City council in Williams Lake look to continue to direct staff to pause capital purchases from the United States until further notice, with some leeway for operational purchases.
Discussion was lively at the committee of the whole meeting at city hall on March 11, as staff tried to sort out the details in terms of implications for operations and moving forward on the budget in light of a new resolution.
Coun. Scott Nelson put forward a motion to go against staff's advice provided in a report and instead take an immediate harder line against purchasing goods from the United States, even if bought through Canadian companies.
While all council members present were in favour of expressing support for federal and provincial efforts to respond to U.S. tariffs, and voted to continue supporting the city's Made in Canada campaign, a motion by Nelson to halt capital purchases out of the United States was a point of contention.
Nelson recommended the city put on hold major capital purchases out of the United States until the tariff issue is resolved and further guidance is given to the city by the province and the federal government.
Nelson said he wanted staff to halt these purchases as a sign of support for provincial and federal efforts in the trade war, even if it comes at a cost to services, expressing his belief it was necessary to try to halt the negative impacts to the economy.
"I can't tell you the ripple effects, because it's going to be so extreme it's scary," he said, giving dire possible impacts of tariffs on the economy.
"If we don't look after what's in front of us, we simply won't have a community," he said.
Some fellow councillors called for a more measured approach, but ultimately Nelson had the votes to pass his motion, though with an amendment brought forward by Coun. Jazmyn Lyons to allow staff to make necessary purchases for operational purposes. The motion and amendment will still need to be passed at a regular meeting to be adopted.
Coun. Angie Delainey expressed her concerns the city could be put at risk of liability and service interruptions if council were to interfere with operations and said being too extreme could slow down the economy locally for those who would otherwise be bidding on jobs for the city.
"I think we're putting our business operations at risk and we're being reactionary," she said, pushing for a more measured approach to take action instead once the city gets direction from the provincial or federal governments.
Staff said they would need more direction on specifics on carrying out the motion.
"Council has to see why staff is so confused with this, because this started out as a resolution for major capital," said Gary Muraca, chief administrative officer for the city, as the discussion began to direct staff regarding purchasing pens and garbage bins.
"It could be a disruption to service, it could change how we do things," said Muraca, noting the point of early budgetary approval was for staff to get the best prices possible on some of their planned purchases, but this could put a halt to the bid process.
"This is going to be a very long drawn out thing if we start to getting right into everything we do as operations," said Muraca, who was calling in remotely en route to a vacation.
Staff gave the example of the city's residential curbside garbage bins. The city has to replace about 100 new bins each year due to damage and while the city purchases the bins from a Canadian supplier, they are made in the United States.
Matt Sutherland, public works manager for the city, asked council whether they would support purchasing existing stock from Canadian companies, expressing concern not purchasing those items could then hurt Canadian businesses.
Both Nelson and Coun. Sheila Boehm said no matter the cost or service interruption, they want the city to not purchase items made in the U.S.
"I just think we have to do as much as we can right away and be as reactionary as we can," said Boehm, adding later if it is $5, $10, $20 more per garbage bin, she is happy to do so.
"What I know is that we need to stay banded together," said Nelson, expressing his belief President Trump plans to move all manufacturing to the U.S., including lumber manufacturing.
"I'll walk 10 extra miles to buy that head of lettuce if it's out of Mexico or it's out of Canada," he said.
"This is a political decision," he said, adding he hoped it would lead to other municipalities falling in line as well.
Sutherland said equipment is currently operational, so the direction won't immediately impact services. The city did have some large purchases planned for this year to replace aging equipment, including one sander dump truck and two asphalt machines.
"I'm not in support of creating more burden to the taxpayer," said Delainey, who acknowledged taxpayers are already potentially going to face challenges related to rising costs due to tariffs.
"And I don't want to put staff in a situation where they're not able to do the work and we have service interruptions," she said, noting staff would have to spend so much time as a result of this direction, they would therefore be prevented from completing other work.
"I just think logically, it's not a smart move," she said, instead voicing her support for the staff's recommendation provided in the report for the city to "adopt and make changes to its procurement practices only after federal and provincial guidance regarding Canadian public procurement to local governments is received, or seek senior levels of guidance and legal advice on tariffs."
Staff indicated it could take over a year to replace an asphalt machine.
"If that does go down, you won't be filling potholes in our town for a considerable amount of time," said Gary Muraca, chief administrative officer for the city.
Acknowledging the tariff situation puts the city between a rock and a hard place, Coun. Jazmyn Lyons said she supported staff's recommendation, but then eventually voted with Nelson in his motion to hold all capital purchases and adding a friendly amendment to soften the burden on staff.
Staff at city hall had advised council to wait on adopting any changes to the city's purchasing practices in their report brought forward at the committee meeting.
The report was provided after a request from council sought insight into the implications for the city's budget if staff were to not to purchase any goods or services from the U.S.
Jenni Hoyer, procurement and asset management coordinator for the city, advised the council they should wait until federal and provincial government guidelines were received regarding Canadian public procurement. Without direction from the higher levels of government, the city puts itself at risk in light of trade agreements.
According to the report, in the course of a year, the city purchases over $28 million worth of goods and services, some of which come from the U.S., though usually purchased through a Canadian business.
In her report, Hoyer said the city had planned 69 larger-purchase projects in 2024, but they only completed 34 of those, spending about $3.9 million.
Breaking down their spending on these more expensive projects, 18 of those worth about $1 million were of Canadian origin, 15 projects worth about $1.5 million were of U.S. origin and one project was of mixed origin, with a Canadian company using U.S.-made water saddles for road rehabilitation.
Nelson, Boehm and Lyons voted in favour of Nelson's motion to pause purchasing goods from the United States, Deputy Mayor Michael Moses and Delainey voted against.
Nelson, Boehm, Lyons and Moses all voted in favour of Lyons' amendment to give staff flexibility in operational purchases, when Canadian-made is not available. Delainey voted against.
Mayor Surinderpal Rathor and Coun. Joan Flaspohler were not at the meeting.
Rathor, is currently away attending the Local Government Learning Academy Leadership Forum. After the meeting, Rathor said he supports the team Canada approach, but also acknowledges there may be a need for some essential items the city needs and doesn't want to impede staff in doing their jobs. He emphasized the importance of maintaining safety for the city.
The motion will now be brought forward to a regular council meeting in order to be adopted.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a response from Mayor Rathor.
