Windsor city council to consider 'Buy Canadian' procurement policy

The City of Windsor will consider a motion at a meeting Apr. 14 to prioritize Canadian-made goods and services in its procurement process.

The motion, to be introduced by Coun. Kieran McKenzie, calls upon the federal and provincial governments to remove any impediments to municipalities favouring Canadian companies in their purchasing decisions.

McKenzie began discussing the issue last November, he said, with colleagues from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO).

"If you look at the total spend and procurement dollars for goods and services, that number gets into … almost $10 billion per year … across all of Ontario," he said.

"If you took that whole envelope of procurement from municipalities and just said, 'No. None of it is going to the United States,' I think that that represents a certain amount of leverage that could help the … federal government and the province in their discussions with … their counterparts in the United States."

U.S. President Donald Trump began warning of tariffs in November, and promised sweeping 25-per-cent tariffs against Canadian and Mexican imports during his first day in office.

Constant changes to tariff regime

After a one-month delay, he followed through on March 4 — applying a lower, 10 per cent tariff, on Canadian energy imports — only to pause a number of the measures over the subsequent two days.

Last week, he imposed 25 per cent tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.

McKenzie said municipal procurement policies typically have to respect Canada's trade agreements, which often prohibit favouring one nation's goods over others.

City of Windsor staff warned officials in 2020 that it risked running afoul of such agreements if it honoured a request from the union representing the city's auto workers to commit to purchasing locally-assembled Chrysler Pacificas for its fleet.

But McKenzie said he no longer believes Canadian cities owe that duty to the United States.

"My view is Mr. Trump has essentially voided any and all obligations that we have to respect the trade agreements that are currently in place with the United States, and as a result, we have every opportunity to proceed as we see fit with respect to procurement," McKenzie said. 

"Having said that, our administration has articulated publicly already that they do have some concerns in that regard. We'll have that conversation at the council table."

But Coun. Gary Kaschak told CBC in February that he too questioned the need to obey the Canada U.S. Mexico free trade agreement when Trump is not.  

"I'm wondering if it's a procurement free for all here moving forward," he said. 

But trade agreements aren't the only potential barrier to buying Canadian, said Victoria Mirlocca, the chair of the Ontario Public Buyers Association.

There's also cost and availability.

"Canada, while it's a large country, maybe they don't have expertise that is in the United States or that is in the European Union," she said.

"Making sure we have that competition pool keeps suppliers honest as well. So making sure that there's always that competitive pricing."

Asked if the city had spoken with the province about increasing funding to offset possible higher costs associated with domestic procurement, McKenzie said the work is being carried out by AMO.

"We've gone through already some pretty significant inflationary periods in recent times, and there have been some measures of response that we've seen from the province to help offset some of those additional costs," he said.

"This will be another iteration of that. I certainly hope that the province would respond in a way that would help to soften the blow."

In addition to endorsing a buy Canadian policy, McKenzie's motion also restates the city's opposition to the American tariffs and its support for free and fair trade.

"The City of Windsor urges both the Canadian and United States governments to engage in constructive dialogue to resolve trade disputes and strengthen bilateral trade relationships, with a particular focus on protecting the automotive sector and its workers;" the motion reads.