Latest news with #KieranMcKenzie
CBC
16-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
American-furniture purchase shows confusion over Windsor's council's 'buy Canadian' request
City staff will bring back new buy Canadian policy options for council to mull over after taxpayers criticized a $285,000 order of American-made outdoor furniture purchased last month. Days before that purchase was approved, council directed staff to buy Canadian goods and services when its financially and operationally reasonable to "support local and domestic businesses and workers." Councillor Kieran McKenzie, who introduced the motion, is worried that might still be left for interpretation. "All of it was with the intention of really trying to dig into: where can we buy Canadian wherever possible?" said McKenzie during Monday's council meeting. Senior administration seemed to agree, telling council they need more clear direction on when to prioritize Canadian goods and services. Windsor's Chief Administrative Officer Ray Mansour said staff need to know if they're looking for "what's the best deal financially for the taxpayer or do we want to buy Canadian at all cost when it's available?" Staff defend purchase of American-made furniture The discussion about buying Canadian was reignited after taxpayers questioned councillors about a CBC News report outlining city's staff purchase of American-made furniture for the outdoor ice rink at city hall. City engineer David Simpson told council that staff "fully followed council direction" by purchasing the furniture, adding that it came in under budget while highlighting the quality and superior warranty. Councillor Fred Francis had previously suggested cancelling the purchase because of the backlash and was told that would cost the city a penalty of $90,000. City staff have said that 10 suppliers were considered including Canadian companies. But the city has not said what the cost difference would have been between those suppliers. Windsor has not made any changes to its procurement policy while the trade war with the United States continues but is considering options. Ontario bans U.S. companies from procurement In March, the province restricted United States businesses from provincial procurements with certain exemptions. That flows down to places like hospitals, public school boards, and universities but it does not apply to cities like Windsor. "Ontario's Procurement Restriction Policy does not apply to municipalities," said a spokesperson for Ontario's minister of public and business service delivery. "Where possible we encourage all partners to support made-in-Ontario and made-in-Canada businesses. In doing so, they may wish to follow Ontario's guidance." Municipalities across Ontario like Vaughan, Toronto and Mississauga have adjusted their procurement polices follwoing the lead of the provincial government. Buy Canadian approach 'long overdue' It's a move that the head of Ontario's Public Buyers Association (OPBA) hopes continues long term. "I think it's long overdue," said Victoria Mirlocca, chair of the OPBA and manager of procurement for the City of Mississauga. "This entire movement is great for our economy and as public sector entities, it just opens up an entire new world and how we can focus our procurements and be more strategic." Typically, a city will accept bids on a project and award it to the lowest bidder that meets the criteria. But that's changed in cities like Mississauga. "If a low bidder comes in and they are a US supplier, but the second lowest bidder is non-us and is within 20%, we're gonna award to the non-us supplier," said Mirlocca. She said that requires clear definitions of what makes a company American. Provincially, that's a company that is headquartered in United States with fewer than 250 full-time employees in Canada. Mississauga is following a similar definition, said Mirlocca, while also opening up more projects to an invite-only style of procurement so staff can narrow in on Canadian businesses. "We're building programs around that so that our contract managers and our project managers understand, you know, we need to attract local businesses," she said. Those thresholds have to be below $353,300 for goods and services and $8.8-million for construction to meet the Canada Free Trade Agreement that applies to trade between Canada and European states. There's also language in both Mississauga's and Ontario's policy changes that allow for staff to purchase goods and services from the United States if there's no alternative. Mitigate tariffs or support local companies? Where those policy shits are aimed at building up Canadian procurement, Windsor's approach has been primarily about mitigating Canadian counter-tariffs while getting the best value. "If something's financial advantageous, we're sort of going with it, in accordance with the purchasing by-law," said the city's acting commissioner of human and health service Dana Paladino at Monday's council meeting. "But if council's direction is that it doesn't matter if its advantageous, this is something that we need to consider, than we need to bring that back." Mayor Drew Dilkens believes that the deal for the American-made outdoor furniture was "in the best interest of the taxpayer." He said council can tell staff to build conditions into tenders that require specific levels of Canadian content but that could lead to shifts in costs. "You don't know whether if you did that you're paying 20 per cent more, 10 per cent more, 5 per cent more? You don't know unless you actually put it in there and maybe do a comparison saying 'All Canadian goods and then next comparable price," said Dilkens. The rest of council supported councillor McKenzie's ask for staff to bring back alternative procurement policy options. "I think if it's a status quo sort of thing than I think we land back here in this discussion again. I don't know if we all want that," said McKenzie.
CBC
09-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Final days of the Windsor tunnel bus: Services to stop by end of year
Social Sharing Windsor's decades-old tunnel bus service linking the city to Detroit now has an official end date. In fact, make that two end dates: One for the regular commuter service, and another for the special events service. Commuter service will end on Aug. 31 of this year, while special events service will continue until Dec. 20. The dates were contained in a report that city council approved at a meeting on April 28. "By operating the Tunnel Bus and Special Event services until the end dates outlined in the report, additional revenue of approximately $638,800 is projected to be generated to help offset a portion of the personal medical leave (PML) expense that will occur in 2025," the report says. Those leave expenses were part of Mayor Drew Dilkens' justification earlier this year for cutting the cross-border service. Because the tunnel bus crosses an international border, the entirety of the city's transit workers fall under federal labour laws, which starting in 2022, guaranteed workers 10 paid sick days. Dilkens also argued he couldn't support funding a service to the U.S. amid trade tensions between with Canada. In a use of his strong mayor powers earlier this year, Dilkens vetoed council's decision to continue the tunnel bus service and increase the fare. At last Monday's council meeting, Coun. Kieran McKenzie suggested the city extend the commuter service until the end of the year instead of the special events service, which a city official said has seen declining ridership amid the trade war. "We're seeing a lot more events being cancelled due to low ridership," said Stephan Habrun, acting executive director at Transit Windsor. WATCH: Windsor's tunnel bus is officially dead. Here's how it happened. 3 months ago Duration 3:16 Windsor's tunnel bus, the unique service that takes passengers across the border from Windsor to Detroit and back, will end service this year. It was a decision by Mayor Drew Dilkens that council tried, unsuccessfully, to override on Friday in a bid to save the service. The CBC's Chris Ensing reports. Then-Chief Administrative Officer Joe Mancina, who retired last week, told McKenzie that ending the commuter service at the end of the summer frees up resources for other "service-level enhancements" planned for the fall. He said there are bigger events in the fall as well, such as football and hockey games, to draw riders in and hopefully recoup more costs — at a time when maybe tensions with the U.S. will have simmered down.
