What started as a trumped-up dispute over alleged cross-border drug smuggling and illegal migration quickly turned into a threatened tariff war that then escalated into widespread calls by Canadian politicians to ban US suppliers from bidding on Canadian government contracts. However, notwithstanding Trump’s tariff threats, Canada’s federal, provincial and local politicians should avoid playing politics with procurement since a ban on US suppliers would cause serious damage to Canadian government operations and place unnecessary risks on critical public services.
Don’t Drag Public Procurement into the Trade War
Rather than engaging in blind retaliation against Trump’s tariff threats, Canadian politicians should hold the line on government procurement and declare it a “no-fly zone” free from political interference since procurement sanctions will harm Canada more than they will harm US suppliers.
For example, on the federal front, how will our new multi-billion-dollar “made-in-Canada” naval ships ever set sail if we ban the US-made command and control systems needed to navigate those vessels?
Even if federal politicians publicly call for a ban on US suppliers, they will be forced to cave behind closed doors and grant exemptions once they realize how US supplies are critical to the delivery of many major federal government contracts. In fact, months after Trump first made his tariff threats, Canada’s federal government admitted that they were still trying to collect data to determine how many US suppliers they rely on to support Canadian government operations. The federal government should figure this out before blindly retaliating against Trump with threats they can’t back up.
The same holds true at the provincial level. How would Canada benefit from banning US surgical equipment from Canadian hospitals? While those sanctions would hurt US suppliers, Canadians would immediately pay a far higher price through longer wait times when critical surgeries are cancelled due to supply shortages. Notwithstanding their bold public pronouncements, behind closed doors provincial politicians will be forced to cave and accept US supplies in many critical areas since doing otherwise would be irrational and self-destructive.
Turning to the municipal sector, will the Canadian mayors who back a US supplier ban be willing to put the lives of their local constituents at unnecessary risk by banning the US equipment and software required to run many local 911 systems? Of course not. Unless municipal decision-makers abandon all reason in a reckless fit of blind retaliation, critical municipal systems that rely on US suppliers will out of necessity be exempt from any US supplier ban.
Finally, will elected school board officials be prepared to leave students stranded when local school bus operators are banned from driving US-made buses or at risk in unsafe vehicles when those buses can no longer be properly maintained with spare parts from their US manufacturers? No, those school board officials will be forced to cave and add another exemption to Canada’s fake US supplier ban.
As these obvious examples illustrate, an arbitrary ban on US suppliers is not a credible threat since it would cause serious disruptions to public sector operations in many critical areas of public service delivery across Canada and in some situations put lives at risk.
Stay in Your Lane
Given the unintended consequences of tinkering with the government tendering system, Canadian politicians need to stay in their lanes and keep their hands off public procurement.
Our federal politicians should focus on resolving the current tariff dispute without unnecessarily escalating the scope of the trade war by dragging government procurement into the discussion since their threats of banning US suppliers lack credibility and only serve to incite an already tense situation.
The same goes for provincial politicians. Rather than escalating the trade war by threatening US supplier bans and using the tariff dispute as cover for protectionist provincial schemes that discriminate against out-of-province Canadian suppliers, Canada’s premiers should follow through on their recent “Team Canada” commitment to remove internal trade barriers within Canada.
Finally, local politicians on municipal councils and school boards should focus on local services to their communities. They should not be inserting themselves into an international trade dispute and using that dispute as a pretext for interfering in local government contract awards.
In conclusion, long after Trump backs down from his irrational tariff threats, we will still have a chronically under-resourced government procurement system. Hopefully the politicians who were so keen on using public procurement as a fake bargaining chip during this trumped-up trade war will have the same level of interest in supporting proper procurement practices once this manufactured crisis is over.
