Council votes down ‘Buy local’ policy
Posted Jan 25, 2012 05:53:10 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Regional council has decided that “buying local” is a good idea, but shouldn’t be a matter of policy for municipal procurement.
Coun. Dawn Sloane (Halifax-Downtown) tabled a motionTuesday asking staff to study the impact of a “buy local” rule for goods and services.
Council created some backlash earlier this month when it voted to award a contract for online voting services to a Spanish company, instead of a Dartmouth firm.
But the “buy local” idea encountered some stiff opposition, as several councillors pointed out that supporting local business isn’t always the most financially responsible choice.
“That electronic voting, we had a very lengthy discussion and the local company was 331,000 dollars more,” said Coun. Linda Mosher. “You take 10 of those and there’s three million. Where’s it gonna stop?”
Coun. Tim Outhit (Bedford) said regional council should not do anything that could scare off new business or investors.
“We have got to be able to sell to the world,” “We have 400,000 people in a province of 900,000 people, which is minute compared to the seven billion people in the world that our businesses need to sell to, and I am very very worried that this is not sending the right message.”
The motion was defeated after about 15 minutes of debate.
