American furniture purchase shows confusion over Windsor's council's 'buy Canadian' request

City staff will bring back new buy Canadian policy options for council to mull over after taxpayers criticized a $285,000 order of American-made outdoor furniture purchased last month. 

Days before that purchase was approved, council directed staff to buy Canadian goods and services when it's financially and operationally reasonable to "support local and domestic businesses and workers."

Coun. Kieran McKenzie, who introduced the motion, is worried that might still be left for interpretation. 

"All of it was with the intention of really trying to dig into: where can we buy Canadian wherever possible?" said McKenzie during Monday's council meeting. 

Senior administration seemed to agree, telling council they need more clear direction on when to prioritize Canadian goods and services.

Windsor's chief administrative officer, Ray Mansour, said staff need to know if they're looking for "what's the best deal financially for the taxpayer or do we want to buy Canadian at all cost when it's available?"

Staff defend purchase of American-made furniture

The discussion about buying Canadian was reignited after taxpayers questioned councillors about a CBC News report outlining the city's staff purchase of American-made furniture for the outdoor ice rink at city hall. 

City engineer David Simpson told council that staff "fully followed council direction" by purchasing the furniture, adding that it came in under budget while highlighting the quality and superior warranty.

Councillor Fred Francis had previously suggested cancelling the purchase because of the backlash and was told that would cost the city a penalty of $90,000.

City staff have said that 10 suppliers were considered including Canadian companies.

But the city has not said what the cost difference would have been between those suppliers. 

Windsor has not made any changes to its procurement policy while the trade war with the United States continues but is considering options. 

Ontario bans U.S. companies from procurement

In March, the province restricted United States businesses from provincial procurements with certain exemptions.

That flows down to places like hospitals, public school boards, and universities but it does not apply to cities like Windsor.

"Ontario's procurement restriction policy does not apply to municipalities," said a spokesperson for Ontario's minister of public and business service delivery.

"Where possible, we encourage all partners to support made-in-Ontario and made-in-Canada businesses. In doing so, they may wish to follow Ontario's guidance."

Municipalities across Ontario like Vaughan, Toronto and Mississauga have adjusted their procurement policies following the lead of the provincial government.

Buy Canadian approach 'long overdue'

It's a move the head of Ontario's Public Buyers Association (OPBA) hopes continues long term.

"I think it's long overdue," said Victoria Mirlocca, chair of the OPBA and manager of procurement for the City of Mississauga. 

"This entire movement is great for our economy and as public sector entities, it just opens up an entire new world and how we can focus our procurements and be more strategic."

Typically, a city will accept bids on a project and award it to the lowest bidder that meets the criteria. 

But that's changed in cities like Mississauga.

"If a low bidder comes in and they are a U.S. supplier, but the second lowest bidder is non-U.S. and is within 20 per cent, we're gonna award to the non-U.S. supplier," said Mirlocca.

She said that requires clear definitions of what makes a company American. 

Provincially, that's a company headquartered in the United States with fewer than 250 full-time employees in Canada.

Mississauga is following a similar definition, said Mirlocca, while also opening up more projects to an invite-only style of procurement so staff can narrow in on Canadian businesses.

"We're building programs around that so that our contract managers and our project managers understand, you know, we need to attract local businesses," she said. 

Those thresholds have to be below $353,300 for goods and services and $8.8 million for construction to meet the Canada Free Trade Agreement that applies to trade between Canada and European states.

There's also language in both Mississauga's and Ontario's policy changes that allow for staff to purchase goods and services from the United States if there's no alternative.

Mitigate tariffs or support local companies?

Where those policy shifts are aimed at building up Canadian procurement, Windsor's approach has been primarily about mitigating counter-tariffs and getting the best value. 

"If something's financial advantageous, we're sort of going with it, in accordance with the purchasing bylaw," said the city's acting commissioner of human and health service Dana Paladino at Monday's council meeting. 

"But if council's direction is that it doesn't matter if it's advantageous, this is something that we need to consider, then we need to bring that back."

Mayor Drew Dilkens believes the deal for the American-made outdoor furniture was "in the best interest of the taxpayer."

He said council can tell staff to build conditions into tenders that require specific levels of Canadian content but that could lead to a shift in costs. 

"You don't know whether if you did that you're paying 20 per cent more, 10 per cent more, five per cent more? You don't know unless you actually put it in there and maybe do a comparison saying 'All Canadian goods and then next comparable price," said Dilkens.

The rest of council supported councillor McKenzie's ask for staff to bring back alternative procurement policy options.

"I think if it's a status quo sort of thing, then I think we land back here in this discussion again. I don't know if we all want that," said McKenzie.