Fraser Valley cities consider ‘Buy Canadian’ call

As tariff threats prompt individual Canadians to buy Canadian-made products, Fraser Valley governments are considering how they may do the same. But they’re also facing some of the same difficulties residents encounter when they try to swear off US goods.

On Thursday, the Fraser Valley Regional District’s board will consider whether and how they might focus their own procurement processes north of the border. Other local municipal governments are doing the same to varying levels.

But they’re also wrestling with the cost, legal, and logistical implications of doing so.

Canada First complications

At Thursday’s FVRD board meeting, Electoral Area E director Patti MacAhonic is set to ask her colleagues to vote on a suite of actions to respond to cross-country calls to buy Canadian products in the wake of American trade threats.

MacAhonic has served notice of a motion to have FVRD staffers start an “urgent high-level review of capital projects, suppliers, procurement, and opportunities to Buy Local / Buy Canadian.”

MacAhonic also wants staff to initiate a “targeted Buy Local / Buy Canadian campaign” and to look at ways to minimize the financial implications of potential tariffs and supply chain disruptions.

MacAhonic’s motion follows a similar call by Harrison Hot Springs Coun. Mark Schweinbenz, who asked last week that the village create a “Canada First” procurement policy.

"I think the good people of Harrison Hot Springs want to know we've got their backs and we're spending the pennies and dollars on items as we look east-west throughout Canada to procure these things before we look north-south,” Schweinbenz was quoted as saying in the Agassiz-Harrison Observer.

The Current surveyed the five large municipalities in the valley about how they were responding to calls for more Canada-focused purchasing.

Mission did not respond to our request, while the Township of Langley only said it is reviewing the origins of the products it purchases.

Langley City, Chilliwack, and Abbotsford all provided more fulsome responses. Like the Township, each said they are assessing how their procurement processes could align with efforts to focus spending closer to home. But all three noted that they must follow trade agreements and provincial laws that regulate just how cities purchase goods and services.

Various trade deals put limits on municipalities' ability to reject offers or bids by foreign companies based solely on location. (Different efforts to promote local buying can encounter different legal obstacles. For instance, a “Buy BC” campaign could be in violation of a BC-Alberta trade deal that forbids governments from discriminating against companies based in their neighbouring province.)

Those trade deals and other rules limit the ability for BC municipalities to discriminate against companies based elsewhere. As politicians have noted when the idea of buying local has come up previously, there is a two-way benefit to allowing outside companies to do business locally.

Just as companies from other locales might win a contract in a Fraser Valley city, companies from the valley can bid on and receive contracts from governments in other provinces and countries. Abandoning such deals, whether informally or formally, could jeopardize the ability of local companies to obtain out-of-town work.

Avoiding out-of-town procurement and reducing competition can also come at a cost for taxpayers. Successful bids from distant companies tend to be cheaper than other quotes. Rigorously buying local can thus drive up costs for municipalities and the residents who fund them.

At the same time, 2025’s rapidly shifting international environment is forcing residents, academics, militaries, businesses, and governments to reconsider long-held truths. And shifts in local purchasing decisions may end up being a sign of the times, rather than a pivotal example of how international affairs can impact local life.

Abbotsford, Chilliwack, and Langley City all said they already spend most of their money close to home.

In 2023, Abbotsford said that it spent about 96% of its procurement dollars on Canadian suppliers. About one-fifth of that was spent on Abbotsford businesses, while the bulk of the rest went to other British Columbian companies. The city said 3.5% of the money it spent went to the United States.

“The city supports purchasing Canadian where reasonable, and per our Procurement Policy, prioritizes local Abbotsford suppliers for low-value purchases (less than $10,000) as best we can,” an Abbotsford spokesperson wrote.

A Chilliwack spokesperson estimated that “approximately 90% of our distributors and 95 to 98% of our service providers are Canadian companies.”

Langley City, meanwhile, said local purchases tend to make more fiscal and logistical sense.

“Many larger projects are awarded to local companies due to the ease and cost-effectiveness of mobilizing local workforces and equipment,” a city spokesperson said. “For smaller purchases, decisions are generally driven by price and convenience, with many day-to-day supplies—such as office supplies, furniture, tools, mechanical equipment, and vehicle maintenance—sourced locally.”

There are also logistical obstacles. In Harrison, Schweinbenz retracted his original call for a Canada First procurement policy after Mayor Fred Talen suggested doing so could send staff down a time-consuming rabbit hole and end up costing more money.

Financial realities dictated by new trade policies and uncertain conditions may end up dictating what happens next more than any municipal review of spending policies.

If and when American tariffs materialize, retaliatory tariffs on US goods may quickly follow, further incentivizing municipalities—and residents—to stick to goods and services from Canada.

Even now, when uncertainty still reigns, trade could still become less international—or at least less American. Uncertainty is often bad for business and the prospect of future high tariffs can be enough to dissuade foreign companies from bidding on contracts they may have previously sought.

Breaking contracts can be expensive, and the specter of international complications can be enough to prompt both companies and cities to see the value in sticking to their side of the border.