A late “on the fly” motion from Councillor Scott Nelson was the source of the longest discussion in last night’s [Tuesdays] Williams Lake Council Meeting.
During the roundtable discussion at the end of the meeting, Nelson brought a motion that stalls all U.S. spending by City Staff “while a trade war is ongoing.”
The motion stops all procurement of heavy equipment and large pieces of capital equipment from the United States. The City Council asked City Staff to deliver a report on the staff’s findings on how much is being spent on items from the U.S. and the newly arrived tariffs.
“I am very defined by this… there are no rules in a trade war,” Nelson says. “What’s happening right now is the life and death of communities, and if that means holding off buying large pieces of equipment, my hand will go up and say ‘I’m not buying it.'”
Chief Administrative Officer, Gary Muraca, and Chief Financial Officer Viatli Kozubenko mentioned the concerns about simply shutting down expenditures. Heavy and large-scale equipment would have to be sourced from another place, which would be more expensive.
“What we have found in our research is that practically all machinery is coming from the U.S.,” said Kozubenko. “So unless you want to start buying from Europe or somewhere and pay the cost of transportation, you will not be able to avoid it[buying U.S.].”
“If you want to stop buying from the U.S., we will need to stop buying all the fleet equipment, or start searching somewhere else.”
Nelson was adamant that the Council give the staff the direction that “anything out of the United States” should not be purchased. The Council should be doing their best to purchase “all Canadian” just as they are encouraging the same from the residents of the Lake City.
“This is a political decision and a political decision that will have ramifications on our budget… I don’t want to be saying Canada Made, and then go around spending millions of dollars south of the border. They should all be put on hold until this trade war is over.”
Councillors Joan Flaspohler, Angie Delainey, and Jazmyn Lyons were the voices of dissent.
“I am more comfortable in making a position of a vote when I know more information from staff as to what exactly that means for us as an organization, as a council,” said Flaspohler. “As per what [Staff] says, we may not have that choice, and that may affect the well-being of our organization, and our community.”
The motion to hold purchases until the report from Staff was tabled with a contentious 4–3 vote. Staff is scheduled to give their report to the council at the next Committee of the Whole meeting on March 11.
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