‘Buy Local’ policy fraught with risks: CFIB
Posted Jan 26, 2012 05:55:34 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Buying local sounds good, but even the most vocal advocates for independent business are cautious about making it official city policy.
Regional councillors have voted not to have staff study the possibility of adding a buy-local provision to procurement policy, and local entrepreneurs say it was the right call.
In the same way that Canadian officials were upset by the “Buy American” program, Canadian Federation of Independent Business vice-president Leanne Hachey says other municipalities wouldn’t appreciate HRM implementing a “buy local” policy.
“If (HRM) was to do it, then we’d have to be prepared for municipalities in the province and outside the province to do the exact same thing,” she said. “That may end up hurting a whole bunch of businesses because we have lots of businesses that do business in different municipalities. I think we have to be aware that while somethign may sound like a good idea, it’s something that in principle people can support, there are unintended consequences that we may not be aware of.”
Coun. Tim Outhit voted against the motion, in part because of concerns that having to buy local could force the city into financially irresponsible deals.
He also argues that Nova Scotia needs to cast a wide net.
“My firm belief is that, particularly with our IT firms and our aerospace firms and whatnot, we have to be open to sell to the world,” he said. “We’re only a province of 900,000 in a world of seven billion, and our future for many companies is to sell to the world. If we start going around doing things that could be viewed as protectionist, then we have to worry about retaliation.”
Outhit says the timing of Tuesday’s motion seemed too much of an unconsidered reaction to the controversy over the e-voting contract, which was awarded to a Spanish company earlier this month.
