HALDIMAND—Haldimand County staff are predicting a loss of $4.66 million across four vital categories as a result of tariff impacts from the ongoing US-Canada trade war that a County report referred to as “highly fluid and unpredictable.”
The four sectors, as defined by a report issued by Oxford Economics and commissioned by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), are non-residential buildings, transportation, environmental services, and vehicles.
“As Council’s well aware, this is a very fluid and ongoing topic at this point. We spent a lot of time analyzing it and keeping up to date with this ever-changing environment,” said Financial and Data Services General Manager, Mark Merritt. “Ultimately, what we’re really looking at with this report is the ability to procure locally where we can, and realistically avoid our ties to the US as much as possible, without violating some of our other international trade agreements at the same time.”
County staff completed an analysis about the potential financial impacts of the US tariffs and Canada’s reciprocal tariffs on current capital expenditures, both 2024 and 2025.
Based on remaining open commitments from the 2024 budget and new commitments contained in the 2025 budget, staff are predicting a loss of $2.37 million in the environmental services category, $1.23 million under vehicles, $450,000 in transportation, and $610,000 in non-residential buildings.
With a $184 million overall budget, the projected impact on the County’s overall budget is 2.5% on goods procured by Haldimand for its various projects and services.
While Haldimand cannot adopt a strictly ‘buy Canadian’ policy due to existing trade agreements, Merritt noted that currently, Haldimand does procure most of their goods locally.
“The challenge in some cases being what does locally mean. A lot of the inputs our local businesses use come from the states, a lot of them are subsidiaries of the States, etc.,” he said.
Under the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement, governments can buy items directly from a supplier of choice up to a set amount ($133,800 for goods and services, $334,400 for construction), but must initiate a public bidding process for items priced higher. Those numbers are higher under the Canadian European Trade Agreement ($353,300 for goods and services, $8.8 million for construction).
Merritt said his department is working with Corporate and Social Services Manager Megan Jamieson on a procurement policy that would avoid the US wherever possible. Doing so requires detailed discussions with all suppliers providing products to Haldimand County.
“There are certain goods that are very challenging, because our economies are intricately related, particularly fire trucks, as an example. Some of the electronics, a lot of our water/wastewater infrastructure, comes from the States,” said Merritt.
He continued, “It may mean procuring outside the US as well where we can’t get it locally.”
Additionally, Merritt said the County is encouraging various industries and businesses within Haldimand to follow suit.
“There’s an opportunity here to diversify our production practices, both for the County and for Ontario and Canada as a whole. There might be some silver lining of this whole fiasco, if you will, on the horizon,” he said.
Councillor Dan Lawrence commented, “We have to buy as local as we can…. Starting here in Haldimand County and moving out, stopping at the 49th parallel, at the border with the US as much as possible. What’s happened south of the border is chaos and is pretty much out of our hands … but whatever we can do on our behalf, especially for our local economy, they depend on it.”
Mayor Shelley Ann Bentley concurred, “We’re very creative in Haldimand County, so I’m hoping that some of the businesses pick up on this, and perhaps start making what we need to be making here in Canada instead of outsourcing to the US.”
The County staff report concluded, “During this period of uncertainty, staff are preparing by taking a considered, measured approach that assesses the opportunities, options, and risks of various procurement strategies based on information currently available. Discussions with our municipal counterparts continue, with a view to establishing a common, unified approach. Given the potential material, financial, and economic consequences, Haldimand County, along with other municipalities, will need to look to advocate for support, including financial assistance, from the Province and our Federal government.”
