Essex County goes with ‘buy Canadian’ procurement policy

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Essex County has enacted a “buy Canadian” purchasing policy to address U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods.

The policy, unanimously approved by Essex councillors May 7, complies with a host of trade agreements Canada has with other countries. For instance, the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement “prevents discrimination against suppliers from the U.S. and Mexico, requiring fair and open competition,” according to a report by Melissa Ryan, director of financial services and county treasurer. 

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Councillors asked county administration in February to come up with a workable buy-Canadian procurement policy, which was ultimately modelled on the government of Ontario’s plan. 

“The intent is to strengthen support for Canadian businesses, especially those right here in our community, while staying within the boundaries of legislation and aligning with Ontario’s broader public sector response to international trade dynamics,” Ryan told councillors.

The policy approved by councillors also includes an escalation clause that allows those who bid on county contracts to recoup costs of tariffs if they increase after the bidding process closes. 

The United States has placed, removed and adjusted import tariffs repeatedly under President Donald Trump.

Amherstburg Mayor Michael Prue said he was “100 per cent behind this.”

But Prue wants to avoid what recently happened in Windsor. He feels the city’s recent purchase of about $286,000 in outdoor furniture from two American companies — nine days after city council approved a buy-Canadian policy — goes against the spirit of councillors’ wishes.

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“I don’t want to embarrass the City of Windsor,” said Prue. “But I want to make sure everything will come back to our council and we will not find ourselves in a similar position.”

In April, Windsor CAO Joe Mancina, who has since retired, approved the purchase of U.S. seasonal outdoor furniture for the outdoor ice rink at city hall.

City administration has said it followed Windsor’s purchasing bylaw “verbatim.” 

The Essex buy-Canadian policy addresses goods and services that cost less than $353,300 and  less than $8.8 million for construction – the thresholds set out in the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). 

In crafting the policy, administration had to determine a clear definition of Canadian content while not violating the many trade agreements Canada has with other countries and the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement. 

The county ultimately decided to follow the province’s rules, which do not apply to municipalities. 

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Ontario’s buy-Canadian policy “strikes an appropriate balance between promoting Canadian content and maintaining an efficient and accessible bidding process,” Ryan wrote in a report to county council. 

The policy “recognizes that while prioritizing Canadian goods and services is important, there may be circumstances where Canadian options are unavailable. In such cases, sourcing from allied international trade partners is considered acceptable,” Ryan’s report says. 

The county enshrined its buy-Canadian policy in an amendment to its procurement bylaw. 

Ryan said the county bylaw “does exclude U.S.” bidders but that the county doesn’t have a lot of American bidders on construction projects. U.S. procurement is often focused on software, hardware and some pieces of ambulance equipment, she said. “But those are situations where there’s no other option.”

The buy-Canadian policy does not contain a high-risk for the county, said Ryan.

 bamacleod@postmedia.com

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