Poloncarz said that having an operation on the ground in Canada would help efforts to reach a relatively untapped market.

“When I went up to Toronto last year to visit the consul general’s office, I asked how many public officials have been in your office in the last couple of years to actually sell their communities to the economic market juggernaut that Ontario is,” Poloncarz said. “And they said there were three: Rick Snyder of Michigan, Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts and there was Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.”

Poloncarz said that major business activity in Toronto and southern Ontario is a natural target for growth, given the geographic proximity and the economic and cultural bonds already in place. But instead of trying to poach Canadian companies to move to Erie County, the aim is to persuade them to open or relocate U.S.-based subsidiaries in Western New York, just a short trip away.

“In some ways we in Western New York have more in common with our friends in southern Ontario and Toronto than we sometimes do with our friends in New York City,” Poloncarz said. “What we’ve been doing lately is to figure out how we can grow both sides of the border by capitalizing on what is truly one of the largest metropolitan regions in North America.”

The Erie County Legislature was set to vote on the project Thursday afternoon. The $250,000 initiative is a joint effort between the state, which will contribute $150,000, and Erie County, which is contributing $100,000. The contract would last for one year initially, and could be renewed.