Town of The Blue Mountains staff had a good-news-bad-news verbal report for council about the impacts of tariffs.
The good news – most of the goods the town buys are already Canadian. The bad news – the local economy is vulnerable to major economic disruptions that could arise from the ill-advised pursuit of tariffs by the American government.
“It’s a changing situation, day by day, hour by hour,” Tim Hendry, the town’s director of strategic initiatives, told council on March 11. “We’re listening. We’re planning. We will act accordingly.”
Hendry said town staff have been meeting with local businesses with a focus on the tourism, agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
“There is a significant amount of concern in the community,” Hendry said.
He noted there are supply chain concerns for manufacturers, tourism operators are worried about a loss of American visitors and the potential tariffs are a real threat to agricultural operations.
Hendry said a detailed report about the town’s response to the tariffs would soon come to council and would focus on advocacy and engagement.
“Let’s gather the information, take time to build a plan and act,” he said.
Hendry also praised the efforts Grey County has made to unite local municipalities and support businesses in response to the threat of American tariffs.
On the procurement side of the issue, town staff told council most of what the town purchases is already Canadian-based and staff estimated that more than 90 per cent of purchases the town makes are Canadian goods.
“Generally, we don’t procure a huge amount of goods from the US,” said Acting CAO Adam Smith.
Monica Quinlan, the town’s director of finance, said the town does purchase software from American companies, but usually through a Canadian company. She also noted large purchases like a fire truck would see the chassis for the vehicle built in the US with the remainder assembled in Ontario.
Quinlan said there are also rules around procurement that might preclude the town from adopting a “buy only Canadian” policy. She said they would judge those situations on a case-by-case basis.
“For now, we can rest assured that what we do in terms of procurement is largely Canadian,” she said.
Coun. June Porter said the immediate response from the public to the tariff situation has been impressive.
“It’s quite amazing the shift people have instinctively made,” said Porter, noting that the shift in behaviour Canadians have shown could become permanent the longer the situation goes on.
Coun. Shawn McKinlay praised town staff for their “measured and mature” response to the situation.
“Let’s be the adults in the room,” said McKinlay.