The potential U.S.-Canada trade war continued to be a hot topic for Prince George city council at its Monday, Feb. 3 meeting, with a motion asking for administration to prepare a report on the city’s procurement practices.
The talk about the impact of the U.S. President Donald Trump’s threatened 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s 25 per cent counter-tariffs on American goods started during a discussion about the city borrowing money for capital projects.
Earlier that same day, Trump announced that Canada and Mexico would receive 30-day reprieves from the tariffs after both countries reiterated prior commitments to improve border security.
Mayor Simon Yu asked staff whether it would be prudent to speak with the provincial government about whether there are any available procurement programs for Canadian-built vehicles should tariffs be placed on American-built ones.
City manager Walter Babicz referenced Premier David Eby’s plans to direct provincial procurement away from American vendors in response to the tariffs before they were also put on hold after the pause.
“That, of course, is now unclear based on the postponement of the tariffs,” Babicz said. “But we can certainly look into that and monitor what direction the province is going in and bring any information that is relevant back to council.”
Coun. Garth Frizzell said when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, the city was able to identify $25.9 million worth of capital projects to put on hold. With an uncertain economic future due to the potential Canada-U.S. trade war, Frizzell said Prince George might need to develop a revised capital plan in short order.
In such a scenario, Babicz said, staff would assess the priority of its planned capital projects as well as what financial commitments have already been made.
“With council’s approval of the budget in principle, work has already commenced on some projects,” Babicz said. “Depending on what commitments, what projects have already started, that would be a factor as well, but we would look at it all in totality and return to council with options and recommendations if so needed.”
Later in the meeting, council discussed a letter sent to municipalities in BC by Chris Gardner, president and CEO of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association. The same letter was received by the board of directors for the Fraser-Fort George Regional District
The letter spoke of the importance for municipalities to “commit to open, fair and transparent procurement practices across all domains of local and regional government activity.”
Coun. Kyle Sampson put forward a motion directing staff to prepare a report on how the city can improve its procurement practices, including consideration of social procurement practices and how to make sure the practices are beneficial to the local economy.
Sampson asked that, if possible, staff include information on what measures the city can do to respond to national and global issues like potential tariffs and whether bids from American vendors can be limited.
Frizzell said that the part of Sampson’s motion asking about making sure procurement benefited the local economy would also make sure it’s beneficial to Canadian interests as well. He said after Russia invaded Ukraine, council passed a motion limiting contracts from Russian interests that is still in place.
Yu said maybe staff could bring back a high-level report before delving too deep into the subject
Babicz said the time and resources needed to fulfill the motion as presented “would be significant” as it would entail a review of the city’s entire procurement system though he couldn’t present an exact timeline.
He suggested a “lunch and learn” for council session might be an appropriate way to start council’s education about procurement policy, following up on what resources and time would be needed to fulfill a complete review later.
The city manager described “social procurement” at a high level as procurement that requires proponents bidding on contracts to outline the local benefits on employment or other factors should their bid be successful.
Sampson’s motion passed by a margin of four to three. Yu and councillors Cori Ramsay, Susan Scott and Tim Bennett voted in favour while councillors Ron Polillo, Trudy Klassen and Frizzell voted against. Coun. Brian Skakun was absent from the meeting.
The wording of the motion was as follows:
“That council directs administration to prepare a report highlighting opportunities to improve the City of Prince George's procurement practices, with considerations given to the correspondence dated January 7, 2025 from the ICBA, as well as the emerging ‘social procurement’ practices being adopted by some municipalities, and that the report include recommendations to ensure procurement policies remain open, competitive, transparent, and most importantly that are beneficial to the local economy.”
However, the wording won’t be final until the meeting minutes are adopted at the next council meeting on Monday, Feb. 24.
