Burlington’s future infrastructure and improvement projects seem to be safe in the face of tariffs – at least for the time being.
At a Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday, April 7, council members and city staff discussed the ongoing threat of tariffs from the United States, as well as how future projects may be impacted by sidestepping American vendors. A proposed bylaw would direct the city to prioritize Canadian products and services.
“We are not aware of any impact to currency contracts with this change to our bylaw,” Craig Millar, the city’s chief financial officer said. “Having said that, we are still monitoring, still learning as we are moving along.”
An amendment to the bylaw suggests allowing invitational bidding for projects that cost up to $133,800, the minimum threshold set by the Canadian Free Trade Agreement. Millar said that dollar amount will not have any impact yet on the city’s current projects.
However, the amendment and proposed bylaw do not eliminate council from seeking non-Canadian vendors or solutions, but does prioritize them. Instead, if no Canadian companies choose to bid on projects, European or Asian vendors are allowed to be sought.
“At this threshold of $133,800, we will not see too many European companies at that level,” Millar said.
Millar said if no locals or Canadian businesses wish to take on a project, council has the flexibility to expand the scope of where they look.
So far, there are no examples of services or products that the city owns or uses having to be switched from U.S. suppliers. The topic pivoted from where goods are coming from for the city, to how prepared the city can be to act on new getting to work. The proposed amendment reads “Direct the Commissioner of Public Works to report back to Committee of the Whole on May 12, with a list of identified shovel-ready infrastructure projects that could be quickly advanced if federal and/or provincial stimulus programs are announced.”
Ward 5 councillor Paul Sharman suggested not only so-called shovel ready projects need to be identified in the report.
“It can just read a list of project that can be advanced, it doesn’t need to be quickly,” he said. “The difference is we might want to advance the engineering, and all other jobs, that would help move this forward.”
Sharman’s idea was rejected, though council members said if funding from the other levels of government became available to help with further development projects, that it could ideally be put to use within 12-24 months.
If money did come from the provincial and federal governments, it would not be the first time Burlington received help during a financial crisis.
“We heard this out of the gate when the tariff task force was announced, in 2008 and through COVID, stimulus packages were offered by both the provincial and federal governments to assist the economy and get people through some tough times,” Ward 1 councillor Kelvil Galbraith said. “We can see with the tariffs that are being advanced and the market crashing that tough times are certainly here, or will be ahead. We hope that the upper levels of government step in and create some stimulus packages, we just want to be ready to receive them.”
The bylaw will be voted on at council's on Tuesday, April 15.
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