When it comes to adjusting how the municipality does its business in the wake of wild policy swings from the U.S., Joe Sass has taken the view that, for the time being at least, “overreacting is a bigger risk than under reacting. The City of Kelowna’s finance director has been fielding questions about how buying policies will change in the wake of an onslaught of tariff troubles. “It’s a highly fluid situation and it changes daily with what’s happening in the world,” Sass said last last week. When it comes to procurement policies, Kelowna city council has asked that staff go back to the books and review the current guidelines and offer a more fulsome update in the next month, or so. In the meantime, they’ve already figured out that there’s already a largely Canadian preference in their business model. “We have around 2,100 open purchase orders and contracts at the city at any given time, and right now there are only 30 that are not Canadian,” Sass said. Those are to do with things like software and other specialized equipment, Sass said. Notably, one request for proposals for Phase 3 of City Park called for costly concrete pilings from the U.S., though that was posted before the trade war got underway. Regardless, those issues and more will be revisited Sass said, particularly with the province encouraging Canada-first policies. Sass said part of the reason why Kelowna was in a good spot when the relationship with the U.S. shifted was it leans toward a value-based procurement, as opposed to a lowest-cost-wins approach. That said, some times the choice will be American. “We still have obligations to adhere to,” Sass said. “International trade agreements have been signed by the federal government … and that’s where the thoughtful pause and review of procurement of policy comes in.” Ultimately, Sass said it’s a complex situation and evolving quickly. “I’ve seen geopolitical uncertainty and the impacts that can have on an organization like ours, but the pace of this change is pretty unprecedented,” he said. “I said at council … the risk of overreacting is a bigger risk than under reacting.” He said all municipalities are in a similar position and conversations on the best way forward are commonplace these days. “We’re all in the same boat… there’s not a clear path for anyone.” On Tuesday, City of West Kelowna staff will offer a report on its share of U.S. buying. They reviewed the matter previously and found in 2023 and 2024 99.6% of its purchases were from Canadian suppliers, with only 0.4 per cent from U.S. suppliers. The city says it has also reviewed its capital budget for 2025 and 2026, as well as carry forward projects from previous years, and as a result is projecting less than a seven per cent risk of price escalation due to tariffs. “In particular, considering recent budgetary fleet orders and two fire truck chassis under construction in the U.S., there are no retaliatory tariffs on trucks and there is no indication whether or not these may be applied in the future.” In a report updating the impact of tariffs on West Kelowna, prepared by the city’s finance director Warren Everton, city council is told, “It’s important to note Canadian retaliatory tariffs are not a direct concern for municipalities as U.S. tariffs only affect U.S. buyers of foreign goods.” In February, the U.S. applied tariffs to all Canadian non-US-Mexico-Canada Agreement products at 25%, as well as 10% on energy and potash. In April, it applied a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum, following that up with a 25% tariff on all Canadian-made automobiles. On March 4, Canada, in retaliation, applied 25% tariffs on many US consumer goods, including food, beverages, clothing and household electronic goods. Nine days later it expanded the retaliatory tariffs to include steel aluminum, gold, platinum, ceramics, piping, tools, appliances, heating, telephony and wireless network products among others. Canada also imposed a 25% tariff on non-USMCA-compliant US-made vehicles and on non-Canadian, non-Mexican content of the USMCA-compliant US-made vehicles.